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What Mahathir and Richard Li can learn from Bangalore By APARISIM GHOSH April 27, 2000 Web posted at 4 p.m. Hong Kong time, 4 a.m. EDT I write this from Bangalore, aka Silicon Valley East, the city many Asian governments want to recreate on their own soil. As projects to build high-tech cybercities proliferate across the region -- from Malaysia's Cyberjaya to Hong Kong's CyberPort -- delegations from every Asian country are making tracks to Bangalore to understand what makes this place tick.
Cyberjaya and CyberPort will undoubtedly have the most sophisticated wired offices and telecommunications facilities money can buy. But creating a cybercity is not just about office space and phone lines. Bangalore started out with an advantage neither KL nor Hong Kong enjoy: a high standard of education among the local population. There are dozens of engineering colleges within half a day's drive from the city, churning out thousands of graduates who form the backbone of the technology industry. Scores of software-training schools supply the worker ants. Many of the biggest R. and D. labs of the Indian military establishment are clustered around the city, forming a handy source for middle and senior managers. It's conceivable that KL and Hong Kong will simply buy the technology talent they need -- from Bangalore, if necessary. But they will need more than engineers. "Lawyers, advertising agencies and recruiting firms have all developed skills and services specific to the technology industry," says software entrepreneur Ashok Soota. "This is the kind of 'soft' infrastructure you need in order to attract and nurture startup companies." Bangalore's journalists are more tech-savvy than the norm. Their newspapers devote daily pages (complete with gossip columns!) to the industry. Even providers of such mundane services as office space and supplies are tuned to the needs of technology companies. Take Soota's startup, MindTree Consulting, which develops e-commerce software for dotcom companies. Last year, when the founders were still polishing their business plan, they were sought out by real-estate developers, offering brand new offices in exchange for stock options -- this, remember, from a company that hadn't yet begun to do business! An office equipment supplier offered a similar deal: furniture for options. In other words, nearly everyone is contributing to -- and profiting from -- the tech revolution. Even folks who don't work for startups have a sophisticated appreciation of technology. "What we have here is not just a tech industry -- it's a community," says Subroto Bagchi, co-founder of MindTree. And communities can't be bought, they evolve. That's something Mahathir and Li would do well to keep in mind. Sound-off about the news in South Asia to TIME Write to TIME at mail@web.timeasia.com Search for recent Asia Buzz
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