Mind the Gap | Innovation in China’s technology companies missing a creative spark
“Sex, drugs and rock n roll.”
It’s certainly an inappropriate topic for a business section, but there was a time when this expression used to embody a spirit of rebellion and independence against authority.
It inspired a generation to rebel against conventional beliefs and create new technologies and businesses that could change the way we live. Today it is a forgotten cliché that isn’t even referred to by young people.
Ian, “Lemmy” Kilmister, founding member and lead singer and bassist in the British heavy metal band, Motorhead, recently died at the age of 70. The band released 23 studio albums with titles like ‘Overkill’ and ‘Bomber’. For those readers who aren’t heavy metal fans, their squalling guitar volleys on ‘Ace of Spades’ hit you like a panzer tank column starting up their engines on a cold morning on the western front.
I heard my first Motorhead album in 1976 and it changed my outlook on life. From then on, I knew what cultural rebellion and thinking differently truly meant. It’s that burning need to do it your way that drove so much innovation and creativity in US technology from the 60s to today.
Despite their massive size and revenues, China’s biggest internet companies have failed to make a significant impact or innovation outside of their own country
The outsiders, blasphemers and outcasts were always the creative ones although they mostly ended up broke. It wasn’t solely about making money. Well, maybe it was. But, even if lucre was the goal you needed more than that mirage to lead you because no one would return your calls when you started your business.