When I look at systems of people the first thing I look at is failure: how does the system/individual fail, what sort of feedback loop is there, and how are changes made?<p>So Steve's statement about the culture not accepting failure was a red flag. His statement that the government was the prime investor was another red flag. (Governments are notorious for not admitting failure. To do so would challenge the their authority and ability) And once he said that bankruptcy laws there were draconian? The red alert started going off. It's simply non-doable.<p>It's a shame. I love the scenery, and the people are terrific. But a million small failures make a great success, and if you can't fail easily, quickly, and learn from it? You're never going to develop much of anything.
<i>What needs work >> Venture Capital</i><p><i>Given the interesting things going on in the engineering labs I visited and the startups I met, one would have thought the place would have been crawling with VC’s fighting over deals. Instead it felt like the government – through CORFO - was doing most of the risk capital investing.</i><p>Not ideal, but better than nothing. Capitalism can get the most solid footing as a sustainable economic system when there is minimal government involvement. Need wealth to create and fuel more wealth.
What is the Chilean government doing to bring over already established, innovative companies?<p>It seems that one good way to inject innovation is to introduce companies that can employ young, entrepreneurial Chileans and set examples they can follow in future ventures.
Dear god, stop trying to replicate Silicon Valley elsewhere.<p>Create a newer, better ecosystem for entrepreneurs. You're pretty much destined to fail if you try to replicate SV. Move the goal posts to something else.
Based on the critiques below, Chile should revise its bankruptcy laws, mandate more government procurement from startups and SMEs, encourage partnering with Silicon Valley and other high-tech regions, set up a Silicon Valley incubator like the Nordic countries are doing now, and encourage more university research collaboration with high-growth nations.
Well it's clear what the opportunity is in Chile right now... Teaching entrepreneurship! If you've got a business idea to target that, they'll be lining up to pay you money.