Toward a Sustainable Technopolis - Technopolis: Best Practices for Science and Technology Cities - page 166

3 Social Sustainability

3.1 Godfathers

The government is not your friend, but individuals within the government may be
your best friends. It is beneficial for the technopolis if these friends are re-elected
reliably. Then too, an influential individual who is not in government may be a
technopolis' most effectively advocate and energy source.
The next table lists the ''godfathers'' of the world's best-known technopolis
regions. The asterisks show those who served from government positions. In this
sample, the ratio of government godfathers is just more than half.
The godfathers are super-networkers, connecting entrepreneurs, financiers,
researchers, legislators, and other technopoleis, harnessing them to the cause of the
local technopolis. The godfathers exert a social force, causing others to want to be
close to them, and to show a public spirit, in support of the technopolis, perhaps in
excess of that to which they would be naturally inclined (Table 2 ).
Unless your region has an extraordinary amount of research/technology push
(like Boston, for example), an extraordinary amount of entrepreneurial pull (like
Israel), or both (like Cambridge), or an extraordinary amount of money (like
Washington, DC), you should hope that a godfather emerges and jumps to the front
of the parade in your locale.

3.2 Social Capital

History matters. Your region may leverage a history of science and entrepre-
neurship. Or, your region may have to overcome a history of insufficient education
and hostility toward private business.
There is a patent for cloud seeding (rainmaking), filed in the name of the king of
Thailand. The Korean alphabet is attributed to a king of Korea. Though we might
view these as instances of politically adept inventors allowing their kings to claim

Table 2 Godfathers of established techno-regions
Austin, Texas George Kozmetsky

Jaime Lerner a

Curitiba, Brazil

Chandrababu Naiu a Hyderabad, India

Morihiko Hiramatsu a

Oita Prefecture, Japan

Silicon Valley, California Frederick Terman

Lee Kwan Yew a

Singapore

Pierre Lafitte a Sophia Antipolis, France

Taiwan Morris Chang

a

Holders of political office