外國元首每逢訪問美國，一定會去參觀科技界的麥加圣地——硅谷。一方面，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人希望展示自己崇尚科技、重視創(chuàng)新的形象；另一方面，此舉也意在尋求與美國科技界可能的合作機(jī)會。
訪問美國的外國元首在開展國際外交的時候原本可以在行程中加入長長一列度假勝地。風(fēng)景優(yōu)美的名山、溫和宜人的海灘和某個不夜城似乎都是最佳的選擇。然而，世界各地的總統(tǒng)和首相們卻紛紛選擇了硅谷這個辦公園區(qū)林立、郊區(qū)擴(kuò)張無序的地方。看來，結(jié)識谷歌（Google）、Facebook和蘋果（Apple）的高管們與在華盛頓首府合影和會談幾乎具有同等的重要性。
上周，法國總統(tǒng)弗朗索瓦•奧朗德成為了最近一個造訪全球科技之都的國家領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人。過去的幾年中，以色列、愛爾蘭、新西蘭、土耳其、俄羅斯、荷蘭、立陶宛和馬來西亞的元首也都曾經(jīng)來到這里參觀。他們對硅谷的興趣反映了硅谷公司和風(fēng)險投資家們?nèi)找鎻?qiáng)大的影響力。各國元首正在向他們示好，希望從這些頂尖的創(chuàng)新思維中找出經(jīng)商、投資和提高政治聲譽(yù)的辦法。
多年來陪同過多位外國代表團(tuán)的斯坦福大學(xué)（Stanford University）前教務(wù)長威廉•米勒說：“他們盯著的是就業(yè)機(jī)會。他們同時也覺得，無論是英特爾（Intel）還是谷歌，只要大型公司在他們的國家落戶，就會吸引其他的大公司。”
奧朗德在短暫的訪問期間會見了許多硅谷的頂級高管。他邀請了谷歌的董事會主席埃里克•施密特，F(xiàn)acebook首席運(yùn)營官謝麗爾•桑德伯格和Twitter的共同創(chuàng)始人杰克•多西共進(jìn)私人午餐。此外，奧朗德還在舊金山設(shè)立了一個新的科技孵化器來幫助法國的初創(chuàng)公司，后者目前尚未在世界上掀起潮流。
通常由國外政府贊助、專門扶持某國企業(yè)的孵化器迅速成為了硅谷的一道風(fēng)景。以色列、愛爾蘭、丹麥、德國和澳大利亞是最早一批贊助新公司、幫助它們與美國投資商和合伙人接觸的國家。
外國領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人的參觀劇本已經(jīng)形成了固定的路數(shù)。他們從舊金山下飛機(jī)，舉辦幾場活動表現(xiàn)出他們對一切科技問題的熱衷，然后與幾位著名的科技公司高管共進(jìn)美味午餐，或者在市政廳接見他們。
2012年，以色列總統(tǒng)西蒙•佩雷斯為推動以色列初創(chuàng)公司的發(fā)展，展開了四天的硅谷之旅。期間，他訪問了Facebook總部。與桑德伯格進(jìn)行公開會談時，他把自己形容為社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)的粉絲。他表示，不同政府部門的公務(wù)員可以利用社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)協(xié)同工作，和平共處——盡管中東從來都沒真正存在過什么和平。
去年，海地總理洛朗•拉莫特到訪期間罕見地連續(xù)拜訪了Facebook、谷歌和蘋果的總部。當(dāng)時，他的國家剛剛遭受地震，極其貧困，正是向富有的科技公司請求經(jīng)濟(jì)和就業(yè)援助的好機(jī)會。這些公司捐贈了免費(fèi)的服務(wù)器和一些額外的網(wǎng)絡(luò)工具。但是海地幾乎沒有人能在家里上網(wǎng)，與海地的種種困難相比，這些援助只是杯水車薪。
就如許多訪問硅谷的國家元首一樣，奧朗德也試圖向國內(nèi)傳達(dá)他支持創(chuàng)新、力圖將法國建設(shè)成“初創(chuàng)公司共和國”的信息。但許多法國企業(yè)家譴責(zé)奧朗德，稱他頒布新法、將最高稅率定為75%是在掏空他們。奧朗德回避了公眾對稅務(wù)問題的意見，對美國向法國公司的投資表示了歡迎。他指出，向法國投資的美國公司中，有三分之一來自加利福尼亞。
“來到加利福尼亞，人就想要改變世界，而這是一個美麗的使命，也是一個雄心勃勃的使命。但我們能夠理解，因?yàn)槲覀冇兄瑯拥脑妇埃?奧朗德在舊金山市政大廳的演講中說。“幾個世紀(jì)以來，法國一直都想要改變世界，而我們攜手并進(jìn)，足以達(dá)成這一目標(biāo)。我們可以改變我們的消費(fèi)模式、生產(chǎn)模式，以至于我們應(yīng)對健康問題和技術(shù)問題的手段，從而讓世界變得更加美好。”
| |
| Foreign leaders visiting the United States can fill their itineraries from a long list of fabulous destinations to conduct international diplomacy. Scenic mountains, balmy beaches, and a certain city that never sleeps would seem like top contenders. But instead, presidents and prime ministers from around the world are flocking to Silicon Valley, the land of office parks and suburban sprawl. Getting to know top executives from Google (GOOG), Facebook (FB), and Apple (AAPL), it turns out, is almost as important as photo-ops and meetings in Washington, D.C.
Last week, French President François Hollande became the latest such figure to make a pilgrimage to the world's technology capital. In the last few years, leaders from Israel, Ireland, New Zealand, Turkey, Russia, Netherlands, Lithuania, and Malaysia have also visited. Their interest reflects the growing muscle of Silicon Valley companies and venture capitalists, with which heads of state are trying to curry favor in hopes of attracting business, investment, and any political cachet that comes from championing innovation.
"They're looking for jobs," said William Miller, a former provost at Stanford University who accompanied a number of foreign delegations in Silicon Valley over the years. "They also have a feeling that a larger company -- whether Intel or Google -- could locate there and become a magnet for others."
During his brief visit, Hollande met with dozens of top Silicon Valley executives. A private lunch included Eric Schmidt, Google's chairman; Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer at Facebook; and Twitter (TWTR) co-founder Jack Dorsey. In addition, Hollande opened a new technology incubator in San Francisco for French startups, which aren't exactly taking the world by storm from home.
Incubators devoted to just one country, which are often sponsored by foreign governments, have fast become a Silicon Valley fixture. Israel, Ireland, Denmark, Germany, and Australia are among those with beachheads that support young companies and help with access to U.S. investors and partners.
The playbook followed by foreign leaders is well-established. Get off the plane in San Francisco, hold a few events to highlight their enthusiasm for all things tech, then mingle with a few well-known tech executives over a gourmet lunch or at a town hall meeting.
In 2012, Shimon Peres, Israel's president, made the trip to Facebook's headquarters during a four-day tour of Silicon Valley to promote Israeli startups. During an interview on stage with Sandberg, he described himself as a fan of social networking. People can use it, he said, to work around governments and achieve peace on their own -- although peace in the Middle East seems to be just as elusive now as ever.
Last year, Haiti's prime minister, Laurent Lamothe, made a rare trifecta by visiting the headquarters of Facebook, Google, and Apple in one stateside trip. It was an opportunity to ask wealthy technology companies to help his impoverished country, which is reeling from a devastating earthquake, with jobs and aid. The companies donated free servers and some premium online tools. But few Haitians have online connections at home, and pledges were small compared to the country's myriad problems.
Like many heads of state that visit Silicon Valley, Hollande was trying to send a message back home that he supports innovation and is working to turn France into a "startup republic." But many French entrepreneurs accuse Hollande of undermining them with a new law that sets the top tax rate at 75%. Avoiding the tax issue in public comments, Hollande threw out a welcome mat for American investment in French companies. Of all the American investment in French companies, one-third comes from California, he pointed out.
"In California, you want to change the world, and it's a beautiful mission -- a very ambitious mission, but one we really understand because we have the same vision," he said in a speech at San Francisco's City Hall. "For centuries, France wanted to change the world, and together we can change the world. We can change the way we consume, we produce -- the way we deal with health or technology in order to make the world a better place."
|
通常，外國領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人會對他們與正在討好的科技公司之間存在的分歧避而不談。畢竟，在隱私、人權(quán)和法律管制問題上引起緊張情緒是沒必要的。奧朗德政府正在調(diào)查谷歌、Facebook和LinkedIn這類科技公司是否存在非法偷稅漏稅的問題。此外，法國政府最近還懲罰了谷歌侵犯隱私的行為，要求它在網(wǎng)站首頁保留48小時的尷尬的道歉聲明。
谷歌并未就奧朗德的拜訪、法國政府及針對谷歌進(jìn)行的調(diào)查問題發(fā)表相關(guān)評論。Facebook只是發(fā)表了一個模糊的聲明，類似于“我們攜手并進(jìn)。”
Facebook表示：“能夠會見奧朗德總統(tǒng)及其政府成員，開誠布公地討論法國及其在培養(yǎng)創(chuàng)新精神、吸引國外投資問題上扮演的角色，我們對這樣的機(jī)會表示歡迎。”
外國領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人紛紛來到硅谷的現(xiàn)象并不新奇。沃爾特•艾薩克森2011年在喬布斯的傳記中寫道，另一位法國總統(tǒng)弗朗索瓦•密特朗1984年年也造訪過硅谷。當(dāng)時，他的妻子丹尼爾并沒有探討科技問題，而是尖刻地就加班工資和假期之類的員工福利問題向史蒂夫•喬布斯發(fā)問。硅谷崛起前，外國領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人會訪問“鐵銹地帶”（指美國東北部各州,東起俄亥俄州,西至艾荷華州,北至密歇根州的地區(qū)。它們曾經(jīng)是美國的傳統(tǒng)制造業(yè)中心——譯注）的工廠。如今，他們懷著同樣的目的，只是迅速發(fā)展的行業(yè)已經(jīng)不同以往了。
硅谷的領(lǐng)袖有時會對所受的關(guān)注投桃報李。他們出國時，往往會受到熱烈的歡迎。Facebook董事長馬克•扎克伯格2012年去日本時會見了日本首相安倍晉三。而去年，他和首席運(yùn)營官謝麗爾•桑德伯格都會見了韓國總統(tǒng)樸槿惠。
會見并不總是禮節(jié)性的，有時也會達(dá)成真正的商業(yè)外交。去年在巴黎與奧朗德的一次聯(lián)席會議上，谷歌的施密特簽署協(xié)議，承諾谷歌公司將提供8,000萬美元幫助法國媒體公司進(jìn)行在線展示。此前，法國的新聞媒體曾指控谷歌在搜索結(jié)果中顯示了他們作品的片段，涉嫌竊取他們的內(nèi)容，而這份協(xié)議則達(dá)成了彼此之間的和解。
硅谷的領(lǐng)袖又能得到什么回報呢？很多。一旦這些國家的政府就知識產(chǎn)權(quán)、移民、許可之類的問題起草法案時，這些身居高位的朋友們就能幫上大忙。實(shí)質(zhì)性的商業(yè)交易至少在短期內(nèi)不會時常發(fā)生。但會面有時會讓溝通變得更順暢。
斯坦福大學(xué)前教務(wù)長米勒這樣評論首席執(zhí)行官們的想法：“大家有一種感覺，如果世界上的其他地方正在變得更好，我們也能變得更好。它并不是競爭，而是合作。如今的產(chǎn)品創(chuàng)新已經(jīng)不再局限于某一個地方了。”（財富中文網(wǎng)）
譯者：嚴(yán)匡正
| |
| Usually, foreign leaders steer clear of the differences they have with the technology companies they're courting. No need to inflame tensions, after all, over issues like privacy, human rights, and regulations. Hollande's government is probing whether technology companies like Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn (LNKD) illegally dodged taxes. Moreover, France recently punished Google for privacy violations by requiring it to post an embarrassing notice about its misdeeds on its home page for 48 hours.
Google did not respond to requests for comment about Hollande's visit or his government or targeting it with investigations. Facebook would only give a vague statement along the lines of, "Let's all work together."
"We welcomed the opportunity to meet with President Hollande and some members of his government for an open discussion about France and its role in fostering innovation and attracting foreign investment," Facebook said.
The phenomenon of foreign leaders flocking to Silicon Valley isn't entirely new. François Mitterand, another French president, toured Silicon Valley in 1984, during which his wife Danielle, peppered Steve Jobs with uncomfortable questions about worker welfare like overtime pay and vacations rather than gushing about the technology, according to Walter Isaacson's 2011 biography of Jobs. Before Silicon Valley's rise, foreign leaders visited factories in the Rust Belt. Now, it's the same idea, just a different growth industry.
Silicon Valley leaders reciprocate some of the attention they receive. When they go abroad, they often find a warm reception. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, met with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a trip to Japan in 2012. And last year, both he and Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, met with South Korea's President Park Geun-hye.
Meetings aren't always courtesy calls. In some cases, some real business-diplomacy is done. Last year, in a joint meeting in Paris with Hollande, Google's Schmidt signed an agreement in which the company pledged to pay $80 million to help French media companies build their presence online. The deal settled a dispute in which French news outlets accused Google of stealing their content by showing snippets of their work in search results.
What do Silicon Valley leaders get in return? Plenty. Friends in high places can only help when it comes time for their governments to draft regulations about intellectual property, immigration, and permitting, for example. Actual business deals are few and far between, at least in the short term. But the meetings can sometimes get the ball rolling.
"There's a sense that if the rest of the world is doing better, we'll do better," Miller, the former Stanford provost, said of the CEO mindset. "It's not competition but cooperation. Product innovation doesn't just occur in one place anymore."
|
|
