< Vol.6 >
I made a remark at Silicon Valley
They gathered from 15 countries.
I went to Silicon Valley in America.
From this September 8 to 11, I was invited international meeting -
The CONNECT'96 which was held under the auspices of Stanford
University and the Smart Valley public corporation. The topic for
discussion are " How should we start the local network?" , " How
should we lead the local network?" and so on.
Because of the end of the Cold War, the Silicon Valley suffered
from a depression. So the government and the people cooperated to
start the third sector company, Smart Valley public corporation.
And they tried to enliven Silicon Valley again with the information
high way, in short, network. Mr. Harry Saal the president of this
company has known us ever since he attended "The hyper network
meeting in Beppu bay" in Oita two times. All the participants of the
CONNECT'96 were about 150, they come from 15 countries,
such as Europe, Asia, and the Continent of America. There were about
30 local project on the list. There also were many Japanese.
The successful local case
A few days before I left Japan, I got a E-mail. It said " You should
wear a business suits rather than a casual coat. As I didn't know
neither English nor custom, I couldn't completely understand about
the states. But as the time went on, I could understand about this
meeting. Smart Valley public corporation is known as the most
successful local case to all over the world, and many people come to
see it one after another. They named their project, such as, Smart
Alabama, Smart Toronto and so on after the Smart Valley. It seems that
there is a trend to learn from Smart Valley.
As there were too many visitors and inquiries, Smart Valley made
up their minds that they would hold a meeting. So many Japanese
attended to study. The attendance pay the studying expenses, so I
got the E-mail that panelist should wear a business suits . I see.
Each of them has trouble.
By the way, each of the 30 local projects was big. One is the MSC plan
of Malaysia. They build a big airport or the tallest building in the
world. And the big area become multimedia special section. And in
Republic of Singapore, they have IT2000 plan. With these national
projects, there also are large-sized local development of third sector
and so on.
If we develop the local society now, we must shape the information
oriented society. Beside we must do that from the beginning as they
make the road in the city. I think so and wrestle with making the
local network. Oh, the earthquake disaster reconstruction project of
Kobe is the large-sized development, too. It seems that those projects
really have a trouble and attend the meeting.
The promoter would rather have free discussion. At the simple
arrangements of the night before the meeting, they said " Let's keep
the detail theme secrete from the others until the panel discussion."
I was in troubled by that. English all Greek to me. But Mr. Aizu who
belongs to Institute For Hyper Network Society which is the
cooperator of the COARA completely interpreted for me.
Survival Game
The panel discussion was like a survival game that if you yourself
don't make a remark, no one ask you a opinion. I was invited to it,
so let's make a remark to live up to their expectation. I made a remark
again and again. At any rate, it seems that COARA is the oldest local
network in the participating group.
I said " In other words, though there are many form of the development,
every end user is the citizen. So the structure of the citizen leadership
or Netizen leadership and society system will make the public life,
enterprise activities, and local development better." I made a remark
the vision of future and the ideal as a people from Kyushu.
I might make more remark than the native speaker of English. After
the meeting, many attendance came to shake hands with me, and
besides Mr. Harry Saal gave a talk that COARA was their teacher.
If he should say a compliment, it is a pleasure for COARA.
written by Tooru Ono, the chief of the NEW COARA secretariat
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