Kenjiro Takenami, Director of Ruby Software Business Development Project at Fukuoka Prefectural Government, spoke to an audience at Stanford about the government’s success in promoting entrepreneurship in the Fukuoka region of Japan, at a seminar organized by the SPRIE-Stanford Project on Japanese Entrepreneurship (STAJE) on November 3^rd, 2011.

In Takenami’s presentation, he discussed that Fukuoka now has over 800 local software and digital content companies with the number of companies increasing 20% annually. It is ranked 5^th in Japan for the total number of software businesses and total software sales revenue. He described that in the past, Fukuoka had faced challenges in promoting entrepreneurship because of the lack of investment, mentors, and innovators. In an attempt to solve these challenges, the Fukuoka government created new programs that financed local start-up companies and supported venture capital funds. However, these programs failed to boost entrepreneurship and regional development.

Takenami revealed that the turning point for the Fukuoka government’s success was the decision to support research and development for Ruby, a dynamic, open source programming language developed in Japan. The government committed to build a community around the programming language and helped entrepreneurs and businesses develop new technologies that used Ruby. They launched multiple incubators for developers and held periodic conferences for the community members to inspire and learn from each other.

Fukuoka prefecture has a population of five million and a GDP of over 180 billion US dollars. The city of Fukuoka, which was selected as one of the “Hot Cities The Top 10” by Newsweek in 2006, has been attracting the attention of foreign investors. It is located on the northern tip of Kyushu and is geographically closer to China and South Korea than any other major Japanese city. Historically, it has been the hub for business and trade to continental Asia. The prefecture is ranked 2^nd in Japan for the number of universities and colleges specializing in science and engineering, with approximately 7,000 graduates every year.

Takenami concluded the seminar by highlighting that eight times as many local companies in Fukuoka develop using Ruby since they began in 2008. He also shared success stories of companies which began in Fukuoka, but are now internationally known, such as Nautilus Technologies.

ABOUT THE Speaker

Kenjiro Takenami is Director of Ruby Software Business Development Project, Commercial and Industrial Policy Division of Fukuoka Prefectural Government and is responsible for the Fukuoka’s software industry development efforts. Takenami is the former Executive Director of the Fukuoka Center for Overseas Commerce in America, based in Silicon Valley.

Following the seminar, SPRIE-Stanford Project on Japanese Entrepreneurship (STAJE), Stanford Graduate Business School and US-Asia Technology Management, Stanford School of Engineering co-hosted the Fukuoka Ruby Night Event, an annual Ruby developer conference, organized by the Fukuoka Center for Overseas Commerce in America (FCOCA).

The video clips for the keynote presentations of this event can be found here.

Philippe de Koning, a recent Stanford graduate who has been selected to study in Ireland as a Mitchell fellow, wrote a manuscript about Japan's defense and financial crisis with Shorenstein APARC faculty member Phillip Lipscy. Lipscy, a political scientist, was de Koning's advisor through his undergraduate career and also advised him on his senior thesis.

Please click here to listen to the podcast of Kristie Lu Stout's talk.

STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS — Chinese internet users have devised an array of creative ways to navigate around government censorship of China's cyberspace, a leading Hong Kong-based CNN journalist told a Stanford audience.

In a November 21 talk at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Kristie Lu Stout, BA '96, MA '97, an anchor and correspondent for CNN International, discussed the burgeoning internet and social media scene in China. The Stanford graduate described a fast-changing country where daily life increasingly takes place online and where social networking has created new ways for Chinese citizens to interact and express themselves, even as their online activities are strictly monitored for offensive or politically sensitive content.

China has a "vibrant community of netizens and entrepreneurs who are actively challenging the boundaries," Stout said. "They're able to come up with creative ways to bypass [restrictions]. It's a story of expression, control, and innovation."

China has the world's largest internet population, about 500 million users, and it has experienced an explosion in the popularity of social networking.

Based for a decade at CNN's Asia headquarters in Hong Kong, Stout has been at the forefront of covering China's online community. She anchors a daily news show for CNN International, which broadcasts globally (outside the United States). Her talk was hosted by the Stanford Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SPRIE), part of the GSB.

Stout said that Chinese government controls have tightened over the past year or so, ahead of a transition of power expected in 2012-2013 for China's top leadership. Officials recently have ordered Chinese media outlets to "strengthen information management," "crack down on false rumors," and "enforce real-name registration" on social media sites, she said.

"The rules are broad and vague. There's a blanket ban on anything that would harm state security and social stability."

She listed some keywords that were blocked from online searches in China over the past year: protest, sex, Hillary Clinton, occupy, empty chair, jasmine. In addition, leading Western sites, including Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, are blocked.

The CNN journalist discussed her coverage and interviews of two leading figures at opposite extremes of the Chinese internet. The "establishment" figure was Charles Chao, CEO of Sina.com, the online media giant that abides by Chinese censorship rules while also operating Sina Weibo, a microblogging and social networking site that is a popular venue for public discourse. The "anti-establishment" figure was Ai Weiwei, a dissident artist and political activist who recently was detained by Chinese authorities and whose name is banned from the Chinese internet. "Both represent the different story lines that we, as journalists, look into," said Stout.

Stout highlighted the tactics Chinese netizens use to circumvent the "Great Firewall" of China. Individuals and businesses have used virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access forbidden sites. It's estimated that more than 100,000 Chinese are on the Google+ social network and 20,000 on Twitter, Stout said.

A new lexicon has emerged on the Chinese internet, consisting of code words, homonyms, and vocabulary laced with mockery, satire, or sarcasm. The words "empty chair" refer to jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize but was barred by Chinese authorities from going to Oslo to accept it. Being "harmonized" means being censored, a reference to top leaders' frequent calls for creating a harmonious society. Chinese netizens invented the "grass mud horse," or "cao ni ma," a mythical creature whose name sounds like a Chinese profanity. The alpaca-like creature emerged online as a symbol of resistance to censorship, setting blogs, and social sites abuzz with images, songs, and poems about it.

Despite China's strict controls, the internet has become a far-reaching venue for venting public frustration and anger over government corruption and incompetence. When two high-speed trains near Wenzhou crashed in July, killing 39 people and injuring many more, there was an outpouring of anger online against officials for their handling of the disaster, Stout said. Similarly, a photo of Gary Locke, the new U.S. ambassador to China, carrying his own backpack and buying his own coffee at a Starbucks in the Seattle airport in August, went viral on the Chinese internet, where netizens noted the contrast with Chinese officials who often travel with large entourages and expense accounts. The photo sparked "a huge online debate about corruption and values," Stout said.

In response to a question, the CNN journalist said it's impossible to estimate how many people are involved in China's censorship apparatus. However, she said, "the most powerful way to control the internet is through self-censorship." By "creating a climate of fear," Chinese authorities can put much of the responsibility onto media organizations themselves.

Stout acknowledged that many Chinese believe the internet has introduced a level of freedom previously unknown in China. She suggested that it is in China's best interests to further ease controls. "If you want to be a truly innovative country, you can't censor the internet," Stout said.

Stanford’s Center on Food Security and the Environment (FSE) has received a $2 million grant from Cargill, a second gift from the company that raises its total contribution to FSE to $5 million over 10 years.

The announcement was made Nov. 10 at a dinner celebrating the launch of FSE as a full-scale research center. FSE has more than doubled in size in five years. Because of its growth and increasing importance of food security issues at Stanford and worldwide, it became an official center in September.

“The center’s rapid growth would not have been possible without the generous support of Cargill,” FSE Director and William Wrigley Senior Fellow Rosamond L. Naylor said. “Cargill’s initial investment provided seed-funding for the bold, new research and teaching that was happening at FSE while keeping our lights on and the staff running during our critical years of early development.”

A $3 million grant from Cargill in 2008 jump-started a visiting fellows program at FSE and helped build the infrastructure to support the center’s research.

The new grant will continue to provide program support, but will also be used to hire younger faculty and scholars to Stanford to work within the new Center.

Stanford-Cargill partnership

Stanford's partnership with Cargill extends back to 1976 when Cargill endowed Walter P. Falcon, then Director of Stanford's Food Research Institute and now FSE Deputy Director, with the Helen C. Farnsworth Professorship in International Agricultural Policy. The gift was intended to strengthen Stanford's work in agricultural policy, specifically as it relates to the international grain economy. FSI senior fellow Scott Rozelle now holds the Helen C. Farnsworth chair.

FSE and Cargill remain committed to helping feed a growing population while preserving the planet's natural resources. FSE is an applied group focused on providing real solutions to important food and agricultural issues.

“Poverty is the main issue driving food insecurity—it’s a question of access rather than food availability,” Naylor said.

FSE’s partnership with Cargill has demonstrated how Stanford-based research can be relevant to the private sector. FSE is conducting ongoing research on oil palm and land use issues in Indonesia that is helping inform and shape policy. Work on aquaculture feeds in China is another overlapping area of interest, as are ongoing assessments of biofuels in the U.S., Africa and Asia. Both have a stake in better understanding climate change impacts on agriculture and food commodity price volatility.

“It is clear to us at FSE—and increasingly to leadership of Stanford—that global food security will remain a critical issue within international policy circles,” said Naylor. “With support like the grant from Cargill, we are confident that Stanford can play a leading role in shaping the future policy discourse.”