Eric Schmidt to students: Silicon Valley is not about a location, it’s about people

Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google continued his tour of Asia with a stop in Bangkok today, where he continued to provide his insights on the international tech industry to Asian audiences.

This morning, he appeared on local Thai TV station Voice TV for an interview, during which the Thai students submitted pre-screened questions to Schmidt, who then answered them live.

The interview is available for viewing here. Below, we’ve carved out some key points:

1. Schmidt suggests that if Thailand would like to create its own Silicon Valley, it must focus on the new generation. This entails encouraging youngsters to be creative at an early age. Starting a Silicon Valley is not about a place or a location, it’s about a group of people who enjoy to create great innovative work.
2. Political instability is a serious issue in Thailand. Schmidt admitted that the reason Google didn’t come to Thailand until recently was due to resistance from the government at the time.
3. Schmidt recommends the Thai government set up a better infrastructure for connecting and spreading the internet
4. Encourage freedom of speech and how people can express themselves freely on the internet including talking about politics. This will result in the other areas improvement such as economy. (We reported earlier that the Thai goverment will jail citizens for spreading dissent online).

Later this afternoon Schmidt will meet with local bloggers and journalists to discuss Thailand’s technology ecosystem its place in the ASEAN economic community. Stay tuned.

(Source: Voice TV)

(Editing by Josh Horwitz)