(The Diplomat-Japan) Jiang Xueqin - Last week, twenty students and I traveled to Israel for six days to study what makes Israel "a start-up nation." If China is the world's sweatshop, then Israel is the world's laboratory. The Technion's Water Research Institute is building a new "water-wise" building which aims to meet 80% of its water needs by harvesting rainwater on its roof, and recycling "gray" water from showers and sinks. These are technologies that, once developed, can be profitably exported to countries that have severe water shortages. What makes Israel so innovative? Israel's answer is simple: Ask questions. When we visited a public high school in Tel Aviv, we saw teachers interrupt the principal, and learned that Israelis consider "shyness" a learning disability. To ask questions is difficult enough for many a Chinese student. It entails a radical re-ordering of how you relate to yourself, and to the world around you - it requires a willingness to overturn the world if need be. That's what makes Israel such an innovative culture.
2012-05-18 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive