Churchill Club Places China High On Agenda

Filed in archive Conferences on January 15, 2006

The Churchill Club, Silicon Valley's premier business and technology forum recently held their 8th annual "Top Ten Tech Trends Debate . As reported in SiliconValley.com,
some of those top-tier VCs commented about China.

For example, Joe Schoendorf, a partner in Accel Partners made this observation which was partly reaffirmed by other VCs.

Few VCs disagree with this bold fact: China continues its march to being both a low-cost producer and a low-cost, world-class innovator.

"They've gone from the copying phase to the innovative phase," said Schoendorf."Our competitiveness is my favorite trait, but I don't think we see what's going on in China," claimed Schoendorf.

Others like, John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins reflected. "Joe's right, China's very important." " And I'm not sure we can't collaborate with them, and seeing China succeed is probably more important than [trying to] to compete with them."

Ann Winblad of Hummer Winblad on China:

"China is an enormous competitive threat. But it's not all bad news. Innovation needs strong drivers. This could be fabulous if we have the right leadership [to answer the challenge]."

Roger McNamee of Elevation Partners: Noted that while's China's made great strides, it's trying to make a lot of
technological progress in a short time."Their infrastructure has a long way to go," said McNamee.

But he also mentioned that China's huge population and resources make it a major force in setting tech standards.

The churchill Club's 5,000-member, nonprofit organization has built a reputation for dynamic, in-the-news programs featuring Silicon Valley CEOs, up-and-coming executives and national business leaders.