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Rebecca Fannin latest book, Silicon Heartland Transforming the Midwest from Rust Belt to Tech Belt · Go News To Go: More Good News

• 0:04
  Wow, lucky us. Hi, I'm speaking to Rebecca fan And Hi Rebecca.
• 0:08
  How are you? Oh? Oh, I'm fine. How are you,
• 0:10
  Paul? I'm good. The last time I interviewed you, I interviewed
• 0:14
  you at the play at the at the Friars Club. Oh yes, he
• 0:18
  spoke because I was attending one of your silicon What is the name of your
• 0:23
  organization exactly, Silicon Dragon Events, Silicon Dragon Events. Okay, all right,
• 0:29
  there seems to be a little ladd in New York City. There you
• 0:32
  go, and the voice over and Silicon Dragon Events you created. Because very's
• 0:44
  not a great connection. You want to start over? Um? Oh,
• 0:49
  yes, I think the internet connection stable. It was unstable. There are
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  you in Connecticut right now? I mean Connecticut? Yes, all right,
• 1:00
  we'll have that Connecticut place, you know, right right outside of New York,
• 1:04
  right outside of New York where it should be good Internet. It should
• 1:07
  be good. But there's so much talk going on, a lot of hot
• 1:11
  air in this area. Oh yeah, I know, all right. I
• 1:18
  was supposed to go to the Greenwich. I was invited to the polo matchup
• 1:21
  there. There's a lot of hot air in that place. Oh yeah,
• 1:23
  polo match is great here yeah, gretch, Yeah, but I didn't go
• 1:30
  in any case. All right, we're going to start again. Hello everybody.
• 1:33
  Oh, this is a terrible connection, is why don't you call me
• 1:38
  back? You want to? You want to? Oh no, you're it's
• 1:40
  a zoom thing. So um let's see. That's well. Now I can
• 1:46
  see your lips and the words coming out of it. Okay, I moved
• 1:49
  a little bit. So oh yeah, that move was good. All right,
• 1:55
  all right, we're gonna take two. Take two, all right,
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  high pause, black is good news. Plan it paused the World for Peace.
• 2:02
  Very involved with the Asian community for since nineteen eighty five. And I
• 2:07
  met Rebecca Fan and hello, Rebecca, how are you? Oh, I'm
• 2:12
  great, Paul. How are you doing? I'm doing fine. I met
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  you because you're very involved with the Asian community, big time with your organism.
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  What's an official title of your organization, Silicon Dragondventures. All right,
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  when did you establish those that? M oh, that was twenty ten,
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  all right, so we have some years here. And why why did you
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  Silicon Dragon Aventures. What what do you all do? Well? This is
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  one thing. I write books, and I've had four books published. The
• 2:46
  first one was Silicon Dragon, how China is winning the tech race. I
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  think that was pretty prescient in that view. The second one was Startup Asia,
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  which was a little bit more about in Yeah, which as we know,
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  is a big up and comer. And the third was tech Titans of
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  China. And the fourth is Silicon Heartland transforming the rust belt to a tech
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  belt. So that's underway. Whose rust belt is that? And tech belt?
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  In this book called Silicon Hartland transforming the Midwest? I think it says
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  Midwest. Am I reading this right? Midwest? Yes? It is Midwest?
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  Yes, well, midwest of me means America's Midwest. Is it America's
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  Midwest? It is America's Midwest. I thought, there's corn in the Midwest.
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  What is there something else? There's there's corn in the Midwest. It
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  depends on which Midwest you're talking about. If you're talking about around the Great
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  Lake States, which is Michigan, Ohio, Western New York, Pennsylvania,
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  Wisconsin, these are all rust belt industrial kinds of places. Cleveland, Detroit,
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  Flint, Buffalo, uh Date in Ohio. They were rust belt cities,
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  industrial heartland. So if this is the industrial heartland, this is not
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  your corn belt. This is not your middle of the country Iowa or Nebraska,
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  which are all great and make America very strong and fed well fed,
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  and a lot of the world world's food products are coming from there as well.
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  When they rust rust belt, what does the rust belt mean? I
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  know the word rust, but what is the rust belt? What do they
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  call? These are all the old steel companies? Okay? And yeah the
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  manufacturing alrighty part of the United States we have some of the manufacturing. We
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  still have a manufacturing plant somewhere out there in the rust Belt while they're being
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  transitioned. There's new semiconductor plants going in. There's new data center is going
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  in from Google, Amazon and Facebook. Intel is building a new semiconductor plant.
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  Micron is building a new semiconductor plant. So the industry is changing.
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  It's becoming modernized, automated, roboticized. Yeah, will anybody will There only
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  be mechanics who can fix a computer and know how to put a chip into
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  something. Some human or something. Aren't going to be any people anybody have
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  any work? Are we going to be workless? Well, this is an
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  issue of retraining. You know, you can't expect a factory worker who's been
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  on the factory line to all of a sudden be able to engineer chips go
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  into electronic components. So we've got a retraining issue going on, and it's
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  it's underway. Yeah, some places get it better than others. For instance,
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  Columbus is way ahead in this train a position to a more service oriented,
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  tech oriented economy from less of an agricultural kind of base, and Detroit
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  it still has ways to go. In Indianapolis it's going strong. Cleveland is
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  kind of halfway there, Dayton is going we have a temporary buffer Strong and
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  about Bird because of the university there with Carnegie Mellon and all the robotics and
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  self driving innovation and AI that's coming out of Pittsburgh. And so yeah,
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  there you see least techbusters that are forming around universities, around startup hubs,
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  around successful entrepreneurs and research and development institute. So that's happening throughout. You
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  could call it the rust belt, but people actually don't like that firm pretty
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  those who live in that area, they think that that's an old derogatory term,
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  so they want to be known as I'm sure the tech belt, a
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  new tech belt outside of Silicon Valley and Rebecca is known as a tech journalist.
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  She's actually she's unbelievable. I'm crazy about her. Cnb C contributor.
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  You're a tech journalist. Your book has gotten tremendous reviews, as all of
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  your books and indispensable. Look at that word book for founders, investors,
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  and changemakers, said Jim Bryer, founder of CEO Briar Capital. A book
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  that inspires hope for our future. Rocana, author of Dignity in the Digital
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  Age. That's an important And then look at this one. An uplifting journey
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  into Americans all too often overlooked Midwest, the untold story of the rust Belt
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  rising, says Morrel Gavett, CEO of Tech Stars and author of Tramped.
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  Are you unicorns now? But why are you from the Midwest? Yeah,
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  I'm from Ohio. That's why I get it. I'm from the southeastern Ohio,
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  which is sort of almost in the Appalachia areas in the foothills, just
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  one county north of the Appalachian Foothills. So my book also goes into Appalachia,
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  goes into the coal mining areas of West Virginia that are also in transition.
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  Because all of these places they have to they have to look to the
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  future. They can't depend upon their past industries or they're going to be dead.
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  They have to they have to strategize for the future and figure out what
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  the new industries are. So West Virginia is really big now on cybersecurity and
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  energy. Are trying to get much bigger in that are less reliance on coal
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  mining, because this is an area that you know, has been diminished quite
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  a bit in the past fifty years. Just like many of these manufacturing manufacturers
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  and factories have shifted to overseas, to China and elsewhere, or to Mexico.
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  Now we have to rebuild, and we are rebuilding. So I think
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  there's a new awareness in the United States that we've got to compete with China.
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  A lot of these factories moved to China. Research and development is happening
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  in China, innovations happening in China, and we are The United States is
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  now um you know, launched a major industrial redevelopment of our core United States,
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  not just Silicon Valley, not just New York City, not just Boston,
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  but a lot of the regions that have been overlooked for many years,
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  such as the Rust Belt, such as the rust belt, or you could
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  call it the industrial heart And if you want to call it that handle needs
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  a new name. It needs Yeah, I call it, you know,
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  I call it a Silicon heartland. Silicon Heartland. That's the title of my
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  new book, another book, not this book, No Silicon Heartland. Is
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  this one? That's just a question. Yeah, yeah, I know.
• 10:15
  Hey, let me let me share screen for a second. Let me can
• 10:18
  you enable share screen on my show something? You've been good the screen?
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  I can have the share screen. Okay, all right? Can you can
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  you see that? I can see I can say, oh, hey,
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  look at this. Yeah. So that just gives you a picture of the
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  three major books I've done there plus Start of Asia not even in there.
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  But these they all have China relevance because this was the first book talking about
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  China getting ahead. This book talked about how they were they were really maturing,
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  and this one talks about the US response and how we are responding to
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  China um as the as a big tech rival. So that's uh kind of
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  the journey that I've been on. Now, you, i will say,
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  are a wonderful person to ask h one either how do you see Let's look
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  at the future for a moment here. Okay, so the Silicon heartland,
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  how do you see the success of it? Do you think we can can
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  transform? Do you think we can re innovate? Can we? Uh?
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  Can we? I mean we always seem to be able to do well.
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  We're hard working country. The people of America, they want to make a
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  living, they want to feed their families, um, and they'll do whatever
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  they have to do to to You'll hit on two really strong points at a
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  population of this area of a lot of grit, a lot of determination,
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  working very hard uh. And so the culture uh is a real benefit I
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  think to this region's transition, as well as what's been happening with remote working.
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  You know, a lot of new tech talent has moved into places that
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  they may not have considered in the past, but now because they can work
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  anywhere and they don't have to go into an office or more tech talent has
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  moved in land, and more and more states are encouraging that kind of migration
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  from the coast to the inland where they have the resources now tom to do
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  that kind of work and also to live in a way that's a lot less
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  expensive and enjoyable in the midway. Let me ask you though, you know,
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  sometimes I'm not anti union, I'm not anti organizations getting together. But
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  we do have a kind of a high standard of living and probably also into
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  Hartland. You know, kids still have to go to college for seventeen million
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  dollars uh semester and uh you know, and food and so on, and
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  cars are a lot of money and housing. You know, Yeah, how
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  do we how do we compete? You know, you're you're you're an authority
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  here. How do we compete? Where people are making five dollars a day
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  or maybe that's wrong that number I'm saying, or maybe they're making ten or
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  fifteen, but I think they're not making minimum wage that we're that we're demanding.
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  How do we how do we keep up and keep you know, how
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  do we stay in business? Well? I think we do really have to
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  have startups. UM. Startups are an economic engine. They can drive drive
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  an economy forward, and so there's a lot of energy around UM in many
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  of these states to encourage more and more startups and funding of startups and not
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  being afraid to try something new, not just stay stuck in your old job,
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  whether it's flipping burgers or whether it's being on the assembly line, or
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  whether you may be even unemployed. So startups are an important aspect of moving
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  forward. When you say that, are you thinking, are you referring to
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  the fact that a startup could pay their people less it's money than you know,
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  someone that's been in a company for thirty years? Am I offend what
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  I'm what I'm hearing? Or I mean how many how many people do you
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  know who haven't had a job for thirty years in one company? That's all
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  that's all news. That doesn't happen anymore. You gotta be able, you
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  gotta be adapted. You don't have to adapt to the new reality, you
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  know, And being in a startup can actually, if your startup is successful,
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  hey that's a home run for you financially, u and in many other
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  ways very rewarding because it may not just be the salary, It can be
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  the equity that you have in a startup and you can be part, you
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  can have impact. You have a lot more impact with the startup as an
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  individual than you can in a big corporation where you're just doing kind of in
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  some cases routine work. Right right, No, this is a very very
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  powerful comment that you're saying, and actually something I didn't you know. I
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  know about startups. I go to your style, to your meetings in startup
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  I go to a lot of investment events. But in essence, it's a
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  it's a driving force for business. Oh it is. And there's been a
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  lot of eighteen thousand new startups in the Midwest in the last decade, and
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  that's a good number. So you're starting to see the decentralization of Silicon Valley,
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  which really has monopolized the startup activity and the funding for startups, about
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  half of it actually in the United States. Half of it it's in Silicon
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  Valley, believe it or not, and then New York and Boston or the
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  other major powers. But now we're seeing a shift where the balance is tipping
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  more to the inland and we're seeing more founding going in and more startups and
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  more successes. So you know, it's gradual, it's not happening overnight.
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  And I think this is kind of a frontier trend and it's on the frontier
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  as well, so definitely something to watch. I think, there you go.
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  Could you put your book back up? I like the way you did
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  that. Okay, sure, people get it. Sure, they can get
• 16:42
  the book on Amazon easily enough. And well, let me get the right
• 16:51
  to bolder here one a second, so share screen. Oh that's not right.
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  Do you have that here? It is? I got it beautiful.
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  So Silan Harlan is a new book. It just came out. It's on
• 17:12
  Amazon. It's also in some bookstores as well. And and I've been on
• 17:21
  the speaking circuit too, so often these books are at my speaking events.
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  What's your website so people can see where you are speaking? Oh? Sure,
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  yeah, that is Silicon Dragon Ventures dot com. Silicon Dragon Ventures dot
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  com. All right, we'll becca. Thank you so much. It's always
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  a pleasure to speak with. You have such good positive energy. You're all
• 17:45
  about peace, so also you're a positive and many aspects. What's peace for
• 17:49
  you? Last last question, Well, what's peace for me? Oh gosh,
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  let me think. Well, we have an awful lot of conflict in
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  today's society, and it's very difficult to find a place where you don't where
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  you can find peace. So if you can find that special spot, um
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  where you feel like everything's okay with the world, uh, that is peace
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  to me. Finding that special spot beautifully, beautifully, beautifully stated maybe it's
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  in the heartland. Well, it's definitely quieter in the heartland New York City.
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  What was I saying? It was in the Cleveland at the Rock and
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  Roll Hall of Fame, Huey Lewis. Huey Lewis, The world is in
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  the Midwest, in the Heartland, and it's in Cleveland, not in la
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  not in New York. It's in Cleveland, I think, is how the
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  song goes. Wow, Well you got you gotta go there. And I
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  know the Midwest, you know. I have my best friends from Columbus,
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  Ohio, my other friends from Michigan. I was marrying a woman from Chicago.
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  I have been all around the Midwest, so we got family out that
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  way. So it's all good. We're New Yorkers. But in essence,
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  it's a great world, and everywhere that you are can be as wonderful as
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  just like you say, especially if you find your happy place. Yeah.
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  Yeah, September twenty first, I'm marking my calendar in New York City.
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  Yeah, I would send you more about it. It's gonna be National Day
• 19:42
  of Peace and Ecology. We're really we're really a lot more also from now
• 19:47
  focused well, we've been involved with ecologies for millions of years. But um
• 19:52
  ecology is another one of those that are taking prime prime concern. Let's put
• 19:57
  it like that climate, that's a big thing. Fur We're again, We'll
• 20:04
  see you again. Ye bye bye