Modern Day Montmartre

Growing an Innovation Ecosystem

Artists such as Renoir, Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec and Edgar Degas, to name only a few, flocked to places like the cafes in the 18th arrondissement of Paris sharing their work, acquiring insights, connections and even financing in the various communal spaces surrounding Montmartre. This was the original innovation ecosystem in Europe’s artistic golden era. For three years I’ve basked in the warmth of innovation at a San Francisco tech accelerator which is today’s modern café for creatives, with a side of avocado toast and sustainably sourced organic pour over coffee, of course.

The way artists build upon each other’s lessons and networks is mirrored in today’s start-up environment except instead of the green fairy (absinthe) for imagination it is either a jar of Kamboucha or, for some, the resurgence of cannabis. We could take the parallels of San Francisco’s boom to the maturation lifecycle of the remote agrarian mill district into the now famous and ‘colorful’ home of Moulin Rouge, but that analysis is for a different discussion. Even in van Gogh’s time there was a Series A, B and C type of funding from various art dealers to supply vendors along with their share of failed endeavors. The biggest difference here is that the pay out is much greater in this new tech revolution than that available to the starving artists of the late 19th century.

As I walked the streets of Vienna’s 9th district, another historic thought-leadership scene, I noted that even Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis, and Theodor Herzl, who wrote Der Judenstaat and is credited as founder of the Zionist movement, resided one block apart in the same café neighborhood of Vienna. This is one of many cities around the globe that is striving to (re)create a Silicon Valley-type of ecosystem. They are analyzing the approach of start-up communities and the Venture Capital (VC) investment models. A flurry of accelerators, incubators, and co-working spaces are popping up from Berlin to Beijing.

What I find truly interesting is that there is a uniqueness about the Silicon Valley model that cannot fully be recreated elsewhere, and honestly, I don’t believe it should be. While the core pieces of community, openness, fail-fast mentality, ideation ability, talent pipeline, and precarious investing are key to planting seeds of entrepreneurial growth, organic culture cannot and should not be overlooked. This silent yet ever present resident in each community can either foster or inhibit creative spaces. Just like Paris fostered the avant-garde of these fine arts and those seeking to cross the border of traditional thinking, so too does the Bay Area foster the thrill-seeking serial entrepreneur. 

The first seed is collaboration. The culture in Silicon Valley is built upon not only intellectual curiosity, but a willingness to share ideas, failures and even influential friends. A frequent expression heard in the halls of these co-working spaces is “how can I help you?” Despite the natural competitiveness of Americans, this tech bubble operates in a slightly different paradigm.

The second seed taking root is the incredibly unnatural response to failure. At its worst, it is chalked up as a lesson learned as entrepreneurs push on to the next thing. At its best, failure is genuinely celebrated as an opportunity to iterate and save both time and money by not going in the wrong direction, of which time is the greater capital in a race to innovate. There is a genuine embracing of Albert Einstein’s philosophy “anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new” as well as Thomas Edison’s example that he had not failed but had “just found 10,000 things that do not work.” I have heard it said that San Francisco is an efficient ‘killing machine’ of mediocre efforts. When the stigma around failure is removed, the speed of innovation can race forward.

Another subtle, yet incredibly important mantra, is building the right thing rather than building it right. While talking to my friends from other industrial powerhouses, like Germany and Austria, they cringe at both the idea of failure AND the concept of sacrificing the perfect strategy in favor of applicability. This isn’t surprising when these cultures are the founders of the most reliable engineering in the 20th century as well as the birthplace of incredibly detailed classical music thanks to legends like Mozart, Beethoven, and Wagner.

This brings me to yet another element to plant in the innovation garden: innovative thinking itself. I am a strong proponent of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, never forget the A for art, and Mathematics) but turning out more industry specialists isn’t enough to breed those who are equipped to thrive in the jungle of creative uncertainty. Diversity of experience and perspective are paramount in preparing the next generation for the new way we will need to work. 

I learned the Austrians begin teaching their children to ski at the age of three and it is an important part of their culture and tradition; what they all know and do. The number of Austrian Olympic skiers is impressive but not surprising as so many grow-up with the ability built into their muscle memory. Similarly, teaching design thinking and other mental pivoting and dynamic problem-solving techniques trains children’s creative muscles. If we carry the skiing analogy a little further, I have been skiing off and on my whole life. I am far from exhibiting any talent but if I were to accidentally find myself at the top of a black diamond, I would manage to make it down without killing myself by using my basic skills to navigate the challenging terrain. However, my dear husband has recently tried to learn to ski after much prodding and despite an entire day on the bunny hill, he was still a hazard to himself and others. Can people acquire skills of innovation later in life? Of course! But will it require more time, energy and be less natural? Yes. Our creative brains benefit from the same muscle memory concepts as skiing, swimming and riding a bike.

With the investment in innovative thinking comes an increased ability to manage risk. Naturally, people are risk adverse, inherent in all of us, to keep us from placing ourselves in grave danger. However, engendering new and differentiated products or services requires a great deal of risk from creators, investors, and even early adopters. While organizations, cities and countries can create Chief Innovation Officers, launch public-private initiatives, open innovation factories, and even kick-start with some seed funding, it will not produce an ecosystem or culture for continued organic growth without also sowing seeds of the intangibles into people and processes.

So, should we reproduce the look and feel of Silicon Valley elsewhere? No. The Parisian art scene did not resemble the Athens cohort of deep thinkers and neither should any other community be a copy and paste of San Francisco. While the Bay Area exhibits all of the elements needed to foster an environment that enables innovation, it does not have the corner on smart and talented people. It has blind spots well-articulated in Emily Chang’s recent book Brotopia and an Achilles heel of being an echo-chamber. The important elements are what matters not how they are manifested.

After five days I recently spent with thought leaders from across the globe, I was inspired by the aspirations of 25 entrepreneurs from 15 countries. They are endeavoring to build the newest tech hubs in their home markets, from South Africa to Saudi Arabia, Malaysia to Mexico, and back to Austria. These centers will be built upon the richness of their unique cultures and histories and with that diversity of ideas and investment into the world’s biggest challenges, we will all benefit. I look forward to visiting all the Montmartres in this next generation of creatives.