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Sun's Lin Lee describes how open technology can create new opportunities in emerging and developed countries
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There's no question that open technology can offer enormous benefits to governments and industries in global communities. The question is how to “influence the influencers” so that they take full advantage. As Vice President of Global Communities for Sun, Lin Lee leads a globally dispersed team that collaborates with governments, educators, and student communities to drive a deeper an understanding of how open technology can be used to create opportunity in both emerging and developed nations. Lin shares with Inner Circle readers the nuances, challenges, and rewards of bringing open technologies to these critical communities.
Q: How do you define global communities and who comprises them?
A: Governments and academia around the world currently make up our “global communities” portfolio. This may expand in the future to include other influencers of importance including civil society organizations and entrepreneurs, but for now these groups are our focus. Our strategy for these communities may be unique. Rather than separating these two audiences, we combined them because governments have a more top down focus — they make policy to influence the nation, the IT industry and education.
Students are the grassroots underneath. They are the ones who will change the industry based on what they learn about the future. Having these two communities together in one organizational group gives a better picture of what a country is contending with, which helps us pursue the right strategy going forward.
As opposed to some of our competitors who focus on lobbying and government policy, we develop long-term relationships over a period of time, and because of this, are trusted to advise governments on how technology can help them. A big focus of this conversation is the concept of open technologies and how they can benefit government and industries within a country. The message differs based on which government we're talking to because open technologies benefit different countries in different ways. Ultimately, the intent is to help governments enable the development of local intellectual property to drive local economies.
As for academics, Sun's roots are in academia. The name “Sun” originally stood for Stanford University Network — it's part of our DNA. For years we've been close to this community. We're focused now on getting closer with the academic communities globally because we believe the next generation of developers, policy makers, customers, and technologists will emerge from here. Our approach is to make our technology open sourced and freely downloadable so that students can get their hands on it now, grow up with it, innovate with it, and share it.
Q: What are some of the challenges you face in working with these two audiences in different countries around the world?
A: Every country is a little different. We have to localize the message for everyone. In the emerging world, open means helping with indigenous innovation — fostering the local IT industry. In a more developed country, it means anti-trust, anti-monopoly, cost savings, and open/fair government procurement.
A second challenge is getting our message out to the right communities. We are a small group and it is impossible for us to personally meet and talk with everyone. This is where “communities” come in — finding the communities who share our vision and passion about openness, and leveraging their support to get the message out. There are many government officials, academics, and members of the open source community who share our vision and passion about openness. So part of the work is finding these folks and leveraging them to promote the “open” vision.
Q: How is the macro economic climate affecting the groups you work with around the globe?
A: Jonathan Schwartz loves to say that innovation loves a crisis. And actually, the worldwide economic situation is helping our message. Developing countries have realized that having cheap labor or being an outsourcing outlet are not enough. Having their own innovation around IT is much more important. They know they need to offer more than labor. They want to develop their IT talent and help their local industries. So our open source technology and willingness to share with governments and students makes for a perfect fit.
When there is a crisis, people look at different ways of solving problems than they did previously. People today are much more open-minded and willing to look at alternatives to creating a more robust IT industry going forward.
In developed countries there is movement as well. The UK just came out with an open standard/open source policy. The Obama administration in the U.S. is talking about open government and transparency. Canada just came out with a request for feedback on how open source can help its government. This is something we've never seen before.
When there is a crisis, people look at different ways of solving problems than they did previously. People today are much more open-minded and willing to look at alternatives to creating a more robust IT industry going forward.
Q: Which countries are the most proactive in terms of adopting open standards?
A: Brazil is a huge open source country. Malaysia has an open source policy that was endorsed by the UN as one of the best in the world. Indonesia has something called the “Indonesia Go Open Source Initiative” which was initiated by the Ministry of Science and Technology. China is a huge open source supporter. Others looking at open technologies include Russia, Vietnam, Egypt, Argentina, South Africa, Canada, the UK and many others.
Q: How are open technologies being received in these countries?
A: Emerging countries embrace open source technology because it provides a more level playing field for them on the world front. A popular saying with the Chinese is that they love to stand on the shoulders of giants. Rather than start from ground zero and develop everything themselves, they can adopt open source and leap forward with technology rather than follow. So open technology is great for innovation while also preventing users from proprietary vendor lock-in.
In developed countries, open source is seen as a cost-effective way of offering government services, making sure there is no monopoly in the industry, and ensuring that interfaces between software work.
The key is understanding what problems a particular government is trying to solve. With that understanding, we can show how
open technology provides the solutions.
Q: What are some of the challenges to adoption of these concepts?
A: It goes back to localizing the message appropriately for the different audiences with local feet on the ground. The key is understanding what problems a particular government is trying to solve. With that understanding, we can show how open technology provides the solutions.
Q: What are critical success factors for working with such globally diverse communities?
A: Being a good listener is one. As I just said, we have to understand the needs of these communities. At a high level, they're similar, but underneath the issues differ. We also must be a partner and thought leader. Every time we meet we must provide something that's thought-provoking or interesting. We are not there to make a pitch but rather to solve a problem. Another factor is persistence. Working with governments is not an overnight gig. You work with them for a long time before they completely trust you. This is a long-term relationship, and you must be honest, upfront, and available to them.
These factors apply equally to the student audience as well. Technology has to be interesting and needs to apply to their homework, research and career aspirations.
About Lin Lee
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