"The next great success will come from Asia", said Microsoft
Chairman Bill Gates said here Saturday.
Sixty percent of the people in the United States said the next
success would come from Asia, Gates said, citing a survey done in
the United States on "where will the next big success and where the
next Bill Gates come from".
That's true as it's well recognized that the investment and
changes here are leading to very innovative work, said Gates at the
annual session of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), which opened
Saturday in the southern China town of Boao.
According to him, Microsoft established its first research
center in Asia about 10 years ago and currently is spending 60
percent of its research and development budget in Asia.
The quality of job by Microsoft's development centers in Asia is
among the best in the world, he added.
Gates said he was surprised that Thomas Friedman's book, The
World Is Flat, is not only popular in the United States but also in
countries throughout Asia, and it's a biggest seller in China.
According to him, Friedman has done a good job in explaining how
two amazing things come together. One is the economic development
in Asia, particularly the investment in education; and the other is
the advances in technology, particularly the rivalry on the
Internet.
He said the opportunity that a person has used to be largely
determined by the country they were living in, but now the
opportunity is much more determined by the level of education that
they received.
"And so not only is Asia benefiting from the uses of new
technology, Asia will increasingly be the source of advances in
technology," said Gates.
Gates arrived in Beijing Thursday for his 10th visit to China,
during which he met with Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi and visited the
prestigious Beijing University and Qinghua University in
Beijing.
Established in 2001, the Boao Forum for Asia has become the
premier platform for discussions about economic development in the
world's largest continent.
This year's BFA annual conference attracted more than 1,400 most
influential politicians, business leaders and intellectuals from
Asia and around the globe.
(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2007)