Offshore foreign tech start-ups to be incubated on a ship:
Here is a nice little human interest story for you all, just to prove to you that Mobile Inquirer was born out of a need for intriguing technology stories on the net and not just “news” updates, great as they are for traffic, and advice giving when possible, I am slightly tired of reporting on the negative problems that people are having with the Nexus S update in particular, so have decided to find some oddball news related to tech and mobile.
So here it is, courtesy of The Next Web:
Yes, it would appear that some innovative guys over in the US including PayPal founder Peter Thie, have seen an issue that faces people from foreign lands such as myself, who want to start up a tech business in the US, the problem:
Lack of availability of work permits and visa’s.
The solution: “Seasteading“
BlueSeed will build a ship designed for tech start ups, and moor it offshore (12 miles) in international waters, the ship can accommodate a load of technology loving guys and girls and let them work slavishly on their new projects before they get a real chance of being a part of US life proper.
The ship will be a short ferry ride away from gaining access as a visitor to Silicon valley minus the need for a Visa, so people can mix, mingle and network almost as if they were living in the same area.
Man, this is seriously Matrix style living if you ask me, now I do not doubt the potential benefits that networking in the silicon valley area can have for your new tech business, and I adore the novel approach to a loophole in the law to solve a problem that many face.
But, it just stinks of desperation to me, however I am sure it will actually be a hell of a lot of fun, in the same way as going to university is, and will force you to mingle with lots of new people, and potentially catch new and strange diseases.
And, I am sure that this incubator will work in a similarly “positive” way.
For that, I give it a thumbs up for innovation, and highlighting an area that perhaps needs addressing especially as the US is set to fall pretty sharply from its once mighty peaks over the next decade, perhaps the US government should be nurturing more tech start ups who have foreign beginnings more readily, instead of forcing them to live on ships offshore for a period before they can prove themselves worthy, the US may not be that appealing in the years to come you know!
Anthony Munns