Innovation Nomads

The British think tank Demos is sounding the alarm about missing an opportunity to engage the Indian Diaspora:

Indian innovation is being driven by a new class of innovation nomads working between the US and India. Tight links between India and the US – particularly Silicon valley – are not matched in Britain which fails to make enough of its Indian diaspora.

I notice the growing importance of the co-location of innovation, in this case between India and the United States. Indian innovation nomads are an archetype of the emerging mobile class, driving the migration flows of ideas. Despite the significant presence of the Indian Diaspora in its own country, Britain is failing to tap into this network.

What Britain lacks is a region on par with Silicon Valley. I'd recommend networking British innovation nomads, who are part of the mobile class vanguard. Similarly, Pittsburgh has failed to leverage the presence of the Indian Diaspora at CMU. The folly is trying to reproduce Silicon Valley instead of taking stock of the region's intellectual capital, wherever it may be.