Nano City

Hotmail founder, Sabeer Bhatia, was at Stanford recently where he outlined his vision for Nano City - the most carefully manufactured settlement this side of Disneyland. The organizers of the event didn't do themselves much favors however, when they sent out an email announcing the event and the location, but neglected to mention the time!

The article in the Stanford Report talks about his plans to develop and finance the city, but omitted the point he kept stressing on during the entire talk - many previous attempts at building techno parks and providing infrastructure for tech firms in the hope that it would lead to an economic boom have fallen flat. This is because in India today, companies must chase employees. There is a surfeit of jobs and nowhere near enough well qualified people to do them. Bhatia was of the opinion that unless you made a place attractive for young people to live, there was no way these firms could survive.

It's a rather interesting change to the old adage - if you build it, they will come. Now you must entice the workers, provide them a sustainable and engaging environment, and then the companies will follow suit.

15 years down the line, we'll see if he's thought this through.