Gosiwon Silicon Valley

A time machine resembling a smartphone arrived at a gosiwon, a one-room lodging facility where students prepare for state exams in the legal field and civil service, in Sinlim-dong. The time machine is an appealing exit just like winning a lottery for the five students who appear at the novel "Time Machine, Unexpectedly." In the novel, gosiwon owners advise students competing to get a time machine that there is always a harbor where they can anchor their boats even if they change destinations. It is yet known if this advice can be a catalyst for students have a start-up challenging spirit or simply a babe in the woods.

World renowned businessmen started their business in their 20s. They include Google's Larry Page, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, YouTube's Chad Meredith Hurley and Steve Chen. Venture capitalist Sean Ammirati who analyzed their business traits said the vision of entrepreneurs, their ideas that can help expand market and problem solving capability are their success factors. These are not spectacular secrets. You don't need a time machine to achieve these.

Yoo Seung-min, a potential presidential candidate of the Barun Party, pledged Monday that he will make "Gosiwon a Silicon Valley." People can misunderstand this as a bid to build a venture town in gosiwon areas. But Yoo's idea is not to develop Sinlim-dong or Noryangjin as an tech industrial complex. Rather, his policy contains many technical content such as diversifying channels for raising policy funds. It is outdated to say Silicon Valley in San Francisco is the cradle of venture companies. Nowadays, risk takers are moving to New York. Yoo cleverly named his policy in a catchy way, but he should have opened his ears to students' fear of life than stressing the entrepreneurship of gosiwon students.

Former People's Party co-leader Ahn Cheol-soo said Sunday that the country should shift its industrial policy to grant chances for re-challenging for those who failed despite sincere efforts. Ahn's comments resemble those of Yoo who said that he would ensure that a one-time failure does not lead to a life-time failure. However, both have limits in regarding the failure after starting a business as a wound. If younger generations learn from failure and take a major step forward, that itself is a valuable social asset. New ways of thinking is crucial where opportunities are given various times. If politicians are mired in common sense, new job creations through start-ups won't come through even when the fourth industrial revolution and the 10th revolution are realized.