I visited New York already for a few times since I am regularly attending World Business Forum which takes place there. This year while I was visiting Big Apple (my fourth time already), I said to myself I had to visit Boston as well – at least for a day or two. There a few reasons why I wanted to make this visit. First of all, Boston has the reputation of being the only American city with the European feel and vigorous cultural and historical heritage. Furthermore, this city is the cradle of the creation of USA, where the Revolution and the rebellion against the English rule started. And, finally, this is the city where both Harvard and MIT are located – the flagship Universities in USA and among the best and most prestigious Universtities in the whole world too, in the areas of business, law and technology.

Is it a coincidence that the best and most prestigious Universities in USA and in the world are located in such a small city for American standards, that the Revolution started there, and that Boston is the city that has the most similarities to Europe? After this visit, I would say definitely not.

By taking regular tours leading through historical venues witnessing the start of the Revolution and the declaration of independence from England, one can everywhere sense a pride for the entire event and the fact that a group of brave and capable man from this area initiated the fight for independence and Declaration of Independence – foundation for the creation of today’s greatest power in the world. Perhaps man can argue abot this, but I would say that patterns of behavior back then were extremely important in leading US to become world leading power. In Coatia on the other hand, unfortunately we can sense chronic deficiency of heros, role models and pride of our past – especially in connection to the recent Homeland War and independence in which it resulted.

Firstly, let’s look at who were the people who settled America during the past three or four hundred years? These were Europeans full of adventurous spirit and above average courage, ready to dare to move to a totally unknown land. If we are to judge according to Malcom Gladwell, who goes so far that he interprets Chinese above average capabilities in math through the history of lengthy and hard work in rice fields, in relation to Europeans who had to work a bit less in fields of wheat and corn (I personally hold this theory too radical), then this gene connected to risk, experimenting and courage to try something new – helped USA become what it is today. It is enough to look at the fact the average Croatian is faced with a problem if he or she must move one hundred kilometers, while the average American finds no difficulty in changing his or her residence even for a few thousand miles, if this means advancement and improvement vs. present state.

This mind set gave Americans the strength and determination to secede from England in 1776, to start the Civil War out of which they came out even stronger and more unified, to win two world wars (the first one as participant and the second as the key player), and dominate the world economic and political scene after 1945.

But, how did it all start? After almost twenty years of different intolerance manifestations between the English colonizers and the American local colonial population (the Boston massacre of 1771, the Boston Tea Party of 1773), in June 1775, seven hundred English soldiers headed towards Lexington (a town next to Boston), wanting to capture one of mutiny leaders – Samuel Adams. This is when one of the best known events in American history happened – the night ride during which Paul Revere notified hundreds of colonialists of the coming of the English, motivating them to gather the following day and stand up to English troops. This event practically represents the beginning of the American Revolution.

Paul Revere was a true hero of his time – otherwise he could hardly have gathered so many people against the English. A long time patriot and republican, as well as a distinguished craftsman and father to sixteen children (out of which he outlived twelve for he lived on until deep old age), he is credited with the successful start of the Revolution. For a number of years already he stood for the best and most reliable scout of American colonial troops. He saw that night English troops getting ready to march on Lexington in order to capture the leaders of the American Revolution – Samuel Adams and other American patriots. Crossing the river and riding all night, he managed to alert hundreds of inhabitants and mobilize them to gather the next day and stand up to the English. Truly impressive for those times whne there was no help from technological aids such as the internet or Facebook.

One could wonder what Paul Revere would be capable of doing today if he were a Facebook user with thousands of friends (that he would surely have) – how fast and how efficiently could he gather thousands of patriots and followers in the fight against the invader? Certainly, personal contact is always stronger and more impactfull, but we can witnesses today, via technology and social networks, hundreds of thousand and even millions of people gather around much more banal issues – let alone those decisive ones such as the fight for the future of the nation. The Paul Revere of today would probably also be a Hardvard alumnus and have lots of followers on Twitter. He would be perfectly networked in his physical and virtual space and this credibility would enable him exceptionally fast activation and support from the large number of people. In any case, the events of that night lay down the foundation for the creation of today’s most powerful state.

In any case, question remains - why exactly is the US today’s leading power in the world?

• People with curridge and oppenes to new things moved to live there. ..1)t was required to have above average dose of fearlessness and decisiveness required for a trip across the ocean into the unknown, with a hope for a better future (ok, part of first settlers were also convicts like in Australia). Roots of these above average mobility of the American population can be seen even today in their general readiness to change their residence and travel for thousands of kilometers if an opportunity arises (in contrast to most Croatians).
• Forging the nation through internal struggle and the civil war. 2)If we look at the history and origins of the creation of great world powers, we can see in the case of the empire of Alexander the Great, great battles between Greeks and Macedonians preceded it (until Alexander united them). The situation is the same with the Roman or Mongol empires, preceded by major internal fights, or the empire of Napoleon, preceded by the French Revolution. The difference is that domination today by and large manifests through economic colonization instead of a military one from the past. Through internal struggle, “Spartans” were forged, that after achieving internal unity re-direct their fighting skills and expirience towards outside. It does sounds cruel but this is how it is for centuries. World War II, out of which Americans came out victorious is but a culmination of the process that had been taking place for centuries in the area of North America, and that enabled the creation of today’s greatest world economic and military power on the planet.
• Proper foundation, set exactly in Boston, based on fair and democratic principles.3)Proper foundation was the key to success for Romans who had the senate and gave Roman citizens’ right of vote. Also one of key reasons why Gengis Khan was able to create a large military power was allowing the possibilities to rise up the ranks based on ability (independently of origin), which, prior to him, was unthinkable for Mongols. The American Constitution, for instance, was so well defined over two hundred years ago that it suffered very little change until today (in contrast to the Croatian Constitution that was significantly amended out of its original form from the 90s).
• Meritocracy and system that favors the best and gives them a chance to succeed.4)The system is a lot more cruel and ruthless than the one in most countries in Europe, but there is a clear correlation between the engagement and success of individuals followed by the awards that come from it. USA can be characterized as a country of equal opportunity in contrast to the social states of Europe which function more as countries of equal rights. Equal opportunity means future oriented system, while equal rights means past oriented system.
• Work ethics and discipline – they work a lot.5)Americans on average have 10 – 15 vacation days, while, at the start of career, this number is 5 – 10 days (depending on company). A 10 – 12 hour working day is not at all uncommon, while the level of pressure, competition and requirements is exceptionally high. Therefore, possibilities are big, but so are requirements. If you fail to deliver expected results, you simply cannot function for long at your workplace. Lately I have been hearing from my colleagues that the pressure and requirements at work are getting higher and that it is hard to function in the manner in the long run. Americans have been functioning in the manner for decades and we shall also have to get used to such a way of operation or come to terms with a drastic decrease of the living standard – there is no third option.

Regardless of the above, the world is changing fast. For example, in 1945, USA represented (in GDP terms), 46% of world economy, while today it represents 19% because of large growth rates of emerging economies (so called BRIC markets – Brazil, Russia, India and China). Such development places a challenge in front of USA for finding ways to hold on to their world primacy.

Since we live in the times where knowledge and the possibility of attracting the most talented and capable individuals become the key competitive advantage of any organization (be this a company or a state), the key to maintaining the leadership position by and large (except for the control over key world energy resources) is found in the quality of educational and scientific instituitions in USA and the attraction of the world’s best talent to work primarily for the good of the American economy. If we remember, Nikola Tesla too was once one of them, and, if you want to work in world’s leading companies or scientific institutions, just a few countries in the world stand out as a logical choice. USA here offers the best possibilities for those best. Boston, with the unbelievable concentration of top universities for the city of its size, has become synonymous for the university education worldwide.

The best known university in Boston, and perhaps in the whole world, is Harvard. Harvard, actually, does not teach that many students; it is elite that attend it. Annually it is attended by around twenty thousand students (eight thousand undergraduates and twelve thousand graduates).

The importance and strength of Harvard can be seen well in a few aspects. For example, this is a university that has, up to today, accumulated over 27 billion USD in donations (30 – 40% more than the annual GDP of Croatia), thus becoming, convincingly, the richest college in USA (ahead of Yale), and in the world. Harvard President has the annual income of about five million USD – which is comparable to CEOs of global multinationals. Harvard has over 8.5 million books in its collection (adding annually the average of eighty thousand) in eighty libraries throughout the world. If a Harvard student requires a book in the library that he or she needs for their scientific work and can not find it there – the university will automatically order the book and place it on its shelves. It is interesting to mention that eight American presidents went to Harvard. Among them are the last two – Barack Obama (law) and George W. Bush Jr. (business), as well as the creator of the New Deala Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the charismatic John Fitzgerald Kennedy (just like the entire Kennedy clan). Thomas Edison also went to Harvard, so were the founders of USA - Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. In order to list all members of the Harvard alumni network leading best world companies, one would definitely need a lot of time. All of this shows the profile of the Harvard attendees and contact network that one can get by going to such a college.

If you are a brilliant student and Harvard wants you, you will surely be able to attend Harvard regardless of your material situation. Harvard is attended by students from all over the globe, even from the poorest countries. The mere fact that the college is so wealthy enables it to always find a way of financing or cofinancing those attendees that require help. But, in order to be brilliant in Harvard terms does not mean being brilliant in Croatian, but global dimensions. Therefore, if you are an excellent student and among the best in Croatia, this can still mean you are just average in global terms and have insufficient talent to be accepted to a college like Harvard, because competition there is exceptional and cruel.

The foundation of Harvard and its name is connected to John Harvard – whose name it bears. Harvard was thus formally founded in 1636, while in 1638, John Harvard donated half of his wealth to form the college library that would enable the education of nine students – which is with what Harvard started.

A statue of John Harvard, located in the famous Harvard Yard is the third most photographed statue in USA (right behind the Statue of Liberty and the Lincoln Memorial). The inscription “John Harvard, Founder, 1638“ is on it, and this is precisely why the statue is often called “the statue of three lies,” because of the following:

• John Harvard was not the founder, but the first principal donor of the college
• Harvard was not founded in 1638, but 1636
• The figure portrayed by the statue is not John Harvard, but somebody else (the statue was created only after a big fire destroyed everything John Harvard left, including all his portraits that would indicate his appearance).

The irony is that the word Veritas (Truth) is inscribed in the Harvard coat of arms, while the statue itself and the inscription on it totally contradict this inscription.

It is interesting to note nowhere on the Harvard campus will one find a large Harvard coat of arms that would clearly state where you are, but all signs are discreet instead, with signs and messages in Latin, and the architecture that is homogenuous and indicates long years of tradition and dignity. According to Martin Linsdtrom, one of world’s leading experts in the area of marketing and branding, this exactly is the highest degree of branding – when you do not have to explicitly display your logo, but it is nevertheless recognizable and more impactfull than if you would scream it out loud everywhere (examples: iPod silhouette, Marlboro cowboy etc.). Thus we can say Harvard is an example of great and discreet branding of an elite scientific institution – which also brought it icon status and made it the aspiration for students and businessmen all over the world.

Within the campus, there is a memorial building erected in honour of fallen Harvard students during the American Civil War, which in time grew into a comemorative center for all Americans who attended Harvard and died fighting in the US military. The two interesting things connected to the building is it lists Harvard students who fought for the North in the Civil War only and the fact building’s dining hall is a replica of the Oxfod University dining hall – according to which the magic school dining hall was made in the famous Harry Pottermovie blockbuster.

The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library within the campus also has its own interesting story. Harry Elkins Widener was a Harvard student and a member of the ultrarich Widener family, who, upon graduating, passionately collected rare books. He had been doing this for a number of years, until he boarded the greatest, most luxurious and most modern ship in the world – the Titanic. Having in mind his wealth and status, Harry’s place in the lifeboat was awaiting, but he remembered he had left a copy of one of his dearest rare books in his cabin. Going back to get it, he was unable to board the lifeboat upon return, and because he could not swim, he could not swim to it neither. After his death, the family decided to donate to Harvard and construct this memorial library, but Harvard had to say yes to the following three conditions:

• The building cannot be demolished nor amended.
• One room in the building must look exactly like Harry’s study and fresh flowers must be brought to it each morning.
• All Harvard students must be taught how to swim before entering (because the family believed Harry would have been saved if he had known how to swim)

The first two conditions are observed even today, while the third was canceled as late as the 1990s in order not to discriminate enrolment candidates (at the time when these things came to the horison).

The counterpart to Harvard in the technical field is the MIT – Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MIT is annually attended by about ten thousand students. As soon as you come to the MIT campus, you can spot a huge difference in architecture in relation to Harvard. While the architecture of the Harvard campus transpires tradition and dignity, the MIT architecture is more progressive and modern (especially certain newer parts of the campus). Especially striking are the parts with buildings that overlook the Charles river and bear the names of such great men from natural science as Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Louis Pasteur, and many other. MIT was founded only in 1861, and incorporates a vigorous entrepreneurial and developmental dimension. For example, if we aggregated the revenues of companies started by MIT students, we would get the 17th world’s economy. MIT also runs over seven hundred billion USD for research and development.

The visitor can by passing by instantly notice certain differences in student profile of the people walking throught the Harvard and MIT campuses. While the Harvard Yard and campus student profile resembles a “gathering of class presidents,” and the students are fit and athletic (Harvard is also the most successful American college in sport competitions), it seamed to me as a visitor that MIT campus was crossed by “quiet geniuses,” spinning thousands of formulas and mathematical models in their heads. So, for example while visiting MIT, I had the opportunity to witness a girl (not so athletic) becoming so engaged in reading a book she was holding in front of her, that she tripped walking the park between MIT buildings, falling on the lawn consequently. Having lifted herself up, she calmly continued walking and studying the book that she was still holding in front of her.

The very attendee profile for Harvard and MIT confirms Harvard students were by and large leaders, drivers of society and the whole of mankind, while MIT was attended by leading world scientists without who we would definitely not have achieved the rapid growth of science and technology during the past one hundred years. It is interesting to compare Harvard and MIT according to the number of Nobel prizes. We can proclaim this a dead race, with MIT being a bit “better” with 76 laureates (out of who some are quite famous such as Kofi Annan, Joseph Stiglitz and Paul A. Samuelson), while Harvard has 75 recipients of the Nobel (out of who the last year’s winner of the peace prize is the current US President Barrack Obama).

Some of the wealthiest people in the world – the founder of Microsoft Bill Gates and the youngest billionaire Mark Zuckerberg – started their studies at Harvard. One can ask whether this is a coincidence or would, for example, the mentioned two would be where they are today, had they not started attending Harvard (even though they never graduated)?

I personally hold this is no coincidence and that it is questionable whether Gates and Zuckerberg would have achieved what they have if they had not started attending Harvard (especially in the case of Zuckenberg), and I shall now try to argue the point.

I have recently seen the Društvena mreža (Social Networkand despite the film not having remarkable artistic value that would guarantee its place and immortality in a film anthology, I realized a few things watching it, that really intrigued me.

First, I had not known Mark Zuckenberg (recently proclaimed by Time magazine the person of the year) attended Harvard and that it was precisely there he created Facebook. Therefore, during his studies at Harvard, at least according to this film, Zuckenberg had already mastered internet technology fairly well and experimented in its application. Having been approached by popular Harvard student rowers (the Winklewoss twin brothers), with the idea to make the ConnectU for them – a social network for Harvard students, Zuckenberg saw a chance to initiate such a project himself. Launching Facebook in 2004 for Harvard students, Zuckenberg succeeded in a flash and was exceptionally well accepted among students who were thrilled with his solution for an internet social network. Encouraged by the success at Harvard, Zuckenberg extended the network to students of other elite colleges in USA the very same year (such as Yale, Stanford and the Columbia University), where Facebook was very well received as well. The next step occurred in 2005, when Facebook was extended further to eight hundred colleges throughout USA, high schools and international colleges/schools (in the English speaking world). Achieving success in all expansion phases and having found a strategic investor, Zuckenberg, in 2006, decided to “mass launch” to the overall market and make Facebook available to all above thirteen years of age.

Why was Zuckenberg proclaimed by Time as the person of the year and how many people use Facebook today?

Facebook today has over 550 million users throughout the world. In order to put this into perspective, this is, for example, one twelveth of the total world’s population, double than the population of USA and 120 times more than the total population of Croatia. Facebook users would form the third greatest country, by population, on Earth (right after China and India), while over seventy per cent of users are outside the borders of USA today, where Facebook initially started from. Since the total number of internet users in the world is estimated at two billion, it is also visible every fourth internet user is on Facebook. These are truly incredible and imposing figures for a network that has existed but for seven years (out of which, for five it has been available for general use).

If we look back today, what were the key factors for the success of Facebook?

For starters, what’s key is definitely Zuckenberg himself, without whose knowledge and capabilities to create Facebook just what it is, the form of social network would not have become so popular – one cannot doubt this. Further, key are definitely his Harvard colleagues who gave him the idea in the first place or at least helped him form it. Zuckenberg also possesses incedible self-confidence visible best in the fact he refused twice “the opportunity of a lifetime,” believing he can make something bigger and more significant – which he eventually did. While still in high school, he was seriously in to programming and he worked with his colleague from the class on a program for recommending music under the name of the Synapse. Just how serious that work was is confirmed by companies such as Microsoft and AOL showing interest for it, offering a bunch of high school students the amount of approximately one million USD to work it through in detail and make it operational. Knowing serious work on the elaboration of the program would probably entail leaving his further study, Zuckenberg refused the offer and decided to graduate from high school and go to Harvard. Likewise, a few years later, following the successful mass launch of Facebook, Zuckenberg refused the offer made by Yahoo to purchase Facebook for the amount of one billion USD. Let’s think about for a minute just how many people in his shoes would have refused such offers – to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars while in high school, and, as a young man in his twenties – hundreds of millions of dollars. This definitely takes courage, but vision too – that Zuckenberg definitively proved he has, and that he judged well by refusing such tempting offers in the past. Today, Zuckenberg’s personal wealth is judged to be 5.4 billion USD.

Except for Zuckenberg himself, a major part in the creation of Facebook was probably played by the fact he attended Harvard. Without the company of other brilliant colleagues at the same university who helped him formulate the very idea and to implement it – it is questionable whether Facebook would have been designed just the way it was and whether it would have been so successful. start-up The difference between success and failure with such start up projects is in details and it was Harvard as environment exactly, where Zuckenberg lived, studied and worked at the time that helped him design the details of Facebook in the way that proved to be the right thing.

Furthermore, the factor that surely played a significant role in Facebook’s rapid expansion was the place of its creation was exactly Harvard – which simultaneously dictated the very profile of his early users. Like I mentioned, Facebook was created at Harvard and its first users were Harvard students, followed by students of other elite US universities such as Yale, Columbia and Stanford. Therefore, when Facebook went to market and became available to all, it had already had several tens of thousands of young and successful people as users – attendees of the most prestigious colleges in America. Does this sound aspirational and would many people want to join such a social network? Yes, of course. This is just like opening a club in town with everybody knowing the most well known, most successful and most beautiful people would definitely come to the opening. Will this help club’s success and probably create a situation in which many people would like to come to the opening? Just imagine. Had Zuckenberg had the base of initial users from an outback university in Arizona or Oklahoma, it is questionable whether Facebook would have subsequently attracted so many people and achieved such widespread popularity. But Zuckenberg was a Harvard student and the very fact enabled him with the opportunity and the privilege to form the initial social network among Harvard students. This probably helped the creation of the popularity of Facebook initially too. Just how relevant or decisive this was is hard to speculate after the fact, but it is positive that it helped in making Facebook spread succefully.

Let us now turn to another tale about one of the richest people in the world – Bill Gates. Gates was also a Harvard student and he created Microsoft which is today one of the most successful companies in the world. What was decisive for his success?

Well, just as in the case of Zuckenberg, definitely his abilities, knowledge and skills he had already possessed. Also, there was a decisive moment when IBM needed an operating system to run its personal computers and they needed it fast – which was exactly what Gates offered at the time. There is, of course, the story that Bill’s mother worked at an influential position towards IBM and that IBM signed an unfavourable contract with Microsoft precisely on her account – which can be both true and false. We should also take into account the fact that Gates initially really did not develop MS DOS, but purchased it for the sum of fifty thousand USD, adapted it for the use in IBM, and built his business empire on it – which additionally testifies to his abilities to improvise and be flexible.

Just like in Zuckenberg’s case, his close associates participated in the creation of Microsoft (today, its coowners), Steve Balmer and Paul Alen. He met them during high school i.e. student days – Paul Alen attended the Lakeside in Seattle with him while he met Stevea Balmer during his study at Harvard. Microsoft, therefore, was not created by Bill Gates only, but by a team of brilliant people who got to know each other during college and were led by Bill Gates – just like in the case of Zuckenberg and Facebook.

Would Gates and Zuckenberg have managed to make their products and companies so great if they had not had a team of exceptional people who they met while at Harvard? Without the input, thoughts and contribution of those brilliant people around them, something could have gone wrong many times and they would possibly cross the thin line that divides success from failure. Perhaps they would succeed anyway, but it would have been a lot harder and less probable. As a manager in a multinational company who worked on many projects I can vouch with certainty the quality of coworkers significantly impacts project success, start-up especially when it comes to new, start up projects, where the number of unknowns is great and where decisions for further development must be made constantly.

Harvard, both for Zuckenberg and Gates, played the role of business incubator and center of excellence, without which it is really questionable whether they would have been where they are today. This is especially true in case of Zuckenberg where the fact that initial Facebook users were Harvard students, made to later users aspirational to join this social network.

The most prestigious colleges of America, such as Harvard and MIT, thus play the role of excellence centers, connecting brilliant students and providing them with opportunities to start joint projects or simply, and easily, collaborate later, during their careers (networking via famous alumni clubs, getting former college students together). It is therefore logical that the Harvard alumni network also helped Bush and Obama become the last two American presidents a bit. It is truly no phrase the best one can do for his children is support them in the attempt to enroll into and study at some of the world’s finest universities – not merely on account of knowledge and education but because of all opportunities and contacts that can come to life there. To be among equally good or better people than oneself in one of excellence centers such as prestigious US colleges can motivate one best to get engaged and to advance in order to be better. The town with the densest concentration of educational excellence centres is – Boston.

It is fascinating that Boston is really similar to Zagreb in terms of population size. And this is, unfortunately, where all similarities between these two cities stop. Boston, with approximately eight hundred thousand inhabitants, also has almost about one million students in town and its surroundings, distributed in over fifty universities, out of which Harvard and MIT are best known, but are not the largest in terms of students. The University of Zagreb is just 33 years younger then Harvard, but it is realistically minor in terms of impact in world standards. For example, among the top thirty best ranked universities in the world as many as 22 are in the US, while none of our universities are even among world top 500 – that much about our quality of education and how smart are we really. I would not even like to mention business schools, out of which not a single one managed to realize even an approximate status and rating of the IECD Bled (perception and marketing are one thing, while realistic ranking on transparent world, European and regional benchmarks quite another).

Is it realistic at all for Zagreb to become the Boston of Central and Eastern Europe one day or is this utopia?

As for tradition, I don’t think we have a problem here because the University of Zagreb is one of the oldest in Europe. The problem is primarily located in our heads, the system of values and clear priorities based on what the best solution for mid and long term future is. Today, when one of top issues is how to distribute the budget in Croatia, I did not even notice anyone raising any hell about the GDP percentage invested into science dropping to as little as 0.7% (which is two times less than two years ago), while in Slovenia for example this figure is 2%, and the EU standard should be 3% (where USA and Japan are) – and all member states should achieve this by 2014. Those countries with high development goals invest even more – for example, in case of Finland 3.7% and Israel 5% of GDP. In such atmosphere, where the focus is on maintaining the status quo and balancing interest groups, instead of securing the development of the country and the future of new generatons – it is illusory to expect any changes in the development of Zagreb as a knowledge center for the surrounding region.

And, without investment in education and knowledge (and already sold out strategic resources and the perspective to sell even those remaining ones in order to defend the current state of affairs and balance social interest groups), Croatia will in future truly turn into such a state where citizens will have no perspective for personal growth and creativity – unless they do not search their happiness elsewhere outside the borders of Croatia. The examples of countries such as Finland, Singapore, and until recently even Ireland – show it is possible to break out and start creating a society of knowledge that insures a better life for all its citizens.

I would like to believe Croatia too will in future develop climate that will allow us to be recognized, along with Zagreb as its capital, as a regional hub for certain areas such as education and science, and that there shall be a clear and vigorous link between science and economy (both in Croatia and abroad). Of course, it is not realistic to expect that we can construct such an excellence center in world terms as Boston did with its world famous universities – Harvard and MIT. There is simply not enough cash in Croatia for such a thing. But it is possible to make significant step ahead.

I think that making the University of Zagreb, with the right strategy and investment, into one of leading universities in Central and Eastern Europe can be an aspirational, but also a realistic and achievable goal. University (of Zagreb and other ones in Croatia) should also become a producer of high quality experts, who can with strong connections between the university, economy and financial institutions, significantly act upon development of Croatian and regional economy. All it takes is a vision, courage and strong dedication to such goal, regardless of all obstacles one can realistically expect along the way.

In Croatia, most business success stories have unfolded exactly within the borders of our country, and examples of companies which successfully ventured into conquering the region are rare (this trend is more noticeable only during the last few years thanks to opening up the cooperation with Serbia). Except for the very process of privatization which was what it was, thereby influencing the predominant local orientation of most Croatian businessmen who found themselves in it, the reason is in part to be found as well in a missing regional center of excellence in the academic sense – a place where all the best students from the region would come to study. If such a center existed, it would definitely be a whole lot easier to obtain regional contacts while still studying and accordingly - each business start up would right from the beginning be viewed from at least regional market perspective. Without such a center, businessmen in Croatia (but in neighboring countries too) are destined to enter a new market going through a certain learning process and find ways of establishing quality contacts and reliable business partners on their own – which can take years. I am convinced setting up such a regional academic center in Zagreb could significantly boost entrepreneurship and the regional expansion of Croatian companies (but also the one of other companies from surrounding countries of the region).

Everybody will support with mere words that investment into education and potential creation of such a center, as well as that we should actively work to achieve this. Yet again, as we can see, nothing is happening. On the contrary, we can discern rapid decrease in investment into science and education in Croatia. The reason is short-term and populist politics in place over long-term and development oriented strategy – something which is unfortunately characteristic of Croatian mentality, regardless of political party. Is it painful to cancel support to businesses and companies with no perspective? Of course it is painful and politically very risky if not suucidal. But on the other hand drastic cuts of investment in education and science are, in long-term, far more dangerous and leave Croatia with no hope for development and a brighter future. Even with our potential of a beautiful coastline and high agricultural capacity, with no remarkably capable and educated people who can adequately utilize such potential (instead of offering “sun and sea”) – hardly anything will go ahead on its own and bring about benefits and a new value to the whole society (except for the option of selling everything valuable we own – which has expiry date of course).

Zagreb and the University of Zagreb as Boston and Harvard of Central and Eastern Europe and as initiators of Croatian economy and the economies of surrounding region – this is certainly a vision worth fighting for. It is exactly such a vision that prompted me some fifteen years ago to be one of the founders of the Croatian Academic and Business Club (HAPK), established with the aim of connecting the academic and business spheres of the society for the purposes of rapid development of Croatia. It remains to be seen whether we shall be able to see such a vision in action one day.

When Paul Revere, 235 years ago, risked his life in midnight alerting of a few hundred American patriots, he surely did not even dream so many years later Boston would become one of the hubs and excellence centers in world terms. He only knew that unless they fought for independence and liberty, Boston and Massachusetts did not have a good perspective for development and that it was worth fighting and investing effort into a brighter future. During the Homeland War, Croatia managed to win the independence war, but afterwards most of the political moves were not made to ensure developmental and progression of knowledge in society – which is instrumental to ensure the prosperity and a better life for citizens in the long term.

In just a few hundred years, Boston went from great courage and leadership in starting the American Revolution and founding the USA of today (American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence) to leadership in the creation of new leaders – likewise in natural sciences (MIT) and social sciences (Harvard). Numerous American business and political leaders and some of entrepreneurs who changed the world by making it as we know it today (with the MS Office on our personal computers and Facebook - social network that connects people around the world) grew into leaders precisely by studying in such an environment. For Boston, this is a path worth of admiration and definitely an aspirational tale a lot can be learnt from.

Silicon valley could be considered as IT center of America, Washington as political center of America, Los Angeles as filming center of America, Las Vegas as center of amusement and New York as the greatest jewel and the symbol of liberty and the spirit of America. Boston could be then considered, with its rich historical and cultural heritage and with two most prestigious univerisites, definitely as the brain of America.

Josip Muller,
18. 12. 2010.