The technology world loves a good battle, and in recent years there has been plenty of excitement about the war of the technology hubs.
Silicon Valley is being challenged by cities from London to Berlin and Beijing – and, as a proud European entrepreneur, there is part of me that is tremendously excited by this. In fact, 10 years ago when we were building Skype from Sweden, one potential investor told me that he would invest on condition I moved to Silicon Valley. I did not move and he did not invest.
But while this geographic battle for supremacy is compelling, its effect is actually to make location less, not more, important. For instance, thanks largely to the internet itself almost everyone has access to the same information; for most people, the days of having to be close to a data centre are long gone; and investors such as us are looking globally for promising companies we can help.