I was recently invited to speak at a summit on innovation as part of the strategic economic dialog between China and the US. I was a guest of the State Department and got to meet with many people in government and academia. I was also invited to give two lectures at the University in Dalian.

As usual, I found students to be eager listeners and wanna-be entrepreneurs. But what caught my eye was how we debated about the role of intellectual property rights. Many government employees actually came up to me during the conference and argued that patent systems curb innovation, as people are not allowed to improvise and use the inventions. I found the concept very strange. The example that I used to explain my point of view was that I would not share my property if I had been worried about my visitors stealing it. But since, by law, others cannot steal what is my property, I feel OK about having people visit me and share and show ideas. It is this very sharing that contributes to an ecosystem of collaboration and further invention. It is one of the five pillars that, in my mind, creates a culture of entrepreneurship.