"THERE IS NO WAY BACK," appeal economists and experts on economic change. I recognize their cautious skepticism when they learn that here in Austria, social, economic and cultural life has picked up speed again in recent weeks and the much-vaunted "new normality", in many places not so "new" at all. Almost no one wants to discuss tracking apps that will be effective in the future; one has the feeling of simply being glad that "normality" is gradually returning. Well-filled restaurants, occasional events, holidays at least in Austria - what is becoming part of everyday life again in this country is considered irrevocably over in other parts of the world. The US is certainly not a role model when it comes to effectively combating the Corona crisis. More than three million Americans have now fallen ill with the virus and more than 135,000 have died. The tens of thousands of new cases every day are met by an unprepared health system and a lack of testing capacity; nowhere else in the western world is the mortality rate so high. While the situation is easing somewhat in the first hot spots on the East Coast, the new ones are in the South and West, in Florida, Texas, Arizona and California. People have long since stopped talking about an impending second wave, and are now talking about a first wave that is getting worse and worse.
The trends are particularly threatening in California. Even in the most populous state, which is home to 12 percent of the total population of the US, the spread of the virus is exploding: to more than 15 percent of the nationwide infection cases with up to 10,000 new infections every day. The "Golden State" has long been a leader in the fight against the virus: Gavin Newsom was the first governor to impose a curfew in mid-March, hired more than 10,000 contact tracers, and provided sufficient medical equipment and nationwide testing. Success: By mid-April, less than 1,000 Californians had died from the Corona episodes, 11,000 fewer than in New York. California even sent thousands of ventilators there.
THIS STARTING RELATIVELY favourable development in California is long gone. Especially in the traditionally pleasure-seeking "Golden State" with its coastal recreational paradises, many residents proved to be too careless in the face of the first steps towards relaxation. And pressure from business circles against the initially strict rules has also contributed to their probably premature partial withdrawal. In fact, the economic damage is enormous, government aid programmes are not working adequately and frustration and resignation are spreading among the population. Rising unemployment and the racial tensions that are also noticeable on the West Coast form an explosive mixture. Added to this are the effects of global warming, which are particularly noticeable and visible in California: regular drought and fire disasters.
In Silicon Valley, California's technology, business and education center, it has been understood for a long time now that there will be no return to normality and that social life must look fundamentally different even after the pandemic. They are used to dealing with fundamental crises with technological solutions and to creating a head start out of every perceived defeat.
Under no circumstances should there be a return to the status quo ante, even with low infection rates. Those who "only" want normalisation will lose in the long term. Rather, the declared aim must be to make people's everyday lives and the economic cycle as independent of future pandemics as possible and as smooth as possible. One should no longer invest in temporary and superficial solutions: "The current crisis is certainly not the last. Not a cent should go into average solutions," Stanford professors say.
STANFORD THEREFORE has already largely digitalised its teaching and holds a large part of its classes permanently online, after all, you can't do without the best students in the world from all kinds of countries just because they might not be able to travel.
This shift of activities to the digital is visible everywhere: The Silicon Valley top dog Twitter has now declared the home office to be a permanent fixture, food is delivered within two hours via Amazon Fresh and instead of going to a restaurant, more and more people are coming to visit a so-called "Delivery Robot" out the door. The highly sought-after and much sought-after Silicon Valley conferences are held via livestream or even via Virtual Reality Experience. Motto: The art of a good "dealer" is also to use existing resources to achieve the best results in the long term and to protect against crisis. Medium-term goal: "Silicon Valley 2.0". Within the next twelve months, the entire economy is to be largely shifted to the digital age. This current crisis offers great opportunities to further expand the global digital pioneering role. However, an executive order from President Trump recently put a slight damper on this development: the issuing of new work visas was stopped with immediate effect. Silicon Valley, a melting pot of international talent, is being hit hard. However, there is confidence that a solution will be found quickly: perhaps as early as November of this year with a vote out.
(from: trend.PREMIUM, 31-32/2020, 82/83)
About Robin Lumsden: Robin Lumsden is an Austrian attorney and entrepreneur based in Austria and California. After a career as an ATP professional tennis player (having played in Wimbledon), he became a Special Forces Officer in the Austrian army. Robin Lumsden is the first officer of colour in the Austrian Army. Thereafter, he studied law at the University of Vienna (2003) and the prestigious University of California Berkeley (2005) and passed the bar exam both in Austria and New York. In 2010, former Austrian president Heinz Fischer appointed Lumsden as honorary consul of Jamaica in Austria. In 2011, at the age of 34, he was voted second best lawyer in Austria in the category "Corporate Law" in a survey among law firms. In 2013, he founded the law firm Lumsden & Partners with offices in Vienna, New York and Silicon Valley, where he studied from 2017 to 2019 at Stanford University to obtain an MBA degree. In 2014, he was appointed by then foreign minister Sebastian Kurz to act as integration ambassador, acting as a role model for young immigrants. According to Business Lawyers’ Handbook in 2012, Robin Lumsden is an "outstanding and highly recommended young attorney”. FORMAT magazine referred to him as "the most prospective young lawyer". Between 2015 and 2019, Lumsden successfully defended the airport of Vienna in the course of a USD 168 million litigation in New York. (Web: www.lumsden.at/en)
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