【世界银行2013众融报告之1】本文是互联网拓荒时期的先锋人锋、美国在线创始人史蒂夫·凯斯，为世界银行2013年的报告《众融，发展中世界的潜力》所做的推荐序。

世界银行的这份报告，通过对发展中国家的经济机会、资本市场、和发展机制与众融模式的关系的调研，意在鼓励发展中国家充分利用众融模式推动经济和社会的可持续发展，并创造更多就业机会。

【史蒂夫•凯斯简介】美国最成功的企业家和慈善家之一。美国在线（AOL）创始人史蒂夫•凯斯正用其在互联网泡沫时期赚的钱资助一批新公司，这其中包括Groupon的对手网站LivingSocial和在线酒市场Vinfolio。凯斯的革命风险资本公司（Revolution）还投资了拼车服务商Zipcar，并在2010年以3亿美元的价格将革命风险资本公司金融服务部门革命资金（Revolution Money）出售给了美国运通。最近，革命风险资本投资了维也纳的FedBid公司，这是一个政府获取项目资金的在线市场。凯斯还是加速脑癌治疗组织（Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure, ABC2）的主席。这家非营利机构用一种创业式的方法来资助脑癌研究。该机构由史蒂夫•凯斯及其去世的兄弟丹（Dan）共同创办。凯斯曾就读富有声望的夏威夷普纳荷高中（Punahou），巴拉克•奥巴马也曾就读过该校。美国总统奥巴马还特别任命凯斯，来负责一个由美国多家知名企业共同创办的创业扶助机构。

延伸阅读：

－价值中国专访原世界银行副行长、全球著名智库罗马俱乐部秘书长Ian Johnson

－众融相关背景文章

简译：林永青  （未完稿。。。）

Crowdfunding is an innovation in entrepreneurial finance that can fuel “the Rise of the Rest” globally

众融是创新性的企业家（事业家）金融，能够为所有国家加油。

What would the world look like if there were Silicon Valleys everywhere? While I am happy for innovative entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, I am passionately focused on helping to create “the Rise of the Rest” so that entrepreneurs globally can build successful businesses. This initiative is to create focus and action in cities and towns of all sizes, to form entrepreneurial ecosystems that can ignite innovation, create jobs and grow economies.

如果“硅谷”存在于这个世界的任何地方，世界看起来怎样？ 当我很兴奋地看到创新企业家们在硅谷创业时，我的激情专注于帮助这个世界的其它地方的企业家们成功地创办企业。这一动意的目的是为了创造出针对各种规模的城市、城镇的关注和行动，促进企业家生态的形成以激励创新、创造就业、和发展经济。

In the past, because of the high cost of technology development, lack of mobile/web infrastructure and restrictive financial regulations, entrepreneurs had to travel to places like San Francisco or Boston to find the technologies and investors to build their companies. For most, this was cost prohibitive and logistically impossible.

在过去，因为高成功的技术研发，缺少网络和移动网络基础设施， 以及限制性的金融监管，为了创办企业，创业者们不得不旅行、并居住在诸如旧金山（译注：硅谷）或波士顿（译注：哈佛）这些地方，寻找技术和投资人。对绝大多数来说，成本上受阻、逻辑上不可能。

Entrepreneurs had a more challenging time executing their plans and potential investors were scarce.

企业家需要更多的时间，挑战自己的业务运营、 执行商业计划，而潜在的投资人却非常稀缺。

Today, technology development costs are plummeting and tools are available to build software more rapidly and cheaply than ever before:

今天，技术发展、和技术成本的大幅下降，我们可以比以往更加快捷、低廉地开发软件。

. One third of the world’s population has access to the Internet and, according to the United Nations, approximately 85 percent have access to a mobile phone. 　　

. Based on the adoption curve of feature phones in Africa, it is possible that 40 percent of people living in Africa will have access to a smartphone within five years. 　　

. Innovative new broadband solutions are becoming available and smartphone penetration is growing as costs decline and demand increases. 　　

. With an increase in connectivity, new and larger markets for goods and services are now available and we need talented entrepreneurs to create innovative solutions to customer needs, to create jobs, and drive economic and social stability.


Now we are ready to address the lack of capital for entrepreneurs through innovation in the financial markets that leverages these technical advances.

（既然，创办企业的技术成本环节已经得到了较好的解决-译注）现在，我们是到了需要解决创业者们缺乏资金的问题的时机了。通过金融市场的创新，可以最大可能地让（创业者们）创新的技术发挥出更大的杠杆效应。

I believe that equity, debt, and rewards-based crowdfunding open new possibilities for funding more entrepreneurs in more places around the world. These changes enable entrepreneurs to utilize social media and the web to offer rewards, ownership of a shared vision, or even equity stakes to potential investors.

我相信股权、债权、捐助等各种形式的众融，开启了一个崭新的可能性：资助更多的创业者在全世界的各个地方。这一变革让创业者们通过社会化媒体及网络的方式，获得资助、共享愿景、甚至是股权投资。

Crowdfunding websites are creating transparency and more open communication by enabling investors to engage with these companies over time to monitor their progress and continue to support their success as the company grows.

众融网站，正在创建更加透明、更多沟通的机制，让投资人更深入地参与到创业企业中来，并且可以更近距离地监管企业的发展进程，同时持续性地支持企业的发展和成功。

This technology makes it possible for an entrepreneur in Kenya to more easily engage investors and customers anywhere; whether that be locally, the diaspora, or with others anywhere in the world. 　　

Now is the time for leaders in the developing world to engage in a spirited discussion and analysis regarding crowdfunding and how it should be utilized to benefit businesses and communities while providing prudent safeguards and investor protections. It may be possible for developing nations to use this new funding mechanism as a means to spur domestic innovation and create a larger number of high-growth entrepreneurs. 　　

Innovative policies, technology, education and safeguards will be important in determining if this new financial tool can deliver on its promise. I appreciate infoDev’s early participation in this conversation via this research and I hope they and leaders of countries and institutions will use this report as a starting point in creating and testing appropriate, country-specific approaches to crowdfunding across the developing world. 　　

I believe that crowdfunding may have the potential to help catalyze existing efforts to create entrepreneurial cultures and ecosystems in developing nations. Development organizations like the World Bank and other institutions will play an ongoing role to act as “trusted third parties” in creating these new models of funding and

providing mentorship, capacity building as well as ongoing monitoring and reporting. 　　

This research is also demonstrating the important role that academia must play in building deeper, more robust bodies of knowledge in this arena. Major research institutions and other multilateral development banks can use this infoDev report as a platform for additional research in this exciting new nexus of finance, technology, and entrepreneurship. This report, and the research that follows it, can help to shape global best practice. I hope this report can provide new opportunities for multilateral organizations and academia to collaborate to provide appropriate measures and tools for the development of this new form of finance. 　　

This confluence of developments in public policy, technological innovation, academia and economic trends can alter the playing field in developing countries to enable businesses to start, scale, and succeed outside of Silicon Valley. If successful, crowdfunding can support ”the Rise of the Rest” and will play a key role in sparking economic growth, innovation, and jobs. We have seen how technology has revolutionized many sectors of the global economy, however to date, the way that entrepreneurs are funded has either remained unchanged or become even more challenging. Crowdfunding is not a panacea and there are still risks and unanswered questions remaining.

Nevertheless, I have faith that through ingenuity and technology, appropriate regulation and investor protections can be built. I believe that crowdfunding has the potential to enable innovative developing economies to leverage the explosion of social media to leapfrog forward to build a network of vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystems. 　　

（未完稿。。。）