{"id":297,"date":"2012-08-14T22:29:58","date_gmt":"2012-08-15T02:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.agilityfeat.com\/?p=297"},"modified":"2012-08-14T22:29:58","modified_gmt":"2012-08-15T02:29:58","slug":"innovation-regulation-and-protectionism-in-cambridg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agilityfeatpanama.com\/en\/blog\/2012\/08\/innovation-regulation-and-protectionism-in-cambridg\/","title":{"rendered":"@Uber’s Innovation vs Regulation and Protectionism in Cambridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Uber<\/a> is a very cool and innovative company whose mobile app makes it easier to hail a private limo service.\u00a0 This is the kind of great startup that any innovative city’s government should be excited to have serving their area.\u00a0 But apparently not the city of Cambridge Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

Today Uber published this post<\/a> that they have been told that until some local government agency you’ve never heard of determines if GPS technology is safe or appropriate to use in mobile apps, then they have to cease and desist.\u00a0 In other words, the city is running cover for established businesses by using regulation to play favorites.\u00a0 This is nothing more than crony protectionism (all too common in the taxi industry<\/a>), and it’s really a shame.\u00a0 The Boston Globe’s Scott Kirsner agrees<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It’s a shame because the Boston and Cambridge area is a hot spot for innovation in the US.\u00a0 I recently spent some time in the area<\/a> and I was so impressed with groups like the Venture Cafe<\/a> that I am seriously looking at spending a lot of time in Cambridge in the future.\u00a0 AgilityFeat specializes in software development for startups, and so it’s a natural fit for us.\u00a0 At a minimum I am looking at attending the Lean Startup Machine in October<\/a>, but I hope to make another trip sooner.<\/p>\n

Silly stuff like this though make me think twice.\u00a0 I’m not expecting anybody in Cambridge to shed tears over my second thoughts, least of all some bureaucrat who only understands checking boxes on forms, and nothing about innovation or entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

But Cambridge and Boston do have a choice in front of them.\u00a0 Do you want to encourage a dynamic and innovative startup community that will be the envy of all the US?\u00a0 Then you need to be supportive of innovative ventures like Uber.\u00a0 Or do you want to stick to outmoded regulations and protectionism?\u00a0 Sadly, most bureaucrats will be too short sighted to make the right choice, but I hope that Uber is successful in their efforts to negotiate a reasonable solution.\u00a0 If they are not, then I at least hope that the agencies involved get some major bad PR out of this deal.\u00a0 They deserve it.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Uber is a very cool and innovative company whose mobile app makes it easier to hail a private limo service.\u00a0 This is the kind of great startup that any innovative city’s government should be excited to have serving their area.\u00a0 But apparently not the city of Cambridge Massachusetts. Today Uber published this post that they […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[63,60],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","yoast_head":"\n@Uber's Innovation vs Regulation and Protectionism in Cambridge - AgilityFeat Panama Software Test Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/agilityfeatpanama.com\/en\/blog\/2012\/08\/innovation-regulation-and-protectionism-in-cambridg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"@Uber's Innovation vs Regulation and Protectionism in Cambridge - AgilityFeat Panama Software Test Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Uber is a very cool and innovative company whose mobile app makes it easier to hail a private limo service.\u00a0 This is the kind of great startup that any innovative city’s government should be excited to have serving their area.\u00a0 But apparently not the city of Cambridge Massachusetts. 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