Why the World hasn’t really memorialized jobs…and why India can therefore take a lead

1. The world recognizes Steve Jobs as an iconic, hugely influential, inspirational figure, but there are very few notable memorializations of him around the world, including in the United States.

2. In the US, even Apple didn’t name its new HQ after Jobs, only the 1000-seater theatre was named after him. And Pixar has a Steve Jobs building (also a Steve Jobstree in the campus). No street in Cupertino seems to be named after Jobs. There doesn’t seem to be any other major city in the US that has named a street or any other public place after Jobs.

3. In the rest of the world, a small Brazilian town, Jundiai, has a street called Avenida Steve Jobs (Steve Jobs Avenue). One of the reasons, reported by the press, seems to be that Foxconn, which manufactures iPhones, set up a factory in the local area. A proposal to name a street after Jobs in a tech hub in Paris was withdrawn after leftwing critics in France said Jobs’ tenure as Apple chief saw “exploitative” labour practices and “tax avoidance” and therefore his name shouldn’t be honoured.

4. Aside, of the Brazilian town, therefore, there seems to be no other major or minor example of public places around the world memorializing Jobs.

5. Post Jobs’ death, there were some innovative honouring of his legacy, but these were not concerned with renaming any building or street. The US Patent Office had celebrated Jobs’ 300-plus patents by installing 30 giant iPhones, each carrying descriptions of the patents. Madame Tussaud’s has a Jobs wax statue. Budapest has a Steve Jobs statue. MIT’s entrepreneur walk of fame has a Jobs star. St. Petersburg’s National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics has an interactive memorial to Jobs (a giant iPhone installed on campus with a working touchscreen that visitors can use to see the memorial). There are also interesting street art (graffiti or murals on walls) celebrating Jobs, in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Cincinnati, US, for example.

6. There are no major or notable technology or innovation prizes/awards named after Jobs, whether in the US or elsewhere.

7. It would seem therefore despite Jobs’ undisputed legacy as a global icon, neither public spaces, nor even technology, innovation industry awards/prizes have really memorialized him to the extent one would have expected.

8. Reasons for this may include the following ‘biases’ a) political bias: most countries still have a bias in naming public spaces/streets after political leaders, just like India does b) nationality bias: most countries prefer memorializing their own prominent citizens, not ‘foreigners’, even if the foreigner in question is a figure like Steve Jobs c) anti-business bias: even in the West, and certainly elsewhere, businessmen or CEOs or entrepreneurs still invoke mixed feelings at popular levels, officials are hesitant to be seen naming public spaces after people who are seen to have accumulated private wealth; Jobs wasn’t a typical super-rich, very far from it, but Apple’s business success means he can still attract the anti-business bias d) ignorance of business potential bias: naming a street or a square or a business district after Jobs can actually increase real estate value because of the name association, but many decision-makers in most countries don’t recognize such value-enhancing potential. In fact, were public spaces named after inspiring figures or after beautiful things, addresses in those places would become more attractive, but this point is missed routinely across countries and cities

9. As for the lack of technology/innovation awards or prizes named after Jobs, one reason may be that his death, in 2011, is still recent, and memorialization often happens after a long gap. US universities or other prominent universities around the world not having any award or prize or a research chair named after Jobs may be because private universities usually honour donors, and Jobs wasn’t a donor, neither has Apple donated a grant in the name of Jobs. Public universities are usually hesitant in memorializing a private sector entrepreneur.

10. The US should in fact be very prolific in memorializing its technology entrepreneurs who have conferred the country its biggest competitive advantage and maintained its status as an economic superpower after its advantage in manufacturing faded.

11. All of this means India can have almost first mover advantage if it decides to name a tech hub, say, in Bangalore or any new hub being set up, after Jobs or name a street in a tech hub after him. It will catch the world’s attention because no prominent tech hub anywhere memorializes Jobs.

(Adhip Tanwar helped with research for this story)