UK startup scene needs a confidence boost

There's recently been a debate at Cambridge University (UK) about Silicon Valley vs. Europe as the future for start-ups. Hermann Hauser, a very successful entrepreneur from Cambridge, argued that Europe will catch up when it comes to new technology (I think he mentioned mobile phone chips). I find his point quite interesting and I am willing to believe that Europe has a chance of winning when it comes to new inventions.

On the other hand, Silicon Valley is where the money is. Much more importantly, however, seems to be the willingness to take risks and embrace failures. This is something that cannot be found in the UK and I dare say it is vital.

It's all well and good saying that we have everything here in the UK, but where? I want names, places and events.

Where is the UK start-up school with an illustrious list of speakers - including SV ones?

Who are the VC's with some balls to back some risky, yet exciting start-ups?

If we are to catch-up with SV, shouldn't we be doubling, or even tripling, our efforts, like having Seedcamp run twice a year in a similar vein to YC, etc., etc.

There is good reason why the UK/European start-ups have gone to the sates, and that is because they don't believe we have everything here. If we have everything here, then make it more evident.

A package tour for a bunch of nerds to stay in the tenderloin and commute to Oracle during the day? I don't foresee many important deals being made during this trip.

On a certain level, this is a bit disturbing, as I distinctly remember the number of silly conferences and mixers increasing to a critical mass right before the dot-com bust. Lately, in SF there has been a Web 2.0/TechCrunch/Valleywag event every other night.