Twenty years ago the recent work of living artists was rarely resold, but for the past decade contemporary art has accounted for a growing proportion of the auction houses' sales volume.
And although Mr Chou professes confidence that HTC can find a place among the world's top five handset-makers, he also knows that success is not guaranteed.
More than a century of mechanization has already turned farming into an industrial-scale activity in much of the world, with farms that grow cereals being the most heavily automated.
Between 1920 and 1960, big cities in developed countries increased two and a half times in size, but in other parts of the world, the growth was eight times their size.
The Confederation of British Industry, the key employers' organization, wants even more expansion in higher education to help fight competition on world markets from booming Asian economies.