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Many other locations have attempted to replicate the Silicon Valley ingredients - a major research university (Stanford & UC Berkeley), Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park (home to the major Venture Capital companies), an educated & talented technical workforce, etc. Think "Silicon Rain Forest" and "Silicon Beach" and "Silicon Prairie" and "Silicon Alley" and "Silicon Slopes" and "Silicon Plateau" and "Silicon Swamp" among others. All of had some success, few rival Silicon Valley. In theory, it shouldn't be that difficult. In practice, it is. Route 128 around Boston has been particularly successful, being fed by engineering graduates from MIT & Harvard, but in recent years many want to relocate to Silicon Valley.
The first bolded - major research university - is key. Silicon Valley grew out of the work and spinouts from Stanford and Berkeley. The bio-tech and high tech in Boston grew out of Harvard and MIT. Robotics, neuroscience, and AI in Pittsburgh from Carnegie Mellon. Silicon Alley from Columbia. San Diego is becoming a health sciences hub due to UCSD.
Research universities generate ideas and companies. They spin out startups and the successes create venture capitalists attracting more startups. The schools continue to pump out PhD's, scientists, and programmers to feed those companies. Government and property developers support industry with infrastructure.
LOLZ, it seems like Cal had too much of a good thing becoming bad. All the liberal thinking seems to have permeated everywhere in California and gotten California into a real mess today.
A tolerant, live and let live attitude has its pros and cons. Ideas, both good and bad, tend to survive more. I've always felt California had more corruption in government and more cults.
The first bolded - major research university - is key. Silicon Valley grew out of the work and spinouts from Stanford and Berkeley. The bio-tech and high tech in Boston grew out of Harvard and MIT. Robotics, neuroscience, and AI in Pittsburgh from Carnegie Mellon. Silicon Alley from Columbia. San Diego is becoming a health sciences hub due to UCSD.
There is only one Silicon Valley and while there are hubs of tech around the country, none of them come close to that of SV in output, venture capital, market size and influence. It's not close. So the question remains, why SV and not one of the other hubs that spent billions upon billions to be SV.
While I believe universities are important, they're a minor factor in why tech really centered on SV. The research triangle had top schools as well and spent billions to develop a tech hub that is nowhere close to SV. Most of the people who are influential in tech and went to Harvard or MIT eventually moved out west including Zuckerberg. When I worked in Silicon Alley in nyc, I met very few people who went to Columbia. Stanford and Berk do have great CS programs but I would argue the opposite - that they have great programs because they are located near SV and not that their programs created SV into the giant it is.
The first bolded - major research university - is key. Silicon Valley grew out of the work and spinouts from Stanford and Berkeley. The bio-tech and high tech in Boston grew out of Harvard and MIT. Robotics, neuroscience, and AI in Pittsburgh from Carnegie Mellon. Silicon Alley from Columbia. San Diego is becoming a health sciences hub due to UCSD.
Research universities generate ideas and companies. They spin out startups and the successes create venture capitalists attracting more startups. The schools continue to pump out PhD's, scientists, and programmers to feed those companies. Government and property developers support industry with infrastructure.
LOLZ, I never heard PBurg had any robotics, neuroscience or AI.
There is only one Silicon Valley and while there are hubs of tech around the country, none of them come close to that of SV in output, venture capital, market size and influence. It's not close. So the question remains, why SV and not one of the other hubs that spent billions upon billions to be SV.
While I believe universities are important, they're a minor factor in why tech really centered on SV. The research triangle had top schools as well and spent billions to develop a tech hub that is nowhere close to SV. Most of the people who are influential in tech and went to Harvard or MIT eventually moved out west including Zuckerberg. When I worked in Silicon Alley in nyc, I met very few people who went to Columbia. Stanford and Berk do have great CS programs but I would argue the opposite - that they have great programs because they are located near SV and not that their programs created SV into the giant it is.
Oh absolutely Silicon Valley is the 800 lbs. gorilla in the tech world and CV. And yes, many of the influencers in tech moved out west but they came from the big east coast schools. Further, note that many of those SV companies have a huge presence in the east coast tech areas because they understand that there not every tech person wants to move to the Bay Area.
LOLZ, I never heard PBurg had any robotics, neuroscience or AI.
You'd be surprised how many tech firms are spin outs of CMU and Pitt. Duolingo and Argo AI were founded by CMU alum and at least 80 Pittsburgh based tech firms have been acquired by other big companies over the past decade. As more companies create jobs in the area, they are able to keep the grads from CMU and Pitt in the area rather than moving on to other tech areas.
Now Pittsburgh doesn't have the same amount of VC investment but it its there.
You'd be surprised how many tech firms are spin outs of CMU and Pitt. Duolingo and Argo AI were founded by CMU alum and at least 80 Pittsburgh based tech firms have been acquired by other big companies over the past decade. As more companies create jobs in the area, they are able to keep the grads from CMU and Pitt in the area rather than moving on to other tech areas.
Now Pittsburgh doesn't have the same amount of VC investment but it its there.
PBurg must be flying under the radar then. When I in college in PA, everyone from Pittsburgh wanted out of Pittsburgh. And I went to the biggest school in PA by far in terms of number of students. Everyone made fun of Pittsburgh especially the PBurgers.
PBurg must be flying under the radar then. When I in college in PA, everyone from Pittsburgh wanted out of Pittsburgh. And I went to the biggest school in PA by far in terms of number of students. Everyone made fun of Pittsburgh especially the PBurgers.
It is flying under the radar but more and more companies are opening offices there to leverage the advantage Pittsburgh has in robotics, AI, and neuroscience. Uber, Google, Facebook, Amazon all have research facilities there. Disney occupied space at CMU for a number of years to work with the specialists in those fields. With more opportunity, CMU and Pitt tech grads can stay and get good paying jobs without having to move to the west coast. In turn, the companies can hire at a much lower rate they would have to pay in Mountain View or Seattle.
Another issue is work ethic. In Silicon Valley, employees of startups work essentially all waking hours. I contrast that with "Silicon Slopes" - the Wasatch Front outside Salt Lake City, home to some tech companies (although more biotech than high tech.) There are a couple big negatives with respect to the work ethic of many in the greater Salt Lake City area:
World-class skiing at Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, Solitude, Park City mountain Resort, Deer Valley, Snow Basin, and Powder Mountain. When it snows, many employees want to go skiing. Those same resorts offer ski-lift accessible mountain biking in the summer. Any time you're skiing or mountain biking, you're not working, and that is a drag on moonshot startups.
Influence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon Church). The Mormon Church has a strong tradition of encouraging/requiring after work church-related meetings and events. The half-joke is members, aside from work, are either going to a meeting, in a meeting, going home from a meeting, or sleeping. All that time in church and church-related activities is time you're not working, and that is a drag on moonshot startups.
While the above are specific to the Salt Lake area, I suspect similar distractions exist in other Silicon Valley Wannabe areas.
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