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Before Silicon Valley, New Jersey Reigned As Nation's Center Of Innovation

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11–20 of 138 posts

Re: Before Silicon Valley, New Jersey Reigned As Nation's Center Of Innovation

#11
I think Wall st sucked up most of the tech talent from NJ. Well over half the IT staff I've seen in the big banks and hedge funds live in NJ and commute in. I dont think tech could compete salary wise, though is starting to change now. Also Virtually all the data centers for NYC banks are in NJ suburbs.

Other Scientists and business people moved into Pharma in the 80s & 90s - which is also not doing so well.

Re: Before Silicon Valley, New Jersey Reigned As Nation's Center Of Innovation

#12
post #2

TLDR: anti-competative laws shunted growth to areas like silicon Valley which didn't have them. Seriously, why do we even allow people not at a C level to be impacted by these laws that say you can't leave to start a competitor? Moreover, why is it legal, like in NY, for a company to say they own all your work both on and off the job? We're killing ourselves.

I suspect that a lot of people over-emphasize the role of California non-compete lack of enforceability, specially given that (perhaps especially in the past) they've also reflected cultural differences between established large east coast firms and California startups.

I'm not aware of research in the area but states other than California vary in the degree they enforce non-competes and other restrictions. I'm not aware these have a clear correlation to business formation by state. I don't doubt it's one factor but, for example, Massachusetts hasn't been able to get rid of non-competes yet does pretty well as a tech center.

Re: Before Silicon Valley, New Jersey Reigned As Nation's Center Of Innovation

#13

Also central to New Jersey's weight as an innovation hub was Princeton University - where Alan Turning met and studied under Alonzo Church.[1]. Also worth mentioning is the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, N.J where Kurt Gödel remained a faculty member until his death in 1978.[2] Alfred Einstein also spent the last two years of his life working at the Institute. Imagine the conversations Einstein and Gode…

John von Neumann worked in Princeton, I didn't realize the von Neumann architecture was aka the Princeton architecture.

Of course Einstein lived and worked in Princeton too.

Re: Before Silicon Valley, New Jersey Reigned As Nation's Center Of Innovation

#14
post #2

TLDR: anti-competative laws shunted growth to areas like silicon Valley which didn't have them. Seriously, why do we even allow people not at a C level to be impacted by these laws that say you can't leave to start a competitor? Moreover, why is it legal, like in NY, for a company to say they own all your work both on and off the job? We're killing ourselves.

'Moreover, why is it legal, like in NY, for a company to say they own all your work both on and off the job'

Because it's really difficult to define which IPR is inside or outside the scope of your employer's business and easy to abuse for the employee.

Your email app might be clearly outside your search engine employer's business, until they decide to do this gmail thing. Also, most employees do something related to what the employer does.

Re: Before Silicon Valley, New Jersey Reigned As Nation's Center Of Innovation

#15
post #7
post #4

So there's silicon alley in NY, silicon prairie in the midwest, silicon forest in portland, what do we call Jersey?

wasn't it called Route 128 ?

Route 128 is in Massachusetts. (The term isn't really used any more because it doesn't correspond to where many/most companies are actually located--it only did to some degree even when the term was in vogue.)

Re: Before Silicon Valley, New Jersey Reigned As Nation's Center Of Innovation

#16
post #14
post #2

TLDR: anti-competative laws shunted growth to areas like silicon Valley which didn't have them. Seriously, why do we even allow people not at a C level to be impacted by these laws that say you can't leave to start a competitor? Moreover, why is it legal, like in NY, for a company to say they own all your work both on and off the job? We're killing ourselves.

'Moreover, why is it legal, like in NY, for a company to say they own all your work both on and off the job' Because it's really difficult to define which IPR is inside or outside the scope of your employer's business and easy to abuse for the employee. Your email app might be clearly outside your search engine employer's business, until they decide to do this gmail thing. Also, most employees do something related to…

Easy to abuse for both parties.

Re: Before Silicon Valley, New Jersey Reigned As Nation's Center Of Innovation

#18
According to wikipedia, it also has more engineers per square meter than any state in the US. Not quite the trashy state people are led to believe it is.

Now that NYC is not affordable for startups, NJ will become a perfectly respectable tech/Start up hub. And good for it.

Re: Before Silicon Valley, New Jersey Reigned As Nation's Center Of Innovation

#19
post #16
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Moreover, why is it legal, like in NY, for a company to say they own all your work both on and off the job' Because it's really difficult to define which IPR is inside or outside the scope of your employer's business and easy to abuse for the employee. Your email app might be clearly outside your search engine employer's business, until they decide to do this gmail thing. Also, most employees do something related to…

Easy to abuse for both parties.

Yes, but your employer pays you some $100,000 for what is most people's best 8 hours daily. In most cases, whatever an employer did code in his spare time, which is related to the employer's business, would be inspired by or downright copied from whatever he or his coworkers did in the office.

If you don't like it, you are free to accept another job offer or to quit and make your own business out of that thing you were thinking of but didn't do because you feared your employer would claim ownership.

Re: Before Silicon Valley, New Jersey Reigned As Nation's Center Of Innovation

#20

The exact same story is told in the film industry. Edison's patents were very strongly enforced on the east coast, but not in California. All of the film studios then packed up and headed west.

Protectionism in capitalism does not work in the long run. Different forms of it are practiced to this day. US Capitalism is rife with with legislative protectionism.
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