The Next Silicon Valley
measuringmeasures.com
The Next Silicon Valley
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Re: The Next Silicon Valley
#2Wow, usually the title of articles like this turns me off. It's not yet another "can my town be the valley!" posts. It's a good in-depth look at SV itself and an analytical insight into why SV is what it is/where the next one might pop up for the same reasons.
Re: The Next Silicon Valley
#3Finally, someone weighs in on this debate with a genuinely intelligent perspective grounded in history and solid critical thinking instead of bravado and linkbait. The deep roots of the entrepreneurial spirit in the Bay Area (and, really, California as a whole if you extend this argument down to Hollywood) is hugely underestimated in thinking about what has made SV, SV. It really is woven into the thread of what it means to live there, work there, and thrive there. (And this is coming from someone who's an SF transplant in NYC.)
Well done, guys. Bravo.
Re: The Next Silicon Valley
#4SV as "the digital Florence". I like that.
Re: The Next Silicon Valley
#5Finally, someone weighs in on this debate with a genuinely intelligent perspective grounded in history and solid critical thinking instead of bravado and linkbait. The deep roots of the entrepreneurial spirit in the Bay Area (and, really, California as a whole if you extend this argument down to Hollywood) is hugely underestimated in thinking about what has made SV, SV. It really is woven into the thread of what it m…
In some ways, this post dovetails with William Easterly's paper, "Was the poverty of Africa determined in 1000 BC?": http://aidwatchers.com/2010/07/was-the-poverty-of-africa-det... ?
Notice this, from the post:
"1500 AD technology is a particularly powerful predictor of per capita income today. 78 percent of the difference in income today between sub-Saharan Africa and Western Europe is explained by technology differences that already existed in 1500 AD – even BEFORE the slave trade and colonialism.
[...]
Why do technological differences persist for so long? The ability to invent new technologies is much greater when you have more advanced technology already. James Watt had acquired a lot of tech experience in the mining industry which he used to invent the steam engine. Other people with the ability to make steel could then slap his steam engine on a vehicle running along steel rails and give us railroads."
Part of his (sobering | frightening | surprise) conclusion is that early advantages quickly become cumulative advantages that can persist for very long periods of time. The roots of Western Europe's success in the 18th and 19th Centuries might be in 1500 or even 1000. You have to look very far back in time to realize that. Likewise, the roots of Silicon Valley's advantage, according to the post above, might go back at least a century.
That's not the kind of advantage you can uproot with some tax credits, a five-year forecast, and a fistful of cash. You might need to play a game that works on the scale of decades or longer -- far longer than any politician or city booster thinks.
These kinds of ideas, whether about poverty in Africa or tech in Silicon Valley, shouldn't be taken as overly deterministic, but they should be useful to those who think about quick fixes for very wide, very deep problems.
Re: The Next Silicon Valley
#6Finally, someone weighs in on this debate with a genuinely intelligent perspective grounded in history and solid critical thinking instead of bravado and linkbait. The deep roots of the entrepreneurial spirit in the Bay Area (and, really, California as a whole if you extend this argument down to Hollywood) is hugely underestimated in thinking about what has made SV, SV. It really is woven into the thread of what it m…
In some ways, this post dovetails with William Easterly's paper, "Was the poverty of Africa determined in 1000 BC?": http://aidwatchers.com/2010/07/was-the-poverty-of-africa-det... ? Notice this, from the post: "1500 AD technology is a particularly powerful predictor of per capita income today. 78 percent of the difference in income today between sub-Saharan Africa and Western Europe is explained by technology differ…
Wow, thanks for the link!
Re: The Next Silicon Valley
#7There's a great point here that the post doesn't really go into enough detail about: in many (most?) places, business and financial types are focused on the goal of trying to find ways of making money without actually creating any value.
The mentality seems to be: Creating value is hard! Let's find a way to just make money off "immaterial" assets, financial manipulation, pure marketing and reselling, etc.
In the valley, people still look for ways to make money by making things that people want.
Re: The Next Silicon Valley
#8There's a great point here that the post doesn't really go into enough detail about: in many (most?) places, business and financial types are focused on the goal of trying to find ways of making money without actually creating any value. The mentality seems to be: Creating value is hard! Let's find a way to just make money off "immaterial" assets, financial manipulation, pure marketing and reselling, etc. In the vall…
Thats sort of the idea we were going for by explaining the background - that there is a reason the bay area is filled with a million product obsessed early adopters. It is cultural. It has deep roots. It cannot be easily reproduced, so you'd better work with what you have instead of copying silicon valley.
Re: The Next Silicon Valley
#9There's a great point here that the post doesn't really go into enough detail about: in many (most?) places, business and financial types are focused on the goal of trying to find ways of making money without actually creating any value. The mentality seems to be: Creating value is hard! Let's find a way to just make money off "immaterial" assets, financial manipulation, pure marketing and reselling, etc. In the vall…
With that said, we we need a balance of the two. "Immaterial" assets are, in many ways, necessary prerequisites for an economy with enough liquidity to finance entrepreneurial ventures.
(Though I'll gladly leave that to 'the other guys.' Creating value is much more fun than providing for it.)
Re: The Next Silicon Valley
#10"Efforts to duplicate silicon valley tend to fail because they attempt to follow the valley by looking at where it is now. They don't look at the century of history."
The problem is that the solution isn't to endeavor to duplicate Silicon Valley. The solution is to start small, foster communication and collaboration between existing entrepreneurs, encourage and support a research-based creative education from the youngest ages, and to cross-pollinate interested parties with each other. Essentially, to take the lessons learned from SV's history and start cultivating them at the micro level.
There are a plethora of options, but in every case the various problem solvers are not self-organized to the extent that is required to make real progress. Consider PG with YC (or any of the other tech incubators). They specialize in matching entrepreneurs with each other and with VCs. That's great. Now consider companies like 3M, IBM, and HP, that all have significant R&D branches. Woohoo, but they're often isolated from the broader community due to IP-loss risks. What about research universities, business schools, or NPO research institutes? They certainly provide value and do great work, but there is often a barrier locking out the business world (except in a few cases, where researchers and professors (and their schools) actively look for entrepreneurs to support in founding either spin-offs or private companies). Finally, what about the -- for lack of a better term -- open source community? The problem here is that "community" is too loose and lack of coordination is the norm. Even in projects that have a charismatic leader who does an excellent job stimulating communication, projects themselves tend toward isolationism.
As the author notes, it won't be possible to create another hub innovating at ludicrous speed without looking at the problem organically and starting small.