2014 Silicon Valley Index

The Silicon Valley Index has been telling the Silicon Valley story since 1995. Released early every year, the Index is based on indicators that measure the strength of the economy and the health of the community -- highlighting challenges and providing an analytical foundation for leadership and decision making

Clustering in ICT: From Route 128 to Silicon Valley, from DEC to Google, from Hardware to Content

One of the pioneers in academic entrepreneurship and high-tech clustering is MIT and the Route 128/Boston region. Silicon Valley centered around Stanford University was originally a fast follower and only later emerged as a scientific and industrial hotspot. Several technology and innovation waves, have shaped Silicon Valley over all the years. The initial regional success of Silicon Valley started with electro-technical instruments and defense applications in the 1940s and 1950s (represented by companies as Litton Engineering and Hewlett & Packard). In the 1960s and 1970s, the region became a national and international leader in the design and production of integrated circuit and computer chips, and as such became identified as Silicon Valley (e.g. Fairchild Semiconductor, and Intel). In the 1970s and 1980s, Silicon Valley capitalised further on the development, manufacturing and sales of the personal computer and workstations (e.g. Apple, Silicon Graphics and SUN), followed by the proliferation of telecommunications and Internet technologies in the 1990s (e.g. Cisco, 3Com) and Internet-based applications and info-mediation services (e.g. Yahoo, Google) in the late 1990s and early 2000s. When the external and/or internal conditions of its key industries change, Silicon Valley seemed to have an innate capability to restructure itself by a rapid and frequent reshuffling of people, competencies, resources and firms. To characterise the demise of one firm leading, directly or indirectly, to the formation of another and the reconfiguration of business models and product offerings by the larger companies in emerging industries, Bahrami & Evans (2000) introduced the term `flexible recycling.’ This dynamic process of learning by doing, failing and recombining (i.e. allowing new firms to rise from the ashes of failed enterprises) is one of the key factors underlying the dominance of Silicon Valley in the new economy.ICT;Clusters;Networks;Academic entrepreneurship;MIT;Silicon Valley;Stanford University;Flexible recycling;Route 128

High-Technology Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley

The economic expansion of the late 1990s created many opportunities for business creation in Silicon Valley, but the opportunity cost of starting a business was also high during this period because of the exceptionally tight labor market. A new measure of entrepreneurship derived from matching files from the Current Population Survey (CPS) is used to provide the first test of the hypothesis that business creation rates were high in Silicon Valley during the "Roaring 90s." Unlike previous measures of firm births based on large, nationally representative datasets, the new measure captures business creation at the individual-owner level, includes both employer and non-employer business starts, and focuses on only hi-tech industries. Estimates indicate that hi-tech entrepreneurship rates were lower in Silicon Valley than the rest of the United States during the period from January 1996 to February 2000. Examining the post-boom period, we find that entrepreneurship rates in Silicon Valley increased from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. Although Silicon Valley may be an entrepreneurial location overall, we provide the first evidence that the extremely tight labor market of the late 1990s, especially in hi-tech industries, may have suppressed business creation during this period.entrepreneurship, high-technology, Silicon Valley, economic geography, regional clusters

CONEC Volunteer Matching with Legal Service Providers

In early 2013, with Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) looming on the horizon, Silicon Valley Community Foundation launched a technology innovation project to support the technology needs and aspirations of immigration legal services providers in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties in California. The effort was envisioned as an opportunity to engage a cohort of agencies in a unique co-creation process exploring the use of technology to enhance citizenship and naturalization services for immigrants in Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley Stories

Many countries try to promote the emergence of technological clusters and ecosystems for growth, counting on the synergies between companies of varying sizes and academic research. Most look to Silicon Valley as the mythical role model. It is therefore worth trying to understand what caused this region's exceptional development. Although abundant literature exists on the subject, it suggests a wide range of explanations. We propose to examine these accounts while trying to avoid boiling down a century of co-evolution in technologies, institutions, professional communities and markets into a few simplistic recipes that will result in inefficient state policies.

Understanding the Silicon Valley Phenomena

Silicon Valley, Innovation enterprises, Tournament games

Using Bicycles for the First and Last Mile of a Commute

Bicycle ridership as a partial or total workday method of commute is increasing in popularity. With that increase in cyclists comes challenges for transportation agencies: how can the needs of cyclists fit seamlessly with the needs of non-cyclists, especially those utilizing light rail and commuter rail such as Caltrain On June 3, 2009, MTI, the Commonwealth Club of California and the United States Department of Transportation sponsored Using Bicycles for the First and Last Mile of a Commute in San Jose Co-sponsors of the event included Caltrain, Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and Valley Transit Authority (VTA). Introducing keynote speaker Carl Guardino was MTI\u27s Executive Director Rod Diridon, Sr. A panel discussion, moderated by newspaper columnist Gary Richards included Dr. Kevin Krizek from the University of Boulder, MTC\u27s Sean Co; Federal Transit Administration representative Alex Smith, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition founder Shirley Johnson, Silicon Valley Bicycling Coalition Executive Director Corinne Winter, City of San Jos? Bicycle and Pedestrian Program Coordinator John Brazil, and Caltrain Special Assistant to the CEO Mark Simon

Lasting Legacy: Local activist Jose Villa was a driver for positive, lasting change

Published for local Metro Silicon Valley newspaper; authored by Gary Singh. August 1-7, 2018. Vol. 34 (21): 12.https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/josevilla_archive/1001/thumbnail.jp

Corporate Philanthropy in Silicon Valley

Recognizes the generosity of employers and employees, and makes suggestions for ways companies and their leaders can encourage even greater levels of giving

Silicon Valley versus Corporate Welfare

The estimated $65 billion a year that the federal government now spends on corporate welfare programs harms U.S. industry in general and Silicon Valley companies in particular. The competitiveness of America's semiconductor firms and other high-technology industries would benefit if corporate subsidies were eliminated altogether and the savings were devoted to reducing corporate income taxes, the capital gains tax, or the personal income tax. Given Congress's reluctance to vote down corporate pork, one strategy for eliminating corporate welfare would be to form an independent commission to identify unnecessary subsidies. That would force Congress to vote yes or no on a package of corporate spending subsidies. More than 50 Silicon Valley CEOs agree with this critical assessment of federal subsidies to industry and have signed a "Declaration of Independence" from corporate welfare. In the statement, which appears in the Appendix of this study, the CEOs urge Congress to end corporate welfare "even if it means funding cuts to my own company.