The best and most inspired article I have read on this topic was written by Paul Graham. What it takes to build the next Silicon Valley is the right people...nothing more...

Links:

• http://www.paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html

posted 10 months ago

only one answer to that question...Cheaper source of energy, if the price to produce anything is greater than the selling price of the item then there would be no progress.

posted 10 months ago

First, I would buy the surrounding 20,000 acres and lease it out.

Seriously, Costas has the right idea. I remember speaking with a professor commenting on his degree from Harvard. He said, if you took the same group of people and put them at some other college, it would have been the same experience. In other words, it's about the people.

Research Triangle Park in Raleigh-Durham in North Carolina has done a good job. At one point, Cary, NC had the most PHd's per capita in the US.

With telecommuting, perhaps the next "place" will actually be online?

posted 10 months ago

Well, I'd look for some location that has some unusually large number of researchers, already, and seek to take advantage of that.

Silicon Valley has the various major local schools (University of California, sundry campuses, Stanford, and such) around as the source of "people interested in ideas."

Boston, MA is a somewhat similar center, with MIT as the focal point of technology research.

Pittsburgh has CMU as the equivalent focal point. Unfortunately, Microsoft raided their researchers in order to found Microsoft Research, so CMU has gotten somewhat less interesting.

Red Hat Software grew up in the NC Research Triangle.

Waterloo, Ontario, has University of Waterloo and Wilfred Laurier University in close proximity of one another, and RIM sits directly between them.

The only reason to locate in Regina, therefore, would be if there were particularly interesting things going on in the Math, CS, or Engineering departments. It doesn't matter if the land is free if there aren't the bright lights to fill the research center.

posted 10 months ago

Read "The World is Flat". Friedman lays it out very clearly.

Cheap education, good people, stable government, the willingness to adapt.

posted 10 months ago

From about 1700 to 1850, South Wales was the Silicon Valley of materials technology for the first industrial revolution. The German Chemical industries were the next step. The US Robber Barons of the North East Ford/Edison/Morgan/Rockerfeller(?) etc were another closely linked network which had it's overwhelming day. If you are thinking on this scale, look at the history of SV's predecessors. Different factors were important at different times but they all had relatively good communications, further innovation in communication technologies and access to high skill levels. SV is not going to be replaced by a direct imitator. Imitators will just be satellites e.g. Taipei. Why, Why oh Why do we have Silicon Glen or "the Silicon Valley of Sweden" etc. . Such names are already the marks of losers.

posted 10 months ago

A silicon valley is essentially 90% about the people and 10% about the place. Places close to financial centres and developed cities are more likely to host the next silicon valley, but smart people can turn any place into a silicon valley if that's what they want, even if it's in the middle of nowhere. However, now with the Internet I believe less in silicon valleys. I mean, what's the point of having silicon valleys when entrepreneurs and techies can network through the Net and telecommute? As everyday real life contact becomes less necessary to conduct business, we will soon start seeing the genesis of 'virtual' silicon valleys leveraging the power of the Internet. If Ihad to build the next silicon valley, I would start by recruiting smart people on the Internet and creating incentives for like-minded individuals and companies to participate in some sort of hub website virtual marketplace.

posted 10 months ago

People is right - you need idea people who come up with new widgets and service, you need business minds to bring things to market but mostly you need people who hate having to do things "the right way" -a few eccentrics that want to show San Jose and NYC that you don't have to be the epicenter to get things done. I've met a few in Huntsville.

posted 10 months ago

What does it take to build the next Silicon Valley? A valley and silicon – preferably, not the squishy kind; however, the squishy kind would draw a lot of men or knife welding surgeons and their high society clients.

I would focus on joint venturing with the new space travel agencies and space entrepreneurs to focus on the moon! Yes, the moon! There are all kinds of resources available on the moon to utilize and with the minimal gravity new kinds of techniques to build molecules, materials, and other scientific technologies; ie perfect boron diamonds that conduct electricity). Advanced materials such as high temperature diamond materials could be applied to the transmission, distribution, and control of electricity. Diamond technology could replace silicon and yield revolutionary improvements in current density. When it becomes economical on the business level, these advances in technology will ultimately benefit everyone. Like any idea, if it will make someone money, it will trickle down our way.

So, let’s get together and build a moon dynasty. Let’s do a Moon Rush and get our stake on moon estate. I’ll quit claim parts of the moon to you for generous discounted fee.

Links:

• http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/16jan_sts107.htm
• http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=170701417
• http://www.thespaceplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.html

posted 10 months ago

It’s a mix of things really.

Near Silicon Valley(SV) you have Caltech, Berkley and Stanford. Each school all of these schools are renowned as excellent engineering schools.

So from these schools you get the young, smart and foolish pumping out new products and ideas.

A powerful economy which pumps money around the system presenting opportunities of funding to help expand these fledgling business's once they have demonstrated a capable product but perhaps lack the capital or experience to bring it to the next level.

Locations such as Dublin have a lot of technology companies from the states but very few innovative local companies which turn into multi nationals. Iona technologies (middleware) and Havoc (Games) are the only companies that spring to mind here…

What then happens is a tech company will end up setting up large operations in SV to gain the needed funding or experience.

So to develop the next SV I believe you would need intelligent, risk adverse people who have the necessary resources in the locality to develop the business such as

Good local educational system – either to work as cheap labour or to start companies up.
A large audience to prove the product works
Access to funding and mentoring
No boundaries to enter other markets (language, law, regulation etc. etc.)

Steven B also suggests this expert on this topic:

• Kulveer T

posted 10 months ago

I haven't reasearched the issue. Out of common sense and looking at current major R&D centers:

1. A place that will be attractive to people. That means very good life quality, excelent education serivces, excelent health services, moderate climate, parks, etc'. Of course we would also like to have low crime rates and high personal safety.

2. It is a good idea to build it close to distinguished universities so that you have access to senior research people as well as to graduating students.

3. You also need to have a financial center nearby so as to provide investments and credit so that new start up companies could be formed. Investors like to be close to their investments, especially when startups are concerned.

4. You need to encourage existing large businesses to move to that area or to open offices there. This can be done by lowering the costs of holding offices there (cheap land, low taxes or exen exempt from taxes for a number of years), and by ensuring these companies that they can find the high quality employees they need at this place.
New start ups are often established by people retiring from existing big companies.

5. You need excelent logistics support - good roads, good infrastructure (power, communication, shipping), a major international airport nearby. A conference/exhibition center not too far away is a bonus.

posted 10 months ago

Dear Mickael
only four things i call are Man, Machine, Meditation, Money
the question what is your sequence of putting these 4 will define success and prosperity and peace all.
Wish you Health, Harmony and Happiness
Acharya Girish Jha

posted 10 months ago

One or more major universities
Available land with a resonable tax scheme
No state income tax
Affodable housing
Incubators and access to capital
Excellent infrastructure (communications, transportation, services)
One or more, large established firms

Sounds a little like Austin, except for infrastruture (I-35...)

posted 10 months ago

Legislation which makes non-compete agreements for employees illegal is a big help. California has that, but few other states do, and it holds the other states back. In Silicon Valley, employees routinely leave to compete with their employer.

Tax rates don't matter that much.

posted 10 months ago

Why do you want to do that? where? what do you expect to achieve? what would you consider a success?

posted 10 months ago

I would presume you are looking to have such kind of development in a developing nation. If this is true, it makes sense as any developing nation has a requirement for software and hardware development, IT enabled services and telecom business in order to fuel economic development. On the flip side in a developed economy such development is purely dependent on economies of scale.

The critical factors that need consideration would include:

Infrastructure: location, government incentives & tax breaks, accessibility to other developed centers through air & road and sound healthcare and residential facility

Human capital: easy availability of quality human resource is critical for success of knowledge intensive business

Market: internal consumption of the goods/services is recommended but if export is the criteria then easy export facility and government breaks on exports are of prime importance.

Economic consideration: the new development needs to be recognized as an investment option, which drives in money from across sectors into the valley. This would help to access cheap funds.

Positioning: Last but not the least people should buy your story and for that one would need to weave a marketing campaign around the project.

posted 10 months ago

A silicon valley success is a person is has the resources at hand to try and then throw out hundreds of new ideas a month. One has to be able to fail quickly and inexpensively in order to find the nugget of profit, and then have the resources to pursue it.

One of the reasons SV got its start was the plentiful availability of cheap electronic components. You could have an idea, go out and get the materials, and have a working prototype in the same day.

Most new successes are now with software or internet services, where one can go out and get the tools and materials (code, computers, internet access) and try out several ideas a day - in order to refine the overall goal.

But SV started out with hardware. You aren't going to be able to replicate that elsewhere easily.

As many others have said, you need to have a lot of people with a lot of good ideas, and the desire (actually the _need_ ) to take risks and throw themselves on the line for an idea.

It's hard to attract that kind of person, and it's largely a catch-22. They want to be around other like-minded people, and you can't get them until you get others like them.

The easiest way to accomplish this is to develop the people already in the area into entrepreneurs. Provide resources and training that allows them to feel that they can succeed in their dreams. This may mean meeting spaces, money, equipment, local "Maker" type groups, user groups and forums, etc. Start a technology incubator. While money always helps, often what people need more than money is simple encouragement and affirmation that there are others around them that would be willing to lend a hand in various matters.

Get local IP lawyers to donate time for legal questions. Get local businesses to donate resources and ideas. Etc, etc, etc.

-Adam

posted 10 months ago

Paul Graham's essay "How to Be Silicon Valley" is authoritative and should be well digested before progressing further. A brief excerpt:

"A great university near an attractive town. Is that all it takes? That was all it took to make the original Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley traces its origins to William Shockley, one of the inventors of the transistor. He did the research that won him the Nobel Prize at Bell Labs, but when he started his own company in 1956 he moved to Palo Alto to do it. At the time that was an odd thing to do. Why did he? Because he had grown up there and remembered how nice it was. Now Palo Alto is suburbia, but then it was a charming college town-- a charming college town with perfect weather and San Francisco only an hour away.

The companies that rule Silicon Valley now are all descended in various ways from Shockley Semiconductor. Shockley was a difficult man, and in 1957 his top people-- "the traitorous eight"-- left to start a new company, Fairchild Semiconductor. Among them were Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce, who went on to found Intel, and Eugene Kleiner, who founded the VC firm Kleiner Perkins. Forty-two years later, Kleiner Perkins funded Google, and the partner responsible for the deal was John Doerr, who came to Silicon Valley in 1974 to work for Intel."

Links:

• http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Epaulgraham%2Ecom%2F...
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Graham
• http://www.paulgraham.com/startuphubs.html

posted 10 months ago

Read Atlas Shrugged?

posted 10 months ago