Innovation

Beyond Silicon Valley

Apr 30, 2015 Laura Tyson and Lenny Mendonca

Once again, California’s Silicon Valley is confirming its status as a mecca of high-tech entrepreneurship and wealth creation. But it is not a model for job creation and inclusive growth that policymakers and entrepreneurs elsewhere can emulate – at least not without making some fundamental adjustments.

BERKELY – Once again, California’s Silicon Valley is confirming its status as a mecca of high-tech entrepreneurship and wealth creation. But it is not a model for job creation and inclusive growth that policymakers and entrepreneurs elsewhere can emulate – at least not without making some fundamental adjustments.

To be sure, what is happening in Silicon Valley today is nothing short of dazzling. Venture capital (VC) investment has reached near-record highs. Overnight millionaires – even billionaires – are proliferating. Twenty-something software coders are commanding six-figure salaries.

The boom has driven California’s economic recovery. And, along with courageous political leadership, it has enabled the state to escape from a seemingly hopeless fiscal crisis.

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Laura Tyson

Writing for PS since 2012
113 Commentaries

Laura Tyson, a former chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton administration, is a professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and a member of the Board of Advisers at Angeleno Group.

Lenny Mendonca

Writing for PS since 2014
47 Commentaries

Lenny Mendonca, Senior Partner Emeritus at McKinsey & Company, is a former chief economic and business adviser to Governor Gavin Newsom of California and chair of the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

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Nathan Coppedge Jun 29, 2015

Perhaps a modular-extensible concept of computer, knowledge, and information products would suit the continuation of a silicon valley mentality. We should look not just to current successes, but continuing, indefinite success in Silicon Valley. There should be some way to implement general-purpose programs that could allow Silicon Valley to market specialized, personalized products to customers. The ability to generalize a product requires a general-purpose builder program, but it also permits access to new, specialized tools that the consumer is not likely to appreciate on a technical level. However, these specialized tools I believe are the key to marketing the future of technology, and creating infinite extensibility. See books by Nathan Coppedge: http://www.amazon.com/author/nathancoppedge and articles on philosophy and other subjects at Academia.edu: http://www.southernct.academia.edu/NathanCoppedge
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John Brian Shannon Apr 30, 2015

Hi Laura and Lenny,

It is certainly an encouraging example for other cities to follow, and not just in America.

Silicon Valley's spectacular success was the result of a vision, and real leaders took that vision and made it what it is today. Full marks to all involved.

Now we need that to happen everywhere.

But that's unlikely unless a new and realistic vision is painted, one that those possessing real leadership ability and loaded with bucketloads of charisma can actuate into being over a reasonable timeframe.

The reasons for our great success in Silicon Valley are not shiny widgets or fancy computer gadgets, rather, the reason we are so successful in this arena is on account of that 'vision thing' and concomitantly from true leadership and the hard work of many dedicated individuals.

The widgets or gadgets are merely a reason to get all of that human excellence together in one place at one time, for the purposes of creating a fascinating and successful model society within a society.

Now we need to mobilize in order to distribute that model everywhere, and even if it doesn't quite hit S.V. standards it will still be a substantial boost to each region of the continent where it gains traction.

The bottom economic quintile in America is costing the country stunning amounts of money at the federal, state and local levels.

Bringing employment to the bottom quintile people is perhaps the best way to lower government social expenditures/law enforcement/court/incarceration costs and other costs to society.

I'm not really too concerned about the top 4 quintiles, they're self-sustaining for the most part, but it is truly great to celebrate their S.V. experience/success for a time.

Real work that remains to be done 'in the trenches of society' in a broad-based effort to bring living wages to real people -- who in the final analysis, would rather work and have a chance at a real life, as opposed to spending the rest of their life on government benefits.

If academia could channel its energies towards creating a living wage (at a very minimum) for all American workers, and a genuine chance to approach the Silicon Valley lifestyle -- then not only would crime, government expenditures, and dissatisfaction with our capitalist system ebb -- our GDP would rise, our Debt-to-GDP would improve, and our quality of life ranking on the UN Happiness Index and SP Index would rise.

I'm pleased and fascinated by the success in Silicon Valley, and now want to see a broader-based application of the things that made S.V. such a success story distributed around the North American continent -- for the benefit of every North American citizen.

As always, very best regards, JBS
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