Creating Regional Wealth in the Innovation Economy: Models, Perspectives, and Best Practices

2017-07-07 02:10:07

Perhaps no region has captured the imagination of the world quite like Silicon Valley, California, has. Just as the '49er gold miners stampeded to San Francisco 150 years ago to pan for gold, hundreds of thousands of young, ambitious people flocked to Silicon Valley in the mid to late 1990s to become part of what seemed the modern-day Silicon Valley gold rush. But the hype of quick wealth has receded now. The triple hammer blows of the meltdown of the Nasdaq stock market and the dot-com industry, the electrical energy crisis in 2001, and the aftereffects of the September 11, 2001, tragedy have brought hard financial reality back to the region.

However, Silicon Valley was not a flash in the pan success story. It has weathered several such economic meltdowns before, and the resilience of the high-tech industry in "the Valley" will continue as long as there is a demand for innovation through the applications of technology. Silicon Valley has shown the most extraordinary resilience to bounce from wave to wave of continuous innovation. It continues to be a magnet for bright, entrepreneurial people from everywhere.

Sir Peter Hall, professor of planning at University College in London and author of Cities in Civilization , is no foreigner to California and Silicon Valley. He is also professor emeritus of city and regional planning at University of California at Berkeley. He shared the following observations with us about America and how Silicon Valley is a quintessentially American phenomenon , yet also notes how similar the Valley's development is to other innovative regions throughout history.

Peter Hall

America still remains unlike any other country in that the culture is based on immigration , and the U.S. continues to keep it's doors open . One result is the mix of people in Silicon Valley ” people who have gone where the action is. American culture ” California culture ” is special. This incredible openness of California culture allows people to enter, especially if they speak English. Even if they don't speak English, they somehow still integrate fairly quickly.

What we have seen throughout history is that city-regions proved to be extraordinarily innovative and thus productive. The striking parallel I found is between Lancashire in the 1770s, at the time of the first industrial revolution, and Silicon Valley since the 1950s. The two regions are about the same size , intensely networked, with innovations taking place everywhere, and cooperative, competitive relationships among these different people. Similarly, Glasgow in the 1800s grew on the strength of steamships as part of the then globalization of the world. So, I found this principle of intense networked innovation to be true of all periods in history.

So, Silicon Valley is entering a new phase of its regional development, functioning much as a great incubator for research and development and the hub of a network of technological innovation linked to every other high-tech region of the world.

Peter Hall

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