Leadership
William F. Miller (Director) - Stanford University
Henry S. Rowen (Director) - Stanford University
Marguerite Gong Hancock (Associate Director) - Stanford University

Mission

The Silicon Valley Project of SPRIE at Stanford University focuses on the dynamics, transformation and sustainability of Silicon Valley. From semiconductors to social media, Silicon Valley has evolved through many changes in core technologies, industry structure, leading companies, modes of finance, business models, and global relationships. And not just in information technologies but also in biotech and more recently green tech. The Valley has persisted (and some would argue increased) in its ability to create and re-create its leading edge. What are the features that enable Silicon Valley to continue to be a world center for creating growth and value? The purpose of the Silicon Valley Project is to conduct new research and to convene leading experts to advance the understanding and practice of how successful high tech regions form, evolve and advance over time.

Key Questions

Key questions include:

• What are the fundamentals that enable Silicon Valley's creativity, productivity and adaptability?
• What lessons, if any, can be adapted and applied to other places that are pursuing innovation and entrepreneurship? What insights can be gained to explain why some regions have failed, despite massive investments and mobilization of resources?
• To what extent are the Valley's institutions, strategies, and practices-proven effective in the past-- appropriate for current growth in rapidly changing sectors, such as social media, clean energy, etc.?
• What are current vulnerabilities in the Valley? And how can the region also respond to weaknesses and challenges stemming from beyond, such as declining national funding for R&D or broken political systems at the state level?
• How are rapidly rising regions, from Beijing to Bangalore, defining new models for development?
• How are complex linkages among individuals and firms both within Silicon Valley-and increasingly important, in global networks across regions-evolving and impacting how the Valley works?
• How must Silicon Valley-and other leading regions--transform in the face of growing global competition and collaboration?
• How well is the Valley adjusting to face challenges to sustain its leadership? What are currents of change are underway and how are they shaping the trajectory of the Valley's future?

Each of these (and other) questions leads to important areas of deeper inquiry. For example, why has US venture capital investment become increasingly concentrated in Silicon Valley? With the rise of other entrepreneurial regions in the US and beyond, one would expect that venture capital investments would be more dispersed. Instead, during the past fifteen years the proportion of US venture capital invested in Silicon Valley has increased. Why? What are the implications?

Activities and Outcomes

SPRIE and its affiliates will conduct interdisciplinary and international research, including collection and analysis of new data, interviews, and case studies. Mobilizing existing and new collaborations with leading faculty across Stanford and other universities, policymakers, business executives and thought leaders, SPRIE will organize a series of seminars, workshops, and conferences at Stanford University. Roundtables will convene experts in relevant areas such as innovation, venture capital, entrepreneurship, university-industry collaboration, political economy, etc.

This project will lead to refinement of an analytical framework, new data collection and analysis, creation of case studies, and synthesis of insights. Meetings will also facilitate peer-to-peer sharing of best practices. Through publications, workshops, and forums, project findings and implications will be shared with leaders from government, business, and academia not only in the Valley but also across the US, Europe and Asia.

An Invitation to New Partners

In Spring 2011, SPRIE is launching a new phase of the Silicon Valley Project at Stanford University. SPRIE is building a circle of leading experts and organizations to join as Affiliates, with a select group to serve on an Advisory Committee. Affiliates will consist of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, academic experts and others who are astute observers and players in the development and changes in Silicon Valley and other leading regions linked to the Valley in the global political economy. Affiliates will be included in invitation-only events. Advisors will be partners in refining key questions to be asked as well as extending the depth and reach of the project.