In Silicon Valley, results trump rhetoric.
Annually, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation produce the “Silicon Valley Competitiveness Project,” evaluating our strengths and shortcomings. We assess Silicon Valley against five top technology regions in the United States: Austin, Boston, New York City, Seattle and Southern California.
Driven by data, a dozen top venture capitalists, CEOs, startup executives and economists select 22 indicators by which we measure ourselves against our competitors.
The results: Silicon Valley and the Bay Area remain the epicenter of the earth’s innovation. But we know success is best tempered by a healthy dose of humility. To paraphrase Silicon Valley icon Andy Grove, whom we mourn this month — it’s OK to be “paranoid” when it comes to global competition.
This is especially true as politicians regularly visit our Valley dangling a shiny hook to try to lure companies to their states and nations.
So we celebrate our strengths while steadfastly working on our weaknesses. First, some of our strengths:
- Startups. Compass’ “2015 Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking” places Silicon Valley as the world’s leading innovation economy based on venture capital investments, startup company exit valuations, talent pool, entrepreneurial support and networks. Austin, a great city, isn’t among the top 10.
- Employment. Silicon Valley is home to 443,000 innovation industry jobs, by far the strongest region for technology jobs per capita. Seattle is second per capita. Austin has the fewest innovation industry jobs of the innovation regions, at 95,000, and is a distant fourth per capita.
- Venture capital. In 2015, Silicon Valley attracted more than $27 billion. The entire state of Texas got less than $1.2 billion.
- Early stage investing. In this, Silicon Valley outpaces Austin even more, with $4 billion invested through the third quarter of 2015, versus $317 million in Austin.
- Value for investors. In 2015, Silicon Valley IPOs generated $3.2 billion for investors. Austin generated $300 million.
- Patents. In 2014, Silicon Valley was home to 17,600 patents filed; Austin, about 2,700.
- Productivity. Our workers are not only highly educated and motivated, but they are the earth’s most productive.
Worker productivity here, measured as annual output per worker, was $225,000. Austin’s was $160,000.
But in Silicon Valley, we wisely build rather than boast, as we assess and address our weaknesses:
- Traffic. Our roads and the capacity of our transportation systems need immediate attention.
The Leadership Group plans to help lead a countywide transportation funding measure this November for smart road and transit improvements.
At the state level, Gov. Jerry Brown is working to pass a mix of necessary reforms and needed revenue. It merits strong support.
- Housing. The cost of buying or renting a home is unreachable for too many families.
The Leadership Group cocreated the Silicon Valley Housing Trust, which has helped 15,000 families secure homes, and we’re working with county leaders on a potential housing bond. The governor continues to work on CEQA reforms to help build more affordable, appropriately placed housing throughout our state.
Silicon Valley’s success is not a birthright. Rather, we must earn it every day. Yet today, and for the foreseeable future, we remain the envy of the earth’s innovation economy. To retain our leadership, we will continue to measure ourselves to competitors around the world.
Austin is a great city, which is why a couple dozen of our Silicon Valley-based companies have facilities there.
But there are many reasons why thousands of employers — from iconic brands to groundbreaking startups — know why cutting-edge innovation happens here.
Originally published in the San Jose Mercury News.