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Comment by phatboyslim | Hacker News Reader

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...

Cache timeout seems to take a while, so posting the brief synopsis here. The article lists a number of cities (actually locations) with a corresponding news article claiming that particular city/location "The Next Silicon Valley". Locations listed were:

US: Mississippi, Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, Jacksonville, San Diego, Detroit, New York, Asheville, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago, Sacramento, Arkansas, Denver

Europe: Ireland, Russia, Ukraine, France, Berlin, Prague, Lisbon

Apac: Beijing, Vietnam, Sydney, Philippines, India, China, Singapore

Middle East: Israel

Americas: Mexico, Cuba

Others: Small Town America

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Thanks for the cache link, basically its a collection of links to any news article that said "<x> can be the next Silicon Valley".

I really liked Brad Feld's take on this which was that trying to be the "next" Silicon Valley was a losing proposition, instead just focus on removing barriers for people who want to innovate and you'll get the economic growth you desire. It is amazing how unsettling that is for local governments.

I talked with a state representative from New Mexico on a flight to Denver who wondered what it would take to make New Mexico the next "Silicon Valley". I asked if they had enforceable non-compete agreements there (which they do), and then asked what it would take to change that. He said it would be really really hard given the commercial interests. And I said, "Well that answers your question, New Mexico will never be the next Silicon Valley." It kind of stunned him when he understood it.

It's a combination of that, and making the place someplace that's welcoming for all. Things like anti-discrimination policies for LGBT persons are a must, as well as having a welcoming community. Having great weather doesn't hurt, either.

Did they just take a random sampling of US locations? Maybe I'm ignorant and close-minded, but I'm really, really struggling to imagine many of those places as a new Silicon Valley. Or even a modest imitation of it. Detroit? Mississippi? Is this real?

And I'm pretty confident that I'm not being close-minded about how ridiculous Russia or Ukraine becoming "Silicon Valley" is. Closed off, isolationist, adversarial, and regularly sanctioned Russia competing to become a global hub for information technology? It just seems laughable. I'm not saying they are a backwater or something, but Silicon Valley is the way it is largely because of a massive international influx, something that just won't happen in Russia for the foreseeable future. And Ukraine, which was just invaded and lost one of their wealthier regions, has a broken government, and is still in a civil war somehow turning it around? Right.

Detroit I could see, as it was a central hub in the past, and much of that infrastructure still stands. Plus, given the problems they've had, property is really cheap, while still having access to the amenities of a city.

"People" also have to want to live there. And by "people" I mean there has to be at least some sort of general appeal of the location to a large portion of the population. Despite everyone's whining about the government or how obnoxious its residents are, California is a pretty great place to be, and was that way 40 years ago as well. Detroit has a pretty major stigma to overcome, and I doubt it could when there are plenty of other places with similar advantages and no stigma.

Agreed, the biggest thing is that people have to want to be there. Some of these places are getting a little of the SV success due mainly to generally being a desirable place to be, and getting a little push from the local government.

Arkansas.

Lol.

I live in northwest Arkansas, soon to move to Denver due to job, and I once had a guy at a party claim that Bentonville/Rogers/Springdale area was going to be the next Austin. I laughed, and overheard another guy at the party joking about how we were going to be called "Silicon Trailer Park."

Odd that both Colorado and Denver are listed...

Fort Collins and Colorado Springs are both part of a much larger tech corridor across Colorado; however, Denver is a distinct self-sufficient subset.

Though Colorado Springs tends to mostly consist of defense contractors, there are a few startups. My buddy is CTO of Bombbomb (http://bombbomb.com), as an example of one successful firm that's completely local in origin.

In the Eighties, Colorado Springs (and perhaps the larger corridor) was named "Silicon Mountain" and handled a lot of chip fab. YT Cracker came up out of there, and some other interesting folks.

France: one of the most bureaucratic (borderline kafkaesque) countries, with surveillance laws which are only trumped by the UK is poised to become the next SV?

London already is the tech capital of Europe so it's not giant leap to imagine "France" to gain some ground

Especially if the UK leaves the EU.

>Chicago

Yeah this isn't happening. We're way too corrupt and taxation heavy for any serious entrepreneurs. Hell, pretty soon Uber and Lyft will be illegal here as the Aldermen just passed a bill to pretty much elimated them via punitive regulation. The tech talent in the midwest immediatly leaves for the coasts, leaving second stringers and die-hards. I can't think of any reason of staying here once you get something off the ground and have basic funding. Even if its a wash economically being this far away from East and West coast tech investors is unpleasant, not to mention the horrible winter and crime epidemic.

>Russia

Skolkovo, Russians SV, failed: In 2009, Moscow unveiled an ambitious plan to build a world-class technology incubator. Then corruption, brain drain, and Putin killed it.

http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/05/06/the-short-life-and-speed...

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