2010 Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford

Afua — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:24:35 +0000

2010 marks the 10th anniversary of Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford

www.siliconvalleyoxford.com

Key Theme: 10 Years

Reflecting on the last 10 years, and looking forwards to the next 10 years of innovations in technology, business models, investing and the business environment, Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford 2010 shall explore the disruptive technologies and business innovations of the past 10 years, reflecting on the demise of old industries, old economic models and old perspectives.

Sub-theme 1: Schumpeter’s Creative Destruction

The advancement of the Internet is arguably the greatest computer science innovation. Its overwhelmingly pervasive power has led to the disruption of established knowledge and cultural industries, sectors which represent the core of our very existence in terms of recording, reporting, reflecting and questioning our society and its culture.

Sub-theme 2: Could Silicon Valley exist anywhere in the world?

The tenth anniversary provides an opportunity to ask whether Silicon Valley could evolve into a generic term or metaphor for an entrepreneurial cluster anywhere in the world. What is the secret of Silicon Valley? Why has Europe never managed to create an equivalent (note that Oxfordshire is recognised as one of the most successful entrepreneurial ecosystems in Europe.) At SVCO 08, investor, Saul Klein questioned whether the richness of European history, its architecture and long established institutions present an impediment. Contrast with Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv. How does national culture, history, geography and policies impact or fuel the formation of entrepreneurial clusters? Is the next Silicon Valley likely to be in Shanghai or the already burgeoning Hyderabad or Bangalore?

Tracking the performance of the “entrepreneurial university”….

Barbara — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:13:12 +0000

The concept of the “entrepreneurial university” first emerged in the US around the year 2000 and spread quickly to the UK and the rest of Europe. Today this idea has attained an almost mantra-like status among administrators and policy-makers. It espouses the view that one of the main roles of universities is to contribute to national and regional economic development through increased spin-out activities.
Surprisingly, there are very few studies which have examined the survival and performance of university spin-offs over prolonged periods of time. Helen Lawton-Smith, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Birkbeck, London University considers this an important omission in measuring universities’ spin-out performance. Existing studies in her view are either too focused on particular sectors (i.e. biotechnology) or do not take the appropriate long term perspective. Available studies, in her view, mostly focus on those companies that have been formed since knowledge or tech-transfer institutions were instituted underestimating the longer term contribution of university spin-off activity to regional economic development.

Based on earlier work focusing on technology spin-outs in the Oxfordshire region she currently contributes to filling this identified gap through a study which analyses spin-out activity in Oxfordshire and London based institutions since 1965. Highlighting that data collection is problematic, often due to underreporting, she comes to the conclusion that the London region is similar to Oxfordshire in terms of spin-off numbers. However, Oxfordshire spin-outs employ more people and turnover is far higher (£1bn +). This raises important questions regarding the implications such long-term studies might have on government policies for the development of business ecologies. Does the London region provide an adequately supportive and networked environment to nurture university-related companies? It also remains to be seen what long-term effects business schools and other business support schemes have on the entrepreneurial “spirit” and the development of a particular region.

For further information please consult:
H. Lawton-Smith, K. Ho, Measuring the performance of Oxford University, Oxford Brookes University and the government laboratories’ spin-off companies in: Research Policy 35 (2006), pp.1554-1568

For Helen Lawton-Smith’s homepage, please click here.

The Oxford Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation » economic development

2010 Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford

Tracking the performance of the “entrepreneurial university”….