We tapped into a rich vein for commentary the past few weeks, by asking technology leaders from around the country for ideas on how to make San Francisco and Silicon Valley a more stable place for innovation, less wedded to traditional cycles of boom and bust.
We had no idea what people would say, but fortunately, it wasn’t dull. We’ve been running a steady diet of strong guest editorials on Xconomy San Francisco, many of which surprised us. More than one editorialist blamed the extreme ups and downs on pervasive groupthink, and the trend toward investing in incremental advances rather than truly groundbreaking innovations. Other than that, there was a wide variety of views with no real common theme. So when you have a minute, scan the headlines, click, and enjoy.
If you have an issue that you think is of interest to the wider Bay Area innovation community, and you’d like to write your own guest op-ed, just send me or my colleague Wade Roush a note at [email protected].
“Three Ways to Make the Bay Area a More Stable Place for Innovation” (Bryan Roberts, Venrock Associates, June 14)
“Three Ways to Create a More Sustainable Future for Biotechnology” (Gail Maderis, BayBio, June 16)
“Two Ways to Spark More Life Science Innovation, and One Way IT Can Avoid Harming Medicine” (John Maraganore, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, June 17)
“Step One Toward Sustainable Innovation: Stop Overpaying Employees” (Trip Hawkins, Digital Chocolate, June 18)
“SF and Silicon Valley: Drop the Incrementalism and Invest in True Innovation” (Thong Le, WRF Capital, June 21)
“Three Ways the Bay Area Can Become a Stronger Place for Cleantech” (Dan Trunfio, Bio Architecture Lab, June 24)
“In Bust Times, Schmooze” (Ted Selker, Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley, June 28)
“Biotech Investors Should Quit the Marketing Games and Build Real Innovative Companies” (John Walker, iPierian, June 30)