Located near San Jose, “Silicon Valley” has long become a symbol of progress in the field of information technology and a center of innovative developments that bring huge amounts of money to both their owners and the state. This rather small piece of California has seen the boom of semiconductor chip production, the rapid rise of software development, and the dot-com boom (and, indeed, its collapse). One way or another, the governments of many countries dreamed and are still dreaming of creating the same compact high-tech regions, where local talents generate business ideas one after another and successfully implement them. That is why there are constantly statements from the media about plans to create a “Silicon Valley” in the next point on the globe. The real “Silicon Valley” in San Fernando, however, is engaged in the production of a frivolous product that is not particularly high-tech, but no less popular among the masses, but that’s not what we’re talking about.

Belarusian HTP

The Belarusian High-Tech Park, from the light pen of journalists, is also often called the Minsk “Silicon Valley”, and in some ways this name is quite appropriate, because it is this structure that, for the most part, legally, and gradually and physically unites more than a dozen of our companies working in the field information technologies. For the Belarusian leadership, this project has become a kind of brand and an object of pride, which can be safely flaunted during official visits to other countries. If you listen carefully to the news, you can hear that Belarusians are going to help Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, and anyone else in creating parks. Despite the fact that there are quite a lot of contradictions surrounding the HTP, the changing conditions for entry, the strange discrepancy in figures in statements to officials about the park’s turnover and “planned” growth indicators, the park project itself, and most importantly, the benefits offered to it by the state, arouse sincere envy among our neighboring countries. First of all, Russians are kindly envious of the tax conditions, whose IT companies, despite audiences with Medvedev and Putin, still cannot boast of a warm tax climate for the development of their business and constantly cite Belarusians as an example.

Advances of the Russians

And finally, in Russia they decided to take on promising information technologies, and their number, of course, includes the development software with all due scope. Just a few days ago, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, speaking to talented schoolchildren and students - presidential scholarship recipients, made a loud statement that a decision had been made to build a local “Silicon Valley” in the Odintsovo district of Moscow. “We are talking about a certain settlement that should contribute to the development of all these technologies in our country, which will be territorially isolated, and within which a variety of tasks will be solved,- Dmitry Medvedev noted. - I don’t know whether we will be able to create a Russian “Silicon Valley” - especially since this may not be a completely correct comparison, but the idea is precisely to create this kind of independent, separate center for conducting research and their subsequent commercialization.” The innovation city, dubbed the "City of the Sun" by Medvedev, requires an area of ​​four hundred hectares, 40,000 people and 4 billion Russian rubles in initial government investment. The city should create everything necessary to develop scientific ideas and turn them into businesses: from housing and a comfortable environment to business incubators and services. The main areas that will be developed in the innovation city will be space, energy-saving and medical technologies, as well as, to no lesser extent, IT, and more specifically, according to Medvedev, the development of software and supercomputers. It is worth adding that this project The techno and, to some extent, IT park is far from the only one in Russia. It was planned to build or expand parks in Dubna (it seems that IBS (Luxoft) was even interested in it, but never achieved any benefits for itself when investing), Obninsk, Novosibirsk and even an IT park in Ankudinovka under Nizhny Novgorod. Now, apparently, all attention will be switched to a new large-scale object. As it became known, Medvedev instructed the government to resolve the issue of a special legal regime for the activities of the Russian “Silicon Valley” in the near future. "In all likelihood it cannot be just a new piece, obeying general rules. I think we should think about creating a special legal regime relevant activities", - said the president. To bring the draft presidential decree on the creation of the HTP to its implementation, Belarusian officials needed no less three years(from the first cautious publications of possible tax conditions for residents of the future park), and the first large building of the park accepted the country’s IT specialists three more years later. In Russia, according to the deputy head of the presidential administration of the Russian Federation Vladislav Surkov, the construction of the park itself will take 3-7 years, and the moment when an avalanche of not just some products, but new ones modern technologies from the Moscow region, it will flow like a river, it should come in 10-15 years. Moreover, the future Russian valley is not just offices and housing, but also research centers, laboratories, etc. The deployment of serious scientific complexes in a new place is not a quick process, and given Russian realities, it is not at all. It is also intriguing that, according to the same Surkov, a special tax regime for park residents is “a matter for the near future.” Intriguing? Because right now a serious tax threat is already hanging over the same IT companies in Russia. The transition of companies from paying a unified social tax to insurance contributions from January 1, 2010, according to the Russoft association, threatens to increase the cost of development by 60-70 percent, because in the cost estimates of IT companies, salaries account for up to 80 percent of the costs. Representatives of IT companies were promised back in the middle of last year to somehow resolve this issue (by assigning them resident statuses of a special economic zone, For example). However, with the beginning of the new year 2010, no relevant documents were adopted, and formally Russian IT companies will have to start paying taxes at new rates. This situation existed at least in mid-January; nothing more specific was heard in this regard. Moreover, according to rumors, a certain discord has arisen among the software developers themselves - exporters of software products and services seem to be closer to maintaining the previous rates, but companies operating in the local market may well have to wait, which cannot please them at all. So the statement about a solution to the issue of quickly introducing a special tax regime for residents of the valley does not look very convincing. Accordingly, IT companies, which were interviewed literally the next day by journalists, are still rather cool about the idea of ​​moving to Skolkovo near Moscow. There is no thriving foreign town there yet, the terms of the move are not clear, and many employees are unlikely to be eager to work not in the center of the capital, but somewhere out there - in the Odintsovo district. However, most of Representatives of the companies wisely prefer to remain silent for now until the circumstances are clarified. Let’s omit the fact of what kind of order reigned in the original City of the Sun in Campanella’s fantasies. Let us note a better approach - in Russia, if they talk about technology parks or HTPs, then first of all they voice the scale of construction. Not just any tax preference projects, but precisely the scope of the future project. That is, it turns out that the local park, unlike the Minsk one, will be delineated almost immediately purely geographically. This is not some kind of structure that primarily legally unites companies in high-tech industries and creates conditions for their development by reducing the tax burden, but immediately a purely geographical community like a SEZ. Of course, the state will presumably try to interest companies in moving to the valley themselves, and at the same time attract large transnational corporations there. But, still, some questions arise about how this will all be implemented. Like the Belarusian HTP, the Russian “Silicon Valley” plans to attract third-party investments in the construction of the park. It is planned that the state will only “begin”, and will expand at the expense of private investors. By the way, four hundred hectares in the Moscow region (each of which is estimated at 1.5-3 million dollars, depending on the degree of distance from the highway) will be allocated from the lands of the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Selection and Seed Production of Vegetable Crops and the funds of the Academy of Sciences for the development of the future innovation city free of charge. According to the Kommersant newspaper, they will be developed by a non-profit public-private partnership. The state will take charge of providing the project with infrastructure and will act as a co-investor in construction (especially the scientific and educational part). This non-profit partnership will build a town (mainly with investor money), whose land alone is worth nearly a billion dollars (if we take the average price per hectare of 2.25 million dollars). At the same time, according to the same Kommersant newspaper, structures from Alfa Group, LUKOIL, ONEXIM, etc. are showing interest in certain parts of the project. It is noteworthy that the official coordinator of the project is already known - he is the oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, known to the general public primarily for his Faberge eggs, and to narrower circles with a broader outlook - for being the chairman of the board of RUSAL and TNK. Thus, the Silicon Valley project is supervised by the main ideologist of the Kremlin, Surkov, and the raw material oligarch Vekselberg, in Last year, which began to grow and enjoyed the goodwill of the authorities. At the same time, neither one nor the other has any special relationship to the hi-tech industry, and Vekselberg is presented by the Kremlin primarily as an experienced manager. The tasks outlined for the future innovation city are no less ambitious than the volume of construction and investment. “I think that if in the end 2-3-4 Nobel laureates do not live and work in this city, then we have not solved our problem,”- said Surkov. In general, so far in the Kremlin’s statements, the innovation city is portrayed not as some kind of industrial site for high technologies (for example, as in Minsk - a place where IT companies work under outsourcing schemes), but as some kind of complex of laboratories with Nobel laureates unleashing a “wave of fresh inventions.” In principle, R&D potential Russian specialists quite high, and although their number is not as large, of course, as in the USA or Germany, there should be enough of them for one Silicon Valley of this scale. The only question is whether there is any point in building just another scientific town, following the example of Dubna or Zelenograd, in an open field. So, for now, this is just PR for the masses, and the basis of the future city will be companies working in the real world on ordinary tasks, like software development. However, for now this is just speculation on the topic. The most interesting thing will be when certain specific conditions for the functioning of the future “Silicon Valley” and its first potential residents become known. In the meantime, there are an endless number of questions: will any new structures be formed to organize scientific centers in the innovation city? Will foreign giant companies actively participate in the project, as predicted by the project curators? How can business even enter the valley and who will select projects worthy of development in the City of the Sun? The announced time frame for creating an innovation city in an empty collective farm field is in fact minimal, both from the point of view of the development of regulations and the development itself. To be honest, the possibility of such a large-scale project being implemented so quickly, so to speak “on the fly,” is still in doubt. But, as they say, we’ll wait and see if the Russians will be able to really quickly create modern city high technologies, and won’t all this quietly turn into residential microdistricts with class B and C offices, a couple of pseudo-new research institutes and design bureaus transported from somewhere, which, of course, would not be desirable at all.

On November 12, the country's President Dmitry Medvedev delivered his traditional annual address to the Federal Assembly. As expected, one of its main topics was the development of innovation and information technology; in particular, a vector was outlined to create a comfortable environment for carrying out world-class research and development in Russia.

According to the president, it is necessary that qualified specialists be interested in working in our country. Therefore, it is necessary to create a permanent mechanism for their support, to attract the most authoritative Russian and foreign scientists, as well as entrepreneurs with experience in commercializing developments, to work in Russia.

Expanding grant support, simplifying the rules for recognizing diplomas from leading universities in the world, and facilitating the procedure for hiring specialists from abroad were named as concrete steps towards achieving this goal. But, perhaps, the main measure proposed is to concentrate intellectual production capacities.

“There is one idea, it came from Altai: it is proposed to create business incubators directly on the basis of modern universities... And it is in them that graduates will learn to turn technical ideas into profitable business projects... Finally, it is necessary to complete the development of proposals for the creation of a powerful research center in Russia and developments that would be focused on supporting all priority areas... if you like, following the example of Silicon Valley and other similar foreign centers,” the president said.

The idea of ​​concentrating resources to obtain a synergistic effect is, of course, not new, and certainly not Altai. However, we proposed discussing the proposed “Russian Silicon Valley” project in the IT community, trying to find out how relevant it is now from an expert point of view and where exactly it could be deployed.

Referring to the example of the American Silicon Valley, President of the Association of Software Developers RUSSOFT Valentin Makarov believes that the main thing in the creation of this powerful IT cluster was the provision of land on favorable terms for the construction of offices of technology companies, the presence of a large research and educational center (Stanford University) , a developed system of government financing for the initial stages of business, an established lending system and private venture financing, as well as a generally growing economy that requires the development of the IT market.

Analyst Mikhail Elashkin also speaks about the importance of a consolidating educational center. In his opinion, world experience shows that the most effective technology development centers are built on a university base, where it is easiest to create the breeding ground necessary for innovation from well-known scientists, young specialists and students.

Chairman of the State Duma subcommittee on technological development Ilya Ponomarev agrees with him. True, in his understanding, the main source of personnel for a technology center may be some kind of manufacturing enterprise, but a university is still the best option.

In the current conditions, when the state has already spent enormous financial and time resources on the development of the technology park program, Mr. Ponomarev considers it advisable to make one of them the basis for the presidential technology center. Namely, the Novosibirsk technopark in Akademgorodok, where, in addition to the Novosibirsk state university There are dozens of research institutes, the Presidium of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a school of physics and mathematics.

Valentin Makarov also believes that there is no point in creating another project now, similar to technology parks and special economic zones (SEZs). Therefore, in his opinion, the president’s message should be interpreted as confirmation that the state intends not only not to stop, but also to actively implement existing projects. The head of state, Mr. Makarov believes, emphasized the need to concentrate innovative business and develop mechanisms for its support from the state, and how many such centers there will be (one or several) is not so important for him.

At the same time, according to Mr. Makarov, over time it is becoming increasingly clear exactly how to act: to extend to all infrastructure facilities the favorable tax regime and conditions for their own construction that currently exist for SEZ residents, to allocate subsidies for the creation of launch mechanisms and supporting innovative activities in them (training, coaching, consulting, providing non-core services for innovative business, training, match-making, attracting risk capital), introducing a management regime based on cooperation between the state and businesses interested in innovation.

The president of the Astra strategic outsourcing association, Sergei Makedonsky, considers corruption and inefficiency of government administration to be the main obstacles to the implementation of such plans.

From recent communication with officials and businessmen of Singapore, which in 30 years has transformed from an absolutely backward country into a prosperous innovative non-resource state, Mr. Makedonsky made a number of conclusions for himself. To transition to innovation, for example, a specialized strategy is needed for 30-50 years ahead with a small number of key criteria performance assessments (no more than three for each ministry). In Russia, the thinking horizon of officials is limited to three to five years with a focus solely on strengthening their material well-being. Mr. Makedonsky also mentions the need to reform education and modernize the regulatory framework and summarizes that in order to implement presidential projects, the Russian state system must change entirely. Otherwise, the fate of all innovative initiatives with state participation in Russia is known: “cutting” of budget money.

Andrey Korotkov, head of the science and education section of the Union of IT Directors (SoDIT), considers the realities of our country unsuitable for projects like Silicon Valley. (By the way, according to him, there is now no problem with the recognition of foreign diplomas and degrees Russian universities, foreign teachers easily get jobs. Another problem has not been solved - their settlements. According to modern standards, universities are not able to pay for the accommodation of teachers in city hotels, and dormitories on campuses are completely unsatisfactory for foreign guests.)

In order for the general situation in the country to change, Mr. Korotkov proposes to use the reform potential of such “brain trusts” as the Center for Strategic Research, the Institute modern development, Institute for the Economy in Transition, academic institutions. In addition, the government (and on the instructions of the president, no later than the first quarter of next year, it must develop organizational and financial solutions to the tasks set by the head of state) must make the necessary changes to the legislative framework, and the Federal Assembly must adopt the necessary amendments. Well, in difficult times of crisis, Mr. Korotkov believes, budget managers (authorities and legislators) must find the strength to raise their eyes from the ground and look into the near future.

The president of the Inforus consortium, Andrei Masalovich, speaks much more specifically. In his understanding, despite the apparent paradox of such a statement, the task of creating a “Russian Silicon Valley” is solved quite simply. Mr. Masalovich had the opportunity to study the experience of building technology parks in the USA, India, Taiwan, Israel, Japan, etc. and believes that Russian realities Just two steps are enough. First, the governor of the region where the technology center will be created must publicly announce: “Every incoming investor receives my direct cell phone number. If anything happens, call me, I’ll help you personally.” Secondly, the president of the country must publicly announce: “Each governor reports to me on the main parameter - the growth of non-resource exports. If anything happens, I’ll ask you personally.” Everything else, as Mr. Masalovich assures, will be done by investors and managers of leading companies.

Against the general background, Boris Slavin, Chairman of the Board of SoDIT, speaks out against the idea of ​​concentrating resources. In his understanding, any “grand” projects in Russia are either overpaid or quietly fade into history along with their authors. And it’s even worse when these projects are designed to repeat someone else’s achievements (domestic OS, national search portal, etc.). According to him, the “Russian Silicon Valley” is just a remake of recent American reality, or Soviet science cities from the more distant past. And like any remake, this idea is unlikely to surpass its prototypes, but rather, on the contrary, it will turn into a pathetic farce.

According to Mr. Slavin, in order to resettle leading scientists, engineers, designers, programmers, managers and financiers into one place, without resorting to violent methods or patriotic appeals from Soviet times, fabulous sums will have to be spent to transform some real-life Russian city to an intellectual Mecca.

Russia already lives in only two or three local centers, which is extremely ineffective, but all cities need to be revived. And if we were the presidential experts preparing texts of messages for him, Mr. Slavin would have written that Russia needs to be turned into a Silicon Valley entirely. This would be consistent with the spirit of the current message, its ambitions, and, strange as it may sound, it would become more feasible and systematic, requiring not so much financial investments as the creation of special conditions and competent public administration.

In the context of these words, I would like to conclude our survey with the maxim of Mr. Masalovich, who advises the president, whenever it comes to our wealth, to start not with oil, gas and weapons, but with information technology. And talk about IT as our most valuable and promising resource. Andrey Masalovich suggests estimating how much a “barrel of programmers” costs. And the essence of this term is that one barrel of Brent oil, costing about $79, is a standard 160-liter barrel, and it is equivalent to two moderately plump IT specialists. The export of their services will bring $80 thousand per year to the country. And this means that IT outsourcing is a thousand times more profitable for Russia than oil exports.

Suddenly we felt like we were traveling into the future. Or time travel. But we only recently left Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, and drove only one hour north. Russia is building a new city here, the first after the collapse Soviet Union. In any respect, Innopolis is the youngest city in the country: average age its 3 thousand inhabitants are only 28 years old. There are no pensioners here.

The town looks so modern that it seems as if it was brought here spaceship. Everything is light and wide, filled with light, soft lines outline the silhouettes of the buildings. Some apartments do not even have a key; residents open them with a finger scan. The mayor communicates with citizens via chat. Students wearing soft slippers walk through a heated glass tunnel from the dormitory to the university. The building maintenance office speaks three languages. Innopolis should eventually become the country's high-tech center, the Russian version of Silicon Valley.

But when planning the city, the authorities focused more on Asia than on the United States, they explain to us. This is evidenced by the choice of architects. Liu Thai Ker was responsible for the reconstruction of Singapore in the 80s, and now he is designing a Russian model city. The city's motto is: "The future is now."

New IT center in Russia

Context

The most high-tech city in Russia

The Hindu 06/26/2017

Where are the soldiers loyal to the Kremlin forged?

Stern 06/13/2018

Russia: camels instead of bears

Stern 06/09/2018

The beauty and squalor of the Russian province

Stern 06/08/2018 The idea of ​​a new IT center arose from the young Minister of Communications, born in Tatarstan, and the head of Tatarstan during their meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a big fan of modern technology. IT firms should settle here, luxury apartments are intended exclusively for their employees. With this measure they want to prevent the emigration of Russian specialists abroad. Until 2015, the Russian state invested 15 billion rubles in infrastructure development alone. Tatarstan, which became rich in oil production, allocated 20 billion from its federal budget.

Construction progressed quickly. Only in 2012, Medvedev laid a capsule with a message to descendants under the first stone. And already in 2015, Innopolis received the status of a city: in just three years, the first IT university in the country, a school, an IT gymnasium, a kindergarten, a fitness center and a clinic arose here. According to the plan, by 2035, 150 thousand people should live and work in Innopolis, half of them are IT specialists. All students pledged to stay in Innopolis for some time after graduation.

But the model city still mostly resembles a construction site. Everywhere you see taps and freshly dug pits. Also: emptiness. For now, Innopolis looks a little like a city from science fiction films, in which all the inhabitants suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth. One Russian reporter wrote about him: “If you meet a passerby or a car here, then you are lucky.” After walking just ten minutes, you find yourself among wildlife. To some visitors, Innopolis resembles the closed cities of the Soviet Union, where isolated outside world scientists developed their projects.

IN Lately a supermarket, even a restaurant and a bar appeared here. Well, a huge fitness center is intended for politically correct leisure. Sports are compulsory for students. But some guys are cunning: they go inside the center using their clip cards, but then sit along the corridors with laptops on their laps.

There are still few companies here, and most of them are state-owned. Entrepreneurs are promised tax benefits: those who move their company to the city will become part of a special economic zone. Foreigners are also in no hurry to come here yet. But there are already waiting lists for apartments.

At first, the Telecheevs also thought Innopolis was a city in the desert, sterile and bare. This is understandable, because they came from Krasnoyarsk, a Siberian city with a million population. Mikhail Telecheev is a computer science teacher; he won the right to move here in a lottery. He had to persuade his wife Irina to leave their home and move to this city, designed on the drawing board.

When they arrived in Innopolis in the fall, a cold wind blew between the bare blocks of houses. “Where are the people here?” - Irina asked and suddenly felt very lonely. But now she likes it here. IN kindergarten, where my daughter goes, there is a swimming pool and classes in English language. The IT gymnasium where Mikhail teaches is so popular that eight children apply for one place. All of his colleagues are young people.

The Telecheevs now know all their neighbors, and when they go to work, they meet acquaintances everywhere along the way. In the courtyard on the playground, children play with friends, rarely when a car passes by. Life is a little reminiscent of village life, only with Wi-Fi, elliptical trainers and WhatsApp groups. And here are them hometown Krasnoyarsk, where they had recently visited, now seemed unkempt, dirty and old to them. In any case, they are not going to leave Innopolis.

InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.

Few people know what Silicon Valley is. Meanwhile, this is a fairly well-known territory in the United States, where half of all US research complexes in the field of computer technology and electronics are located. Silicon Valley is located in California, but the territory under that name does not exist on official maps. This is just a conventional name for the place.

Confusion with translation

As often happens, in Russia we understand this name differently than residents of English-speaking countries. There are rumors that some translator once translated the word “Silicon” as “Silicon”, and since then Silicon Valley in Russia has been called Silicon Valley. Therefore, there is an important clarification on this topic: Silicon Valley and Silicon are one and the same in one case, although in another they are completely different concepts.

The real Silicon Valley in the USA

Note that there is also a Silicon Valley in San Fernando, but they do not conduct scientific and technical research and development there, they make porn films there. But most often in Russia, when they talk about Silicon Valley, they mean Silicon. Therefore, further we will talk about it.

Where is Silicon Valley?

As already mentioned, such a valley does not exist as an official geographical territory. However, any self-respecting investor or businessman can easily say that it is located in California (USA) and is a global center where developers of high-tech projects gather. This is where global innovation is born.

Silicon Valley is understood as a place where there are many platforms for the development of new projects, where knowledge-intensive startups are born and venture investors interact. At first, Silicon Valley in the USA meant a territory that is located 20 miles from San Francisco and occupies 5 small towns:

1. Mouthen View.
2. Santa Clara.
3. Palo Alto.
4. Sunninvale.
5. Cupertino.

But today the valley has grown significantly, and now it stretches from San Francisco to San Jose inclusive. It is San Jose that is considered to be the unofficial capital of this territory.

Story

It all started with Stanford University and its industrial and research park. A key role in the creation of Silicon Valley was played by Frederick Terman, who was first a university graduate and then a teacher. He worried that graduates couldn't find jobs in the Valley, which led to most students moving to the East Coast after graduation. As a result, Frederick Terman began to support his students and give them the opportunity to open companies near the educational institution. Among the first such students were David Packard and William Hewlett. It was they who developed the audio frequency generator, and Terman helped them put it into commercial production. This was the beginning of the famous Hewlett Packard company.

Later, other students began to create their own companies in the valley. The invention of the klystron tube is more or less known, which is associated with the use of microwave radiation. The authors were physics professor William Hansen, Sigurd and Russell Varian - the university lent them space in exchange for a share of the profits. Later, Standford began receiving contacts from the government.

In 1956, William Shockley created Fairchild Semiconductor. It produced transistors based on solid semiconductor material - silicon. Today it is one of the largest in the electronics industry. It was Fairchild Semiconductor that became the basis for the creation of Intel and AMD. Partly thanks to William Shockley, Silicon Valley received its name.

Time passed, new companies appeared, and already in 1975 there were many companies creating software and hardware.

Structure

The main valley is the state of California with the following largest cities: Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco, Riverside, San Diego. It is California that is considered the largest state in the United States with a gross product of over $2 trillion, which is equal to the GDP of all of Russia in 2014. Lives here greatest number billionaires - about 80 people from the famous Forbes list. This state is also the third largest in the United States and the most populous.

Silicon Valley itself in this state is one of the three major technology centers in the United States. Stanford University is the intellectual core of the valley. This research educational institution is one of the most prestigious in the world, it is highly rated in university rankings in the United States and around the world. About 7,000 undergraduate and 8,000 graduate students study here annually. After graduating from university, many graduates find their place in one of the companies located in Silicon Valley. Some lead them, others create their own projects (sometimes successful). Less prestigious are the universities of San Jose and Santa Clara (the oldest private university), as well as the University of California.

Companies

When talking about what Silicon Valley is, we cannot ignore the companies that were formed here and have their own representative offices, offices and even development centers. There are about three thousand enterprises here, and at the same time their number is growing, just as the conditional territorial boundaries of Silicon Valley are growing. For example, about a thousand companies develop software.

In the history of Silicon Valley, there have been many firms and startups, not many of which were successful: most were liquidated. The most successful companies in Silicon Valley are the following:

1. Varian Associates, one of the first companies to enter into an agreement with Stanford University, is engaged in microwave technologies.
2. Hewlett-Packard is a well-known computer equipment manufacturer. It is the first successful global company in the valley and has achieved tremendous success in the global market in the field of creating hardware and software. In the Russian market, HP is known for its laptops, data storage devices, printers, and scanners.
3. Eastman Kodak is a company that is better known throughout the world as Kodak. Is the first company to create a digital camera. It was founded in 1881, but went bankrupt in 2013.
4. General Electric is a global corporation that operates in various industries. Manufactures medical, energy, household and electrical equipment. He is also involved in mechanical engineering, including creating aircraft engines.
5. Lockheed Corporation, a company that carries out defense-industrial orders, also works in the space industry. The main customer and consumer of the company's products is the US government.
6. Intel is known all over the world for its microprocessors. Many computers and laptops have been created on their basis, which are actively sold all over the world. It also produces other PC components, network equipment, and servers.
7. Apple is a well-known manufacturer of computer equipment and software for it. Tablets, computers, Cell phones- the main activity of the company. He is also one of the leaders in the field of software creation.
8. AMD is the leader of Intel, which also develops chipsets, computer components, and microprocessors.
9. Adobe is a software manufacturer. Known for his famous graphic editor “Photoshop”.
10. Altera is a successful developer of integrated and logic systems.
11. eBay - provides online auction and payment services.
12. EA (Electronic Arts) is a company operating in the gaming industry. Creates and distributes games.
13. Google is the world's largest search system. He is also involved in advertising and cloud technologies.
14. Facebook is the largest social network.
15. NetApp is a developer and manufacturer of disk systems and storage devices.
16. Nvidia is a GPU manufacturer.
17. Tesla Motors is a manufacturer of electric vehicles and a developer of infrastructure for them (charging stations).
18. Xerox is a manufacturer of office and computer equipment.
19. Yahoo! - a search network that is inferior to Google, but is the second most popular in the world.

Now you understand what Silicon Valley is. But let's look at it from the other side.

Success Factors

There are actually quite a few of them, but the main ones include the following:

1. Innovation and creativity of participants. Many technologies were created precisely due to these factors.
2. Lack of vertical control.
3. Availability of scientific technologies, resources and advanced technologies.
4. Highly motivated and success-oriented for all employees.
5. Close interaction between different companies and their representatives despite highest level competition between them.
6. Ideally developed technology for starting and promoting projects from the very beginning stage, as well as their intermediate financing.
7. Very low government regulation, excellent legislation that does not slow down the process. Here business and capital make the main decisions.
8. Interest from investors who are pouring millions (or billions) of dollars into new startups and old companies.

Flaws

It’s worth starting with the fact that here the number of unsuccessful failed projects far exceeds the number of successful ones. According to statistics, 95% of Silicon Valley startups, even if they receive funding, do not achieve success. 19 out of 20 projects cannot take place. Famous brands like Intel, HP or Google and the rest are just the tip of the iceberg.

The second disadvantage is the high cost of housing and infrastructure in general. Since wages are high in Silicon Valley, the cost of living here is also rising. If someone starts their career in the valley, then they have to look for inexpensive housing in the suburbs or on the outskirts. This also applies to medical care, schools, public transport, etc.

High competition among participants

A highly competitive environment for participants is the third feature of the valley’s existence. Investors, employees, entrepreneurs, startupers - everyone works in conditions constant stress, since there is a high probability of dismissal or project failure (the statistics were seen above). Many employees of large and small companies here experience constant psychological problems; most entrepreneurs admit the presence family problems and depression. The number of citizens in Silicon Valley with psychological problems is much higher than in the rest of the United States.

Russian analogue

Not only in the USA there are similar territories that are the center of information and technological development. There are analogues in other countries. In particular, the Russian silicon valley is located in Skolkovo. 400 hectares of territory are allocated for it, but the project started only in 2010. Its mission is to create a similar American ecosystem and mobilize resources in the field applied research, as well as to realize a favorable environment for the implementation of scientific developments.

Analogues in other countries

In the UK there is a special technology park located around the University of Cambridge. Denmark and Sweden also have the largest technology parks, which mainly operate in the fields of biotechnology, medicine and food production.

Factories and offices are located in China (Zhongguancun) large companies such as IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Nokia, etc. In total, about 20 thousand holdings are registered here, and their revenue is over 400 billion dollars a year.

Taiwan is home to large Asian and global companies working in the field of creating and improving semiconductors and other devices.

India is not far behind - there are about 200 higher education institutions in Bangalore educational institutions. The country is one of the centers of world pharmacology, space research and aeronautics.

In Turkey, the Informatics Valley project was launched in 2013. 3,000 hectares were allocated for it. There are plans to build a city for 150 thousand residents, which will serve research institutes and factories for the production of innovative equipment.

Conclusion

Now you understand what Silicon Valley is. This is a conditional territory in which large global companies in the IT industry (and not only) are located, focused on global markets. They successfully master modern technologies and create breakthrough technologies, since this is what they were created for here. ideal conditions. This is the essence of Silicon Valley - to develop old and create new technologies, which many companies are successfully doing. Other countries are trying to follow this example, but today none of them have such a scale.

“Silicon Valley” is the name given to the American region in the state of California in Russia, famous for its large number of companies engaged in high-tech research in the field of microelectronics, computer and biological technologies. Russia will soon have its own silicon valley. What will it be like? Nobody knows the answer to this question yet, but a number of assumptions about the structure of the scientific center of our homeland are already known.

People first started talking about “Silicon Valley” at the end of last year, when the country’s President Dmitry Medvedev, in his annual address to the Federal Assembly, stated that Russia needs its own technological center that can ensure the development of priority areas of science. At the same time, it was suggested that the Russian “Silicon Valley” would be organized in the same way as its foreign analogue.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sees in the Russian innovation center a prototype of the city of the future, in which it will be possible to conduct the largest tests in the field of new economic policy. Last chapter imagines the state in the form of a system of clusters not only of industry connections, but also of research organizations.

The plan, unveiled in February, portrays Silicon Valley as a place that combines architectural sophistication and unprecedented comfort. The curator of the project, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Vladislav Surkov, is already deeply delving into the intricacies of technological design: in January he went to a two-day seminar on innovation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in February he received a delegation from the American “Silicon Valley” in Moscow.

Geographical location Russian “Silicon Valley” was voiced by Dmitry Medvedev in mid-March. Of the numerous options, including Novosibirsk and St. Petersburg, the final choice fell on Skolkovo near Moscow. During the construction of the innovation center, Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov proposed placing all the necessary scientific structures in the buildings of the former Zil plant.

It is assumed that the future science Center Russia will engage not only in the development, but also in the commercialization of new technologies. Accordingly, according to Dmitry Medvedev, it must have a clear administrative structure and special treatment taxation. The presidential administration plans to leave the position of general manager of Silicon Valley to a representative of a large Russian business, but in no case an official.

The new scientific city is planned to be made international: the most the best specialists from all over the world. In addition, the Russian “Silicon Valley” will definitely have the headquarters of the world's largest companies. The construction of the innovation complex, according to Vladislav Surkov, will take from three to seven years. On this moment The technology center is in the process of obtaining land and preparing a business plan. Orders are planned for the second half of the year design work. The construction of the Russian “Silicon Valley” will begin in the city center. Subsequently, everyone will be able to join it. The latter can be done without the participation of the state.

The following scientific areas will be developed and modernized on the basis of Silicon Valley in Russia: information, telecommunications, energy, biomedicine and nuclear technology. ...