Russ Steele
The Pelton Wheel is one Nevada County's early products that was exported around the world. It was invented in Camptonville, but perfected in Nevada City.
Dale Kasler writes in the Sacramento Bee: Grass Valley's high-tech companies feeling recession
A cluster of companies is responsible for some of the most sophisticated television broadcasting equipment found anywhere. TV executives from Europe to Asia recognize the name "Grass Valley" and spend millions on routers, switchers and other components manufactured and engineered here. Other tech companies have sprung up in the region, making everything from medical devices to circuit boards.
But the recession has brought layoffs, cutbacks and ripples of anxiety to the technology companies of Grass Valley and neighboring Nevada City. Some firms are expanding, but what's happening overall is a small-scale version of the slump in Silicon Valley.
You can read the rest of this interesting analysis here.
If our business slump is just a small-scale version of the Silicon Valley business slump, what is Silicon Valley doing to overcome their slump? Should we be doing the same? The ERC is developing a new economic development plan, should we be rethinking our way forward? Should we pattern our future economic development after Silicon Valley Should we see where Silicon Valley is focusing, and do the same? A former Editor at the Union with Silicon Valley connections thinks it is.
Silicon Valley is focused on going green focusing on the development of renewable energy. Eric E. Schmidt one of President Obama's advisers, and an Silicon Valley icon, thinks the easiest way to solve all of United States' problems is a stimulus program that rewards renewable energy and replaces fossil fuels. Venture Capital is flowing to green development to take advantage of the government stimulus and subsidies. But, is the green focus relevant to Nevada County's future?
One of the advantages that Silicon Valley has over Nevada County is multiple transportation hubs. They have access to highway, rail and ocean transportation hubs and access to some of the highest speed Internet in the world. With the implementation of AB32 the green house gas reduction regulations, transportation cost will shoot through the ceiling. So, what green green economic development can we do that does not involve transportation? Really? Let's hear about it?
It is much easier for a company get venture capital in Silicon Valley, and very difficult in Nevada County. I have heard Dan Castles, Telestream, explain the challenges he faced in getting venture capital, and those are the same challenges faced by all companies that are not just down the street from Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, the VC Capital of California. Nevada County is a days visit away from Sand Hill, too far. VC like to just drop in to see how things are going and then rub elbow at the bar after work.
Also Silicon Valley start ups have access to the brain power of several major Universities, and we only have a community college.
There you have it. Yes, we have a small high-tech center, but we do not have the same tool set as the green entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley. The development of our high-tech center is really an applied tech-center, and its development was so unique that other foothill communities spent million trying to recreate it and failed. More on this in a future post.
