Characteristics of Successful Tech Hubs and Start-ups: Lessons for Toronto from the Origin and Growth of Silicon Valley

(59:36 + Q&A) Paul Wesling, Hewlett-Packard (retired), IEEE Distinguished Lecturer and Life Fellow (Presented for the Univ of Toronto Entrepreneurship Hatchery & School of Applied Science and Engineering, April 2024)

Summary: Silicon Valley is commonly acknowledged as the tech capital of the world.  How did Silicon Valley come into being, and what can we learn for our Toronto hub?  The story goes back to local Hams trying to break RCA's tube patents, Stanford "angel" investors, the sinking of the Titanic, WW II and radar, and the SF Bay Area infrastructure that developed – these factors pretty much determined that the semiconductor and IC industries would be located in the Santa Clara Valley, and that the Valley would remain the world’s innovation center as new technologies emerge, and be the model for innovation worldwide.
This talk will give an exciting and colorful history of development and innovation that began in Palo Alto in 1909.  You'll meet some of the colorful characters – Cyril Elwell, Lee De Forest, Bill Eitel, Charles Litton, Fred Terman, David Packard, Bill Hewlett, Bill Shockley and others – who came to define our worldwide electronics industries through their inventions and process development.  You'll understand some of the novel management approaches that have become the hallmarks of its tech startups.  Many of these attributes can be found in other technology hubs; however, the SF Bay Area has five generations of experience, as well as a "critical mass" of talent, making it difficult for others to catch up.  In this talk, key Silicon Valley attributes will be illustrated and analyzed, for other tech hubs, for entrepreneurs interested in creating their own start-ups, and for technologists who will join these dynamic enterprises.
Paul Wesling has observed the Valley for decades as an engineer, executive, resident, and educator.  He received degrees in electrical engineering and materials science from Stanford University, then worked locally at companies including Lenkurt Electric, Sperry-Univac, and Amdahl, joining Tandem Computers in Cupertino in 1985.  Paul retired from HP in 2001, then served as “Mr. IEEE” for the San Francisco Bay Area for 10 years.  As vice president of publications for the IEEE’s Electronics Packaging Society for 22 years, he supervised four archival journals and a newsletter.  He received the IEEE’s Centennial Medal, the Board's Distinguished Service award, the Society Contribution Award, the IEEE's Third Millennium Medal, and the EPS Society’s Presidential Recognition Award.  He edits the IEEE/ASME/SEMI Heterogeneous Integration Roadmap for prediction of technology directions in electronics packaging.