Siliconia ( Here is the definitive collection of Siliconia on the Web. Siliconia are appropriations of names beginning with "Silicon" by areas outside Silicon Valley. A Siliconium can be promoted by local boosters or it can be assigned to an area in a press account. An ideal Siliconium will capture something unique about the regional character and when first encountered will bring a fleeting smile.

searched 29 Oct 2002

searched 14 Sept 2006

searched 23 Nov 2008

Blue collar White collar

Location Quotients in three “high-tech” regions…

Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas of the United States and Puerto Rico, November 2007

About Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas Standard definitions of metropolitan areas were first issued in 1949 by the then Bureau of the Budget (predecessor of OMB), under the designation "standard metropolitan area" (SMA). The term was changed to "standard metropolitan statistical area" (SMSA) in 1959, and to "metropolitan statistical area" (MSA) in The term "metropolitan area" (MA) was adopted in 1990 and referred collectively to metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), consolidated metropolitan statistical areas (CMSAs), and primary metropolitan statistical areas (PMSAs). The term "core based statistical area" (CBSA) became effective in 2000 and refers collectively to metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas. OMB has been responsible for the official metropolitan areas since they were first defined, except for the period 1977 to 1981, when they were the responsibility of the Office of Federal Statistical Policy and Standards, Department of Commerce. The standards for defining metropolitan areas were modified in 1958, 1971, 1975, 1980, 1990, and Defining Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas The 2000 standards provide that each CBSA must contain at least one urban area of 10,000 or more population. Each metropolitan statistical area must have at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more inhabitants. Each micropolitan statistical area must have at least one urban cluster of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000 population. Metropolitan area: 1+ urban area (pop >= 50,000) Micropolitan area: 1+ urban cluster (50,000 > pop >= 10,000)

NAICS San Jose- Sunnyval e-Santa Clara, CA MSA Boston- Cambridg e-Quincy, MA-NH MSA Raleigh- Cary, NC MSA Durham, NC MSA San Francisco - Oakland- Fremont, CA MSA Ann Arbor, MI MS Manufacturing Computer and electronic product manufacturing ND Information Other information services14.58ND 2.04ND2.02 ( establishments supplying information, storing information, providing access to information, and searching and retrieving information. The main components of the subsector are news syndicates, libraries, and archives.) 54 Professional and technical services Educational services Location Quotients calculated from Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages Data (2007)

urbanization economies clustering across sectors (and sharing urban infrastructure, etc.) Agglomeration Economies += scale economies Savings due to producing on a large scale (e.g., mass production of a Model T Ford) “economies” = savings Spatial dimension Applying the concept to economic geography agglomeration economies Savings due to clustering of economic activity in one place localization economies clustering among the same sectors (e.g., apparel) two parts:

“The agglomeration is back” Industrial districts, industrial clusters Megacities, global cities

Agglomeration Economies Can arise both from increased efficiency and innovation efficiency Increased profitability due to lowering the per unit cost of producing the same item innovation due to producing existing items in new, better ways (process innovation) or producing new items (product innovation) Spatial clusterings (e.g., cities, regions) can arise for both reasons.

Some better known “industrial districts” “Third Italy” “Research Triangle, NC” “Silicon Valley” “Bangalore, India”

Iconic Places in the Restructuring Debate “Third Italy” “Research Triangle, NC” “Silicon Valley” “Bangalore, India” Characteristics of “Industrial Districts”

from left: David Packard, Bill Hewlett, Frederick Terman, in (Source: Stanford News Service)

What lies beneath the parking lots of Silicon Valley? (Aaron W. Sachs. “Virtual Ecology: A Brief Environmental History of Silicon Valley) “Silicon Valley is probably a good, in many ways. The Valley of Heart’s Delight was a glory. We should have found ways of keeping one from destroying the other.” --Wallace Stegner (1984) quoted in Sachs, 2002: 82.

Silicon Valley/San Francisco: