Ask HN: How do you create a Silicon Valley?

4 points

14 years ago

I realize this isn't a new question, and has even been addressed by Paul Graham before ( http://www.paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html ), but I was wondering if I could glean some more from HN's collective wisdom.

What does it take to create a vibrant tech hub filled with entrepreneuring hackers?

I ask with a specific place in mind. I live in Moncton, a mid-sized Canadian city that is in Atlantic Canada. The region has high unemployment and is marginalized, geographically and politically. Moncton fares better than most of the region and has about half the unemployment rate than the rest. It's geographically central and has become a "hub", drawing in a steady stream of migrants from the surroundings. We also have a lot of people in the region that are trained in tech-related field; the bulk of them work in call centres which are a significant part of the economy here. While bringing in money, the call centres unfortunately dull their I.T. skillsets.

In my mind, it seems like Moncton would be a good candidate to become a regional tech hub, but it hasn't really developed as such. So I wonder, what would it take to create a regional tech hub? Institutions? Investors? Culture? More Starbucks per capita? More personally, as someone from the tech/startup world, what would your ideal city be like?

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