Between Tek, Intel, and a couple others, the area was transformed into something we call "silicon forest" and it spawned a ton of great companies, many of which are in business today.
It was a very interesting mix of private and public investments in education and investment support. Spin offs, not competitive with Tek, got Tek support while ramping up. Colleges offered targeted programs for people to get educated, companies did the same.
The founders got very wealthy, but so did a lot of other people.
I sure got that as the takeaway. Public investments targeted at innovation we've identified as important, or worth it, whatever should be increased.
There is another aspect to this as well. Check out this history of PDX area Tektronix: http://www.opb.org/television/programs/oregonexperience/segm...
Between Tek, Intel, and a couple others, the area was transformed into something we call "silicon forest" and it spawned a ton of great companies, many of which are in business today.
It was a very interesting mix of private and public investments in education and investment support. Spin offs, not competitive with Tek, got Tek support while ramping up. Colleges offered targeted programs for people to get educated, companies did the same.
The founders got very wealthy, but so did a lot of other people.
We need more of this kind of thing.