Talk:Tech Coast
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[edit] Isn't this original research?
See Wikipedia:No original research. This article needs higher quality sources. --Coolcaesar 02:53, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
- I still think this is OR. Someone better get a good source here soon or I'll nominate this thing for Articles for deletion myself. --Coolcaesar 07:41, 25 October 2006 (UTC)
Response: Several credible organizations researched the facts stated in the article including Partnership 2010, the OC Business Council, Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance, LA Economic Development Corporation and San Diego Economic Development Corporation. Further, studies commissioned by the USDOC's EDA confirmed the claims made in the article as to concentration of research facilities in the region. Additional studies by the State of CA as part of the State's Commission on Business and Capital Formation also lend credibility to the facts stated in the article. Overall I believe the article to be accurate and in keeping with Wikipedia standards.
The attribution of the name "Tech Coast" has been recognized by a number of respected organizations and documented by a number of publications including this, from the LA Times February 4, 1998 edition in an editorial "High Tech Name Game" (Metro Section, Page B-4):
Wednesday, February 4, 1998 Section: Metro Page: B-6 High-Tech Name Game; The lexicon of high technology baffles most of us, but we all recognize the monikers that this field's industrial centers have embraced. Silicon Valley is the San Jose home of America's tech industry. The tech area in Boston is Route 128, named after the highway it grew along. The Raleigh-Durham area in North Carolina has been tabbed the Research Triangle. And a little part of our biggest city, New York, is known as Silicon Alley. Southern California has yet to be christened with a high-tech name although Los Angeles and Orange counties' combined employment in the industry rivals that of Northern California. If the vibrant technical centers of the Southland had a catchy nickname, they might attract more entrepreneurs, skilled labor and, most important, venture capital to spur greater growth. Manufacturing and services in computers, bio-med, "new media," electronic components and communication equipment have developed in clusters amid the Southland sprawl. In the Burbank/Glendale area, the emphasis is on post-production and animation for the entertainment industry. In the Westside/South Bay area, so-called new media companies hold forth. An emerging advanced communications and advanced materials center stretches from the west San Fernando Valley to Camarillo. Search and navigation equipment and instrument companies have settled in the San Gabriel Valley. The Irvine Spectrum in Orange County has become a magnet for computer and bio-med companies. In 1996, 235,300 people were working for an array of high-technology firms in Los Angeles and Orange counties alone, compared to 240,700 such employees in San Jose County. In some quarters Southern California is known informally as "Tech Coast," a name coined by Tim Cooley at the Orange County Business Council. Now a formal search is on for a marketing-plan name that would put more focus on our region. Silicon Beach and Digital Epicenter are among an estimated 150 names said to be vying for the crown. Whatever the name, it will, we hope, leave La-La Land in the dust. Type of Material: Editorial Copyright (c) 1998 Times Mirror Company
Socaltech 04:21, 3 February 2007 (UTC)
- Although there is a fairly large number of tech companies in the area, the term Tech Coast for the area is one that has not really recieved much traction. If you do a Google search, and then start filtering out for specific groups and companies with Tech Coast in their name, as well as for Michigan's Tech Coast, the number of webpages mentioning Tech Coast drops quite a bit. The search below finds about 12,800 webpages, with roughly 1/2 to 2/3rds of them being good matches for the Tech Coast region.
- Some more comparisions, using just a raw quoted search:
- "Tech Coast": about 80,100
- "Silicon Alley": about 276,000
- "Silicon Fen": about 110,000
- "Silicon Forest": about 74,400
- "Multimedia Super Corridor": about 210,000
- "Automation Alley": about 134,000
- When Tech Coast doesn't even top Silicon Fen, and is only slightly higher than Silicon Forest, that shows the term hasn't had much acceptance.
- The other problem for me is that the Tech Coast name suggests a major impact of tech on the local economy, plus a synergy between tech companies, that I don't think the area has. Therefore terms like "powerhouse" in the article overstate the case. Since you say that you've got studies that will back up the statements in the article, you'll need to start properly referencing the article, and preferably with something more up-to-date and authoritative than a 1998 LA Times editorial. BlankVerse 11:35, 3 February 2007 (UTC)
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- I fully concur with BlankVerse. There are not that many big tech companies in L.A. in comparison to Silicon Valley. Sure, L.A. has MySpace, but most of the tech operations in L.A. are branch offices of Silicon Valley companies like Yahoo and Electronic Arts. --Coolcaesar 17:40, 3 February 2007 (UTC)
Coolcaesar -- That's a common misperception and one of the reasons the concept for the Tech Coast came into being. As an example: According to an article in Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies, Cyber Centers: High-Tech Clusters Benefit Companies and Communities [1], that looked at international technology centers:
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- “But it is in Southern California where much of today’s high-tech development is taking place. More than 19,000 technology-driven companies call the Tech Coast of Southern California home — 20 percent more than Silicon Valley. The top 10 percent of these companies have gross combined revenue of more than $51 billion. Technology firms in the six-county region around Los Angeles employ more than 500,000 people, 50 percent more than the area around San Francisco Bay.”
The region attracts the second largest pool of VC funding in the U.S. (after the Bay area) according to Pricewaterhouse's latest Moneytree Survey ahead of other regions such as the Research Triangle, Boston's Route 128 and Texas.
As far as big tech companies in the region, the list is long. Just a couple off the top of my head...Qualcomm, General Atomics, Broadcom, Conexant, Pixar, Qlogix, Emulex, Filenet, Amgen, Baxter, Beckman Instruments, Minimed, Western Digital, Edwards Lifesciences, Mindspeed, Allergan, AMO, SAIC, Alliance Pharmaceuticals, Cymer, Invitrogen, Gateway, TRW, Titan, Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Invitrogen, Gen-Probe, DivX, Neurocrine, ResMed, NuVasive, Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Leap Wireless, Illumina, Applied Micro Circuits, Northrup Grumman, SeaLaunch, SRS Labs, Kingston Technologies…
While headquarter locations are important, let’s not overlook the significant presence (and innovation/employment) in the region of U.S. operations of leading foreign tech companies (Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, etc.) and west coast operations of major U.S. companies (Unisys, Wyeth, Motorola, etc.)
Add all the other technology-based companies in the entertainment business, aerospace & defense, nanotech, medical devices, biotech, Internet, communications, hardware, software, pharmaceuticals, cleantech/environmental, energy, etc. and the Tech Coast region not only has more companies and employees working in high tech areas, but has a much more diversified base than any other region including Silicon Valley.72.54.118.154 20:29, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
- "Technology firms in the six-county region around Los Angeles employ more than 500,000 people, 50 percent more than the area around San Francisco Bay."
- We are talking about six very large counties, so it is a much, much larger area than the Bay Area. That means that if we start talking about any measurement of the tech industries impact ($/sq.mi, $/person, % of regional economy, etc.) it is going to be much less. You're also talking about much smaller companies, in general, or much smaller divisions, than you see in the Bay Area.
- Also, since you apparently have plenty of references at hand, you need to read the page at WP:CITE, and learn how to properly reference the information and statistics in this article. BlankVerse 15:09, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
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- Well stated. To reinforce BlankVerse and to expand on my earlier point, having lots of technology firms in an area doesn't mean that much unless they're actually inventing incredible new things as opposed to mere manufacturing or administrative or minor innovations on existing products. For example, China is the superpower today in manufacturing. China is diversified with lots of high-tech companies like Lenovo and Sina.com. But everyone acknowledges China has a long way to go in terms of pumping out the next Google or Yahoo (that is, a company that revolutionizes the way people around the world think about the very nature of information). I read an article in the Wall Street Journal a few months ago (for which I added a cite to the Silicon Valley page) which found that 10 of the 20 most inventive towns in America are in Silicon Valley.
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- The companies stated by our anonymous visitor simply do not add up to a Tech Coast. Most of the biotech companies mentioned (except Amgen) are bit players in niche businesses and look like ants from the perspective of a true pharma giant like Pfizer (based in Chicago) or Johnson & Johnson (based in New Jersey). Pixar is based in Northern California. Most defense contractors in the region have been shrinking badly since the end of the Cold War. Kingston and WD, as well as Belkin in Compton, all sell what are essentially very expensive commodities. Plus I haven't seen the executives of any of the companies mentioned on the covers of Time, Newsweek, the WSJ, or the NYT lately, while Google and YouTube have been having a ball with all the media photographers fawning over their founders.
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- Also, I nearly forgot to point out that the Toshiba operation in the OC is merely marketing, sales, and customer service---I know all about this because I used to own one of their lousy machines until I came to my senses and got a beautiful widescreen HP laptop instead (on which I am editing this talk page right now). Sony Pictures Entertainment is based in Culver City, but the company's U.S. high-tech development is based in San Jose and Foster City. --Coolcaesar 08:08, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
