i3 - September/October 2016 - 40

Policy

By Justin Siraj
T EC H H U B

San Jose
entrepreneurs that provides resources for
mentorship, legal, customer development,
revenue and product development. And
the Silicon Valley Global Accelerator is
a full-service incubator that provides an
affordable location, valuable business services and mentoring to companies from
across the globe that seek to establish a
presence in the "capital" of Silicon Valley.

Setting the Standard

Fellow Robots

an Jose houses some of the most forward-thinking minds
in the U.S. Of course, Silicon Valley is what attracts these
powerhouses to this tech hub, but it also attracts audacious entrepreneurs looking to make it big in the tech
industry. "As a San Jose native, San Jose is more than a city, it's synonymous with Silicon Valley to me," says LifeSite CEO Chris Wong.
"IBM, Fairchild and Cisco all had headquarters in San Jose, which were among
the original 'Silicon' in Silicon Valley.
As a tech hub, it meant that the people,
the schools, the companies and way of
life (including weather, housing, etc.)
made the area attractive for anyone and
anything tech."

Resources
There is a wealth of resources in and
around San Jose. Whether it is established, well-known tech companies or the
high-class talent pool coming out of the
local universities, the San Jose area has it
all. "Companies come to San Jose and the
surrounding cities that make up Silicon
Valley to tap into the talent pool to meet
growth needs and for its close proximity
to partners, suppliers, developers and
distributors," says Gordon Bell, senior
director of marketing, Energous Corp.
40

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016

"With office spaces that run the gamut
from shared-space incubators and roll-updoor suites to multi-building corporate
campuses, and everything in between
the city is also surrounded by world-class
engineering programs and attracts recent
grads from Stanford University, UC
Berkeley, Santa Clara University, and of
course, San Jose State University.

There is a different feel in San Jose than
in other cities. "Just like you can't really
move Hollywood or Wall Street, while
you can set up satellite hubs elsewhere,
the ecosystem of Silicon Valley is pretty
unique and will probably always be
here," says Thavidu Ranatunga, chief
information officer, Fellow Robots.
It's a different lifestyle and a different
opportunity in San Jose. Unlike other
tech hubs, there is more opportunity,

CTA Startups
in San Jose
Avogy Inc.
Dynamic
Balancing

ICON
Smartech
LifeSite

Energous
Corp.

Nuvia Sale Group/
Terra Digital AV

Fellow
Robots

Sales
Collar. Tech

Fetch
Robotics Inc.

Visual Art
Speakers

Local Programs
The San Jose Office of Economic
Development offers business incubator
programs to accelerate the successful
development of startups. One program
is the San Jose Biocube, which is an
innovation hub for entrepreneurs and
provides wet labs, research equipment
and commercialization support to
emerging technology companies. Another
program offered is Spartups, a threemonth program designed for early-stage

says Ranatunga. "It really is a lot easier
here simply due to having access to (in
very high volume) pretty much every
ingredient a startup needs to blossom,"
Ranatunga says. "While elsewhere you
may only get one or two attempts to
obtain something needed by a startup,
you get many more chances here just due
to abundance. Rarely does everything ever
go right on the first try, so having multiple
opportunities to succeed is critical."
n
I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

http://sanjosebiocube.com/ http://www.spartups.com http://www.energous.com/

i3 - September/October 2016

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