Author(s):
AnnaLee Saxenian* - University of California, Berkeley
Abstract:
Like the Greeks who sailed with Jason in search of the Golden Fleece, the new Argonauts—US-educated, foreign-born professionals who travel between Silicon Valley and their home countries—have pursued the risky but economically rewarding project of starting new ventures far from established centers of skill and technology. Their contributions to the growth of formerly peripheral economies, from Israel and Taiwan to China and India, illuminate a developmental trajectory not anticipated by standard models of development. By experimenting with innovations in the organization of local production, institutions, and policy, while maintaining cross-regional collaborations with their counterparts in Silicon Valley, the new Argonauts have created a context for technology entrepreneurship and growth in locations that are "poorly" endowed by standard economic metrics (property rights, rule of law, investment climate, etc.) These locations rarely provide lasting cost advantages either: as producers continue to cluster and upgrade their capabilities, they contribute to rapidly rising wages. The creation of regional advantage in the periphery underscores the need to view entrepreneurs, firms, policymakers and other actors as endogenous to the growth process. Professional and technical communities like Silicon Valley's new Argonauts have assumed unanticipated economic significance by providing flexible and responsive search networks that link local and global actors.
