Category Archives: GSI-Blog

Silicon Valley is known as the world of technology and innovation. We may not remember well but the world existed before the internet. But how about Silicon Valley? Is it an exaggeration to say that from this Valley emerged companies that revolutionized the way we live today?

Today in Silicon Valley, there are highly qualified scientists and engineers, large investors and elite universities. Although hard to imagine, until the 1950s, the Santa Clara area was predominantly an agricultural zone, full of fruit trees. San Jose, where the famous Bay Area is located, was the capital of canned fruit and Stanford University (now one of the top universities in the world and the starting point for what SV would become) was just another higher education school.

The term Silicon Valley appeared in 1971 by Don Hoefler, an American journalist, and stands for determination, intelligence, and passion for technology. And this name could not be more in agreement to what was going to happen when by the hand of two colleagues from Stanford University, HP was born and with it, emerged also what we know today as Silicon Valley. Hewlett-Packard became one of the great pillars of technological progress in the area and, for a long time, was the reference company where all engineers would like to work.

Since the beginning, this “Valley of Dreams” was the birthplace of big companies and HP was not the only name born and raised in the Valley. In 1959, it was invented what would change the life of the entire world population and Silicon Valley’s electronics industry: the first integrated circuit capable of being produced commercially, a complete electronic circuit inside a silicon chip. With this invention, the revolution of the personal computer began, and Intel is born.

In the mid-1990s, with Apple, Microsoft, and IBM already in the race, the technology industry grew at a very fast pace and Silicon Valley was the stage for all the news and events.

In the middle of 1994, with the launch of the Internet to the general public, a several of new companies appeared – predominant in the current market – such as Cisco, Yahoo!, Amazon and eBay. And, again, through two colleagues from Stanford University, comes what came to redefine the way we use the Internet today – Google.

As the Internet grew with the help of large investments, Silicon Valley was the place where everyone with new ideas wanted to be. At this point, the Bay Area was where all the action took place.

The beginning of the 21st century confirmed the true power of the Internet, and over the past 19 years, industries have been reinvented and new ones emerged. Industries that would change our lives forever.

With the rise of social networks, Apple’s revolutionary inventions and the positioning of Android, we have seen a fierce evolution of smartphones, tablets and personal computers.

So far, the 21st century has confirmed what a place with huge potential, innovative and technological spirit and highly qualified as Silicon Valley can achieve.

There is no doubt that the Valley led the technological progress of the 20th century and shows ambition to continue to do so. The report of the most recent study by CB Insights, which focuses on the locations of the world where the largest technological activities take place, highlights the dominance of Silicon Valley which, since 2012, has seen more than 12,000 businesses made by 7,000 companies. This hub has done more business in the technology field than all the metropolises outside the United States combined.

It’s impossible to predict what the future holds, we can only look at what we have and know so far and try to understand in what direction things will evolve. Still, we know that inevitably new industries will emerge. At this point, it is possible to understand that the future involves Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, autonomous cars and quantum computers; and these are just some of the topics that show the ability to face the future and win. On the other hand, we also have technologies such as Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies, that should continue to evolve and that also show great potential.

Despite the corporate level, where Silicon Valley’s impact is most easily felt is at the personal and individual level, as said by the testimonies of participants in previous editions of the Global Strategic Innovation Executive Immersion Program, managed by LBC.

For all this, we can consider Silicon Valley as a “state of mind” of permanent challenge where aspiration and dream are the engines for generating ideas, where the acceptance of risk and trial and error are a way to grow and develop companies and, above all, where the construction of networks of trust and sharing of knowledge and experiences are the true reward of this technological journey.

The city of San Francisco illustrates the advancement of technology in the commerce sector by offering futuristic experiences. Going into a store, selecting products and leaving is possible and is the experience that Amazon Go offers.

The simplicity of the purchase and the absence of payment queues in the store are achieved through the advanced technology of machine learning, computer vision, and artificial intelligence. How does it work in practice?

The client installs the Amazon Go application, saves the phone and does their shopping. And it’s still so simple. The ‘Just Walk Out‘ technology is able to add all the items that the customer automatically collects on their virtual card, collects them and issues the receipt in the application.

The experience of entering a convenience store supported by high technology was so easy and thoughtless, that when I left the store I had the feeling that I was carrying articles illegitimately. Did the app record all the items I got? Seconds later I received my payment receipt, clarifying all the suspicions that “this cannot be that easy,” but it is!

The mobile-tech industry enables the technology to be portable and simple mobile phone to be an instrument present in performing a wide variety of common ”tasks”.

In our Global Strategic Innovation Program, you can meet leading Silicon Valley startup companies and how you can transform your business.

FoodTech expresses the cross between food and technology. The goal is clear: to apply technology in order to improve the production, chain, and distribution of food. But how does innovation happen?

Innovation in the food system involves the development of new food products or a combination of food products that already exist, as well as the continuing investigation of food trends and industry management. Take Impossible Foods as an example.

Founded by Pat Brown, Professor of Biochemistry at Stanford, Impossible Foods is committed to recreating the taste of the meat by circumventing the negative health and environmental impacts associated with livestock products.

The Bay Area company aspired to “make meat from plants better than meat from animals” and the truth is that it conceived an Impossible ™ Burger capable of saving the equivalent of 96% less land, 87% less water, and 89% fewer emissions than a beef hamburger for each unit produced. Plant-based food is a fast-growing trend and Burger King itself is already testing the recipe¹.

The social and quality issues inherent in the food industry are certainly due to the development of Foodtech.

In GSI Program, you to learn about leading Silicon Valley startup companies and learn about disruptive technology and its impact on business and society development.

1. Lucas, Amelia (2019-04-01). “Burger King is testing vegetarian Whopper made with Impossible Burger”. CNBC. Accessed 2019-04-17. ↩︎

Robotics seems to be transforming the business operations paradigm in many sectors and San Francisco is a great example of this. Café X on Market Street, for example, offers a unique futuristic experience that makes us think about the challenges our retail customers will face in the future.

In this mechanized coffee shop, the barista is a robot. Works with robotic precision to create recipes designed by top professionals and leaves room for human focus in the product selection process.

Respecting hygiene requirements and offering a different experience to the eyes of the consumer, the intelligent robot picks up the glass, grinds the coffee bean and mixes. We are thus surprised by variations of a single drink. No need to wait in line, you can order through the application and lift the drink in seconds. Simplicity, speed, and quality are easily achieved with top technology. Is this the future of stores?

We will be looking forward to seeing the future developments!

Macro trends such as population growth, climate change, urbanization, and trade globalization have driven the modernization of the agricultural sector. Ever seen as an activity based on traditional techniques, agriculture is turning into a high-tech industry.

Smart & Precision Farming, Farming Systems & Machinery, Vertical Farming, Crop Efficiency, Big Data, Drones & Satellites and Internet of Things (IoT) are some of the emerging technologies that support the AgriTech (or AgTech) as well as optimizing results for farmers.

Agroop is one of the innovation reference cases in the Precision Farming area in Portugal. Focused on developing a concept based on observing, measuring and responding to changes in crops, the AgriTech startup has created software for crop monitoring, resource-saving, risk prevention, and production improvement. Agroop has developed also a device that acts as a sensor capable of monitoring solar radiation, temperature, and humidity of crops.

Despite the strong activity of the AgriTech industry, it is believed that artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and sensor technology will still have much to add to the innovation and disruption of the agricultural sector. Smarter and more connected agriculturists increase the quality and quantity of agricultural production, and in that sense, they become the key to address issues relevant to Humanity.

In the Global Strategic Innovation Program, you can learn about emerging leaders and emerging startups in Silicon Valley. Learn about disruptive technology and its impact on business and society development. Explore our innovation programs here.

Jonathan Littman is a writer, specialized in Knowledge, Media and Innovation and co-autor of the book “Ten Faces of Innovation”, on design thinking, in partnership with IDEO. He is very familiar with innovation in the Bay Area as well as other ecosystems in the world and he is part of ur GSI Innovation and Immersion Program.

In the video above, Jonathan Littman explains you why you should and the people you will meet, in Silicon Valley.