Blair seeks secret of Silicon Valley's success

reuters.com
Sun Jul 30, 2006 11:08pm ET160
By Adrian Croft

SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) - A risk-taking culture and close ties with universities are big reasons for the success of the U.S. computer industry, some of Silicon Valley's brightest stars told Prime Minister Tony Blair on Sunday.

Blair, on a mission to find out the secrets of the U.S. high-tech sector's success and apply the lessons in Britain, traveled to the heart of California's Silicon Valley to trade ideas with some of the sharpest minds in the business.

(...) Blair's visit to Silicon Valley came on the heels of a visit in June by George Osborne, a senior member of Britain's opposition Conservative Party, who questioned why Britain had produced no Internet giants like Yahoo! (YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) or Google (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research).

(...) [Sun Microsystems'] Schwartz also cited the close ties between Silicon Valley companies and the region's universities. The high-tech industry grew up around Stanford University and many companies also have ties with the University of California, Berkeley.

He said it would be a good idea for government leaders such as Blair to keep Web logs, or blogs -- online journals people use to express opinions, post pictures and share experiences.