Universities do more than just teach and conduct research – they’re where some of the most audacious ideas are ignited, eventually finding their way into the private sector and our everyday lives. Take Stanford and UC Berkeley, for example, which have become symbols of how universities can power innovation.
The emblematic interaction between Stanford’s Prof. Frederick Terman, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard did not only lead to the emergence of HP’s success story in Hewlett and Packard’s garage, but also to the very notion of science parks. The Silicon Valley emerged as the reference for symbiotic development of an ecosystem focused on innovation thanks to interactions with Stanford and UC Berkeley. Today, corporations such as the aerospace giant Lockheed Martin, Tesla Motors, smart home product manufacturer Nest Labs, software company NVidia, Apple and Google all have headquarters and research facilities around Palo Alto, the world’s dream destination for any innovation specialist. Personal computers emerged there. And it remains a major research hub for AI and cybersecurity.
