ABSTRACT
The ultimate source of the Valley may be found in a triple helix dynamic, shared with the Boston region. Deep triple helix roles and relationships may be found behind the libertarian ideology of contemporary Silicon Valley hidden by a mythos of heroic individual entrepreneurs, exemplified by Steve Jobs. The first venture capital firm, American Research and Development (ARD), was itself a synthesis of university, government and financial industry elements and practice, an exemplary triple helix organization. Another starting point for the triple helix model is separation among institutional spheres. Ideology and reality often diverge, with the spheres operating more closely together than expected. In the US, for example, skepticism of government often obscures the emergence of the triple helix. The triple helix holds that innovation is a dynamic university–industry–government interaction process, whose micro-foundations are rooted in conscious collective human thought and action as the key to any innovation project.
