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Location: Stanford Research Park is located in the City of Palo Alto, California, adjacent to the Stanford University campus. The Park is twenty miles north of downtown San Jose and 32 miles south of San Francisco.1
Year founded: 19512 Focus: "Predominantly scientific, technical and research oriented with major representation in the fields of electronics, space, biotechnology, computer hardware and software."3 Size: Stanford Research Park sprawls over 700 acres. There are 162 buildings in the Park and 23,000 employees.4 Infrastructure: Stanford describes its campus as a "self-sustaining city," providing "46 miles of roads, a 49-megawatt power plant, two separate water systems, three dams and lakes, 100 miles of water mains, a central heating and cooling plant, a high-voltage distribution system and a post office," in addition to its own fire and police services.5 The city of Palo Alto has developed a 31-mile dark fiber ring to facilitate "ultra-fast" Internet access.6 If the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center is any indication of the Palo Alto area as a whole, fiber infrastructure in the Palo Alto area is state of the art. Features include: gigabit transmission with speeds up to 622 Mbps and access to Internet 2, a consortium of 180 U.S. universities creating an advanced internet network for the national research community.7 Venture capital and other funding sources in the Park include Lucent Venture Partners ($100 million),8 and several banks and investment companies. In the year 2000, approximately $17 billion was invested in start-up companies in the Silicon Valley area.9 However, the Park lacks an official incubator program to fund start up companies.10 Stanford Research Park is easily accessible, being close to 3 airports, 2 main highways and serviced by rail and bus.11 Universities: Clearly, the primary university involved with Stanford Research Park is Stanford University. While Stanford is the primary school in the area, other notable schools and national laboratories in relatively close proximity, include:
Research Funding: During the year 200-2001, the total budget for sponsored research at Stanford was $660 million, with approximately 90% of this funding coming from the federal government and an additional $50 million coming from corporations, foundations and individuals.12 Measures of success: Stanford Research Park is considered by many to be the premiere technology park in the world. Stanford's claim to fame is the number of multi-billion dollar technology companies that began as ideas in Stanford's computer science department, including Silicon Graphics, Sun Microsystems and Cisco Systems.13 The City of Palo Alto has benefited enormously from the success of the Park, which has attracted a wealthy and well-educated population. The mean household income in Palo Alto in the year 2000 was $107,100, 87% of the city's resident's have Internet access and 65% of the city's residents have four or more years of college education.14 All is not rosy in Silicon Valley, however. With increased incomes come increased costs of living. The average monthly rent for an apartment in Silicon Valley is $1,600. Exorbitant housing costs have forced many employed Silicon Valley workers to take refuge in homeless shelters or to live at work, sleeping on futons in their office cubicles.15 Notable Tenants: Hewlett Packard, IBM, Motorola, Mitsubishi, Lockheed Martin, Daimler-Benz, Roche Bioscience, Oxford Pharmagenesis and Genencor International Composition: Of the 95 companies listed on the Park's website,16 52% are research and technology-oriented companies. 46% provide services to the technology companies, including 12 banks and financiers, 10 law firms, 4 consulting firms, restaurants, a YMCA and a movie theater. 2% of Stanford Research Park's businesses can be classified as dot coms. Graphically, the composition of Stanford Research Park is as follows:
Financial Incentives: It does not appear that Stanford Research Park offers financial incentives in order to convince businesses to locate there. The prestige of a Stanford Research Park address is incentive enough.17 The state of California, however, is very mindful of creating government policies that will encourage business. One of these policies is the California Internet Tax Freedom Act, which prevents Internet or bandwidth use taxes from being imposed. The current Internet Tax Freedom Act was destined to expire on January 1, 2002 but a bill was introduced in the California Senate to extend this tax exemption to January 1, 2007.18 The extension was overwhelmingly approved 39 - 0 on September 4, 2001.19 REFERENCES 1. Stanford Research Park, "The Location," http://www.stanford.edu/dept/SMC/researchpark/park03.html, visited December 11, 2001. 2. Stanford Research Park, "Why Stanford," http://www.stanford.edu/dept/SMC/researchpark/park01.html, visited December 11, 2001. 3. Stanford Research Park, "About the Stanford Research Park," http://www.stanford.edu/dept/SMC/researchpark/park04.html, visited December 11, 2001. 4. Id. 5. Stanford University, "Stanford Facts: Stanford Lands," http://www.stanford.edu/home/stanford/facts/lands.html, visited December 11, 2001. 6. City of Palo Alto, "About Palo Alto/Welcome," http://www.city.palo-alto.ca.us/about.html, visited December 11, 2000. 7. Cottrell, Les, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, "International Internet Connectivity from SLAC," March 28, 2001, http://www.slac.stanford.edu/grp/scs/net/case/international/, visited December 11, 2001. See also, Internet 2, "About Internet 2," http://www.internet2.edu/html/about.html, visited December 11, 2001. 8. Bell Labs, "Bell Labs Opens Research Operation in Silicon Valley," July 1, 1998, http://www.bell-labs.com/news/1998/july/2/1.html, visited December 11, 2001. 9. Newman, Cathy, "Silicon Valley: Inside the Dream Incubator," National Geographic, December 2001, 61. 10. Kennedy, Ashley, The Daily Illini, "University Expanding North and South," April 13, 2001, http://www.dailyillini.com/apr01/apr13/news/stories/news01.shtml, visited December 11, 2001. 11. Id. 12. Stanford University, "Facts: Research and Scholarship," http://www.stanford.edu/home/stanford/facts/research.html, visited December 11, 2001. 13. Aley, James, "The heart of Silicon Valley," Fortune, July 7, 1997, 66-74. 14. City of Palo Alto, "Palo Alto At a Glance," http://www.city.palo-alto.ca.us/resources/ataglance.html, visited December 11, 2001. 15. Newman, Cathy, "Silicon Valley: Inside the Dream Incubator," National Geographic, December 2001, 72-74. 16. Stanford Research Park, "Companies," http://www.stanford.edu/dept/SMC/researchpark/park05.html, visited December 11, 2001. 17. Stanford Research Park, "About the Stanford Research Park," quotation from Roy A. Whitfield, CEO of Incyte Pharmaceuticals, http://www.stanford.edu/dept/SMC/researchpark/park04.html, visited December 11, 2001. 18. Senate Bill 394, "An act to amend Section 65004 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, relating to taxation," introduced February 21, 2001, http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_0351-0400/sb_394_bill_20010221_introduc ed.html, visited December 11, 2001. 19. Votes - Roll Call, Senate Bill 394, "Internet Tax Freedom Act: Continuation," http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_0351-0400/sb_394_vote_20010904_0403P M_sen_floor.html, visited December 11, 2001.
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