Short Term Innovation Plagues Silicon Valley

In an article from The New York Times last week, former chief technology officer of Cisco Systems Judy Estrin discusses a potential problem with innovation in the US’ tech sector. She recently wrote a new book called Closing the Innovation Gap, which points to struggles with elementary education and traces emerging problems to the initial tech boom.

As a technology expert herself, however, she pins most of the problems on the industry:

Ms. Estrin traces Silicon Valley’s troubles to the tech boom. She said that’s when entrepreneurs and venture capitalists started focusing more on starting companies to turn around and sell them and less on building successful companies for the long term.

Her call to action asks investors and venture capitalists to begin taking greater risks. According to Estrin, only through failure can we again achieve a higher level of innovation.