<p>It’s interesting that Skorton considers the Technion/Israel tech scene an “economic miracle.” Don’t get me wrong, Technion has had great success in spin-out technology, like Cambridge (among others), but there are many similar [tech</a> areas](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_places_with_‘Silicon’_names]tech”>List of technology centers - Wikipedia), of varying success. None of them, including Silicon Wadi, can even compare to the success that Stanford has had with Silicon Valley. SV dwarfs all others in various measures - tech jobs per 1000, average salaries, venture capital expenditures, total revenues/profits/assets, market caps, GDP, # startups, # companies, # deals (mergers/acquisitions), # IPOs, and a lot more. Tech scenes around the world are a far cry from the “tech capital” that is SV.</p>
<p>On the other hand, those who spin out of the Technion supposedly tend to focus more on research and innovation than on business and marketing, so most of their startups get bought up by large international corporations. One article says “Israel is mainly an exporter of start-ups, and thus an R&D centre for large technology firms.” In that sense, I could see why Skorton considers it an economic miracle. It’s like Cornell’s backup: if Cornell can’t produce enough spin-out companies, they can tap an additional spin-out resource (of course, the Technion would probably be contributing regardless). This also explains why Cornell is taking responsibility for the $2 billion campus - Cornell will have the campus, and it will rely on the R&D/startup resources that the Technion can offer. I think this will be important, since the initiative expects Cornell/Technion to spin out 600 companies in 30 years, or 20 per year.</p>