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Technology: The road to silicon valley
The buzzword today is IT. Information technology has seeped into all major fields, making it necessary for every country to develop its IT sector as quickly as possible.
While India has been successful in creating a veritable silicon valley, there is a question mark on Pakistan’s future in this area. However, before we delve deeper into how the country can find its feet in the IT arena, let us learn a bit about the original Silicon Valley, that of the United States.
The words “Silicon Valley” were originally used to describe the Santa Clara County. But later on, it extended to the area located on the San Francisco-California peninsula in the US. The Stanford University actually provided the basis for Silicon Valley.
The Father of Silicon Valley, Frederick Terman, was a Stanford graduate. While teaching at the university, he was concerned about the fact that a lot of his graduates were leaving for the East Coast. So he began to encourage his students to establish companies near the university. Among these students were William Hewlett and David Packard.
In 1937, a small company initiated by these two began its operations in a garage in Palo Alto. This was the beginning of an endless growth. Today, Hewlett-Packard is a multinational corporation, producing computers, electronic measuring devices and equipment, with an annual revenue in billions and with more than 0.1 million employees worldwide.
In the meantime, some other students also founded small companies, forming the centre of a local electronics industry. People like William Hansen, a professor of physics, teamed up with Sigurd and Russell Varian to develop the ‘klystron tube’. Eventually, inventions involving microwave radiation evolved, and Stanford gave the inventors $100 for supplies, besides letting them use their labs free of cost. In return, Stanford was to share in any profits. This proved to be quite a profitable move, since it brought in several million dollars in royalties.
Terman made effective contacts within Washington. Resultantly, following his return to Stanford he succeeded in getting a lot of government contracts for Stanford and the local companies. Gradually, new IT-related subjects were introduced in the university. These included the Honours Cooperative programme, where graduates could be updated in their specialty, and the Stanford Research Institute which focused on not-for-profit research that did not fit within the traditional tasks of an educational institution.
In 1951, the Stanford Industrial Park was born. The park was meant to be a centre of high technology, close to the corporate university. Interestingly, the leases were limited to high technology companies that may be beneficial to Stanford. Varian Associates was the first one to sign a lease contract.
Later on, companies like General Electric, Eastman Kodak and many others followed suit. In 1956, Lockheed Aerospace Company set up shop in the Stanford Industrial Park. A strong relationship developed between the two, with Lockheed initiating a space and air department at the university and Stanford giving scientific advice and training for their employees in return. Soon after the arrival of Lockheed, other research departments also began operations like the IBM, Nasa and Xerox.
It was in 1955 when a Stanford graduate, Dr William Shockley, invented the Shockley Transistor with the help of young scholars from the East Coast. His transistor, which was made out of a solid semi-conducting material, stem- med from the idea that it is possible to selectively control the flow of electricity through silicon, designating some areas as current conductors and the adjacent ones as insulators.
Then came another milestone. A company by the name of Fairchild became the first to successfully mass manufacture a micro-sized device capable of integrating large numbers of electrical ‘on’ and ‘off’ switching functions, stored in simple memory cells and all etched on a silicon chip. Today, this structure is better known as the integrated circuit.
The company was the first to manufacture exclusively in silicon and very quickly developed into one of the largest firms in the California electronics industry. Fairchild was also behind a lot of spin-offs and startups such as Intel, Signetics (now Philips Semiconductors) and AMD, which eventually earned the region its name. The area was first called Silicon Valley in 1971 by Don Hoefler, a journalist who wrote about the semiconductor-industry around Palo Alto.
From that point onwards, Silicon Valley progressed rapidly to become the Internet Valley as computer hardware, software and computer-networking technologies were developed and mass manufactured.
Today, many other nations like the UK and India have adopted this key concept and established silicon valleys (IT valleys) in their countries. They are now moving towards engineering and technological development through research, development and production by bringing their products as well as their technical expertise in one place, the valley.
As far as Pakistan is concerned, the country has still a long way to go before it can create a silicon valley. However, this is not impossible, particularly if the country remains consistent and adopts sound planning and management practices. Unfortunately, there is a lack of coordination between universities, manufacturing industries, government regulatory authorities and private societies/institutes/councils. If we are to create a silicon valley, we need to integrate all these.
Lately, steps have been taken to move in the right direction. Noteworthy are the following:
— The Higher Education Commission is working on improving the quality of education in Pakistani universities, besides encouraging people to apply for higher studies up to the PhD level. They are also offering scholarships, particularly in the IT sector.
— The Pakistan Engineering Council is regulating the engineering and technology education as well as monitoring the engineering and technology industry. According to this year’s revised ordinance for the PEC, the organization will maintain three registers — for professional engineers, technologists and technicians.
— Many other local/foreign engineering and IT societies/associations/councils are also striving in the country for the betterment of the engineering and technology sectors, like the Institute of Engineers Pakistan and Institute of Telecom Engineers.
It may take another three decades before Pakistan can create a silicon valley. But it is high time that we begin working towards this goal. India can boast of a silicon valley today, after decades of struggle where they mainly focused on creating indigenous manpower in the IT sector. The introduction of IT as a subject at the school level three decades ago is paying off now in the shape of IT giants that are emerging in India today.
Pakistan needs to take similar measures. Fortunately, it has finally woken up from a deep slumber and the government has begun taking relevant measures. What is needed is consistency in implementing these measures.
It is also about time that the ministry of IT and telecom, ministry of industries and production, ministry of science and technology and ministry of commerce join forces to build a sound IT sector. The government should invite local — both from the public and the private sectors — and multinational companies like Microsoft, Cisco, NEC, ZTE, Philips, Siemens and Motorola to invest in such a project for research and development and for manufacturing the semiconductor and IT-related products. Plus, there should be separate research and development centres in all universities, which will hopefully be the force behind Pakistan’s silicon valley.
This last measure is extremely important since there is a lack of indigenous workforce in the country. It is a sad fact that while Pakistanis shine in various fields while they are abroad, they have very little inclination or incentive to return to their homeland to apply their knowledge. Hence, the government needs to offer incentives to lure back the talent.
The government should also collect the data of companies manufacturing the semiconductor (electronics) and IT and telecom-related products in Pakistan, to move them in one region which will be the basis for the silicon valley, by offering them incentives.
With e-governance becoming yet another buzzword in the market, it is essential that the government takes relevant measures to carve a niche for itself in this arena. E-commerce should be given the required boost as well.
Exactly how fragile is the IT sector in Pakistan can be gauged from the episode in which the submarine internet cable was damaged, bringing the country’s IT activities to a veritable standstill. Given this scenario, it is no surprise that foreign investors are reluctant to invest in Pakistan.
On a brighter note, one area where Pakistan is somewhat excelling is its telecommunications sector. Pakistan’s Information Communication Technology, or ICT as it is popularly known, is inviting a lot of foreign investment. It would be interesting to see how Pakistan capitalizes on this factor.
Pakistan has had quite a chequered history when it comes to development. Stopped in its tracks due to various political upheavals, which translated in conflicting policies on various issues, the country could hardly find a firm ground in many important sectors like education and IT. However, with IT being regarded as an essential tool for development globally, Pakistan now needs to launch an intensive campaign and introduce measures that will help the country find a firm footing in the field of information technology.
The writer noumanabid@ yahoo.co.uk is a freelancer
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