The renaissance of the city as a cluster of innovation

Figures & data

Table 1. Main features of the cities under analysis

City	San Francisco (California, US)	Texas (Austin, US)	London (UK)
Growth model	Organic	Inorganic	Organic augmented
Stage of development	Mature. Experiencing rapid and continuing expansion.	Emerging. Approaching sustainable critical mass.	Growth. Role of epicenter for European VC and market entry critical.
Mobility of people	Immigration and between sectors. Close to/merging with/Silicon Valley ecosystem. Ties and mobility of people within the cluster and outside (e.g., Israel, China, Australia, Brazil…) Attractors: Walkable areas, climate, strategic location, public transport network, shuttles from the city to the workplace, youth culture.	Mainly between sectors. Global ties thanks to the powerful linkages of the ATI. Attractors: Green areas, rhetoric of sustainability, music and youth culture.	Immigration and home of many US high-tech firms. Mobility between sectors. Attractors: Green areas (parks), cosmopolitan, history of the city.
Mobility of technology	Evolution from financial center to tourism, high-tech and media-related industries. Co-location of different sectors, close to and integrating with Silicon Valley. IP commercialization from Stanford and Berkley.	Evolution from agriculture, to high-tech, electronics and arts. Likewise, moving from manufacturing to services (chip design, mobile, cloud) with a green approach.	Evolution from finance and tourism to technocreative industries, media and telecoms.
Mobility of capital	Large pool of VC, with strong diversity from early to late stage and international in-flows.	Good early stage VC. Low foreign VC (mostly local). Emerging connections to Silicon Valley.	Well-established financial center with best VC (largest, diverse, experienced) in Europe.
Alignment of interests and intervention	Un-related sectors that benefit of co-location. The growth was formalized by a rich compost of government investing in science and technology, Bay-Dhole Act, tax exclusion to revitalize Market Street corridor.	Joint initiatives between the Chamber of Commerce, City of Austin, UT, high-tech and small firms, business groups, citizens (e.g., Smart City Initiative, Opportunity Austin, redevelopment of the Mueller Airport).	Unrelated sectors that benefit of colocation. Examples of interventions include East London (Hoxton, Shoreditch), Tech City, Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, Canary Wharf, London Fields and Deptford.
Entrepreneurial drivers	Entrepreneurial mindset (Gold Rush), universities (UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco and Stanford), start-up accelerator programs.	University of Texas, ATI, Moot Corp Completion and startup accelerators.	Universities, start-up accelerators (Seedcamp, Techstars London, Startupbootcamp FinTechLondon).