2014 Newsletters

Joint Venture sponsors VTA “Hack My Ride” Event
Joint Venture sponsored the Valley Transportation Authority’s “Hack My Ride: VTA’s Transportation Idea Jam,” a contest for developers, commuters and public transit users to imagine how transportation could work better in Silicon Valley.

Participants in the October 25-26 event at the Tech Museum were challenged to develop innovative software, technology, prototypes or proofs of concept that would improve the transit experience, increase transit use, or solve transportation and mobility challenges. VTA asked participants to look at all areas of transportation, not only public transit but also walking, cycling, car sharing, paratransit, and traffic congestion more broadly. Joint Venture coordinated the awarding of $3000 in prizes provided by The Knight Foundation.
Read about the Hack My Ride event. Listen to VTA GM Nuria Fernandez on "Inside Silicon Valley."

Joint Venture shaping new FCC rules on broadband
	With input from Joint Venture’s Wireless Communications Initiative, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has adopted guidelines that will ease the deployment of critical upgrades and expansions to wireless broadband networks.
The WCI provided the FCC with real-world examples of how rules could be adopted to promote the improvement of wireless services without interference to state and local governments. Additional details will continue to come from the FCC, but the new regulations will likely remove unnecessary federal regulatory requirements that slow down the deployment of temporary wireless location and small cell deployments in the public right of way. The FCC's Report and Order is only the first step in a larger rulemaking process. Joint Venture will continue providing input to the FCC.
Read the FCC news release on the Report and Order. Learn more about our Wireless Communications Initiative.

Registration is now open for Joint Venture’s annual State of the Valley conference Wednesday, February 4, 2015 at the Santa Clara Convention Center.

State of the Valley convenes the entire region for a day of dialogue and discussion about Silicon Valley’s economic and community health, bringing together more than 1000 of the region’s thought leaders, business executives, elected representatives, academics, workforce and community organizations.

A lineup of keynote speakers and panelists is already forming. Watch for further announcements about the agenda.

Our NOVEMBER Spotlight

MARC BLAKEMAN

AT&T

Sometime in the coming weeks, Apple will sell its 600 millionth iPhone since the now ubiquitous device debuted seven years ago.

Over the same period, AT&T's wireless network has seen a 40,000 percent increase in data traffic. That's not a typo.

"And there's no sight of any plateau on the horizon," says Marc Blakeman, AT&T's regional vice president of external affairs and an important contributor to Joint Venture's Wireless Communications Initiative.

Read Marc's profile.

Article of the Month “Technology and Inequality” MIT Technology Review
The tech boom in Silicon Valley is widening the income inequality gap and keeping middle class workers from moving up, according to several surveys, including findings by Joint Venture's Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies.

In this recent article, MIT Technology Review writer David Rotman probes the reasons behind the “chasm between the poor and the super-rich,” the reforms that experts are recommending to fix it, and the implications if we don't. Read the article.

November on “Inside Silicon Valley”

Election results, online education, charity events and online shopping are the topics this month on Joint Venture’s weekly public affairs radio program, “Inside Silicon Valley.”

Scheduled guests include Melinda Jackson, SFSU associate professor of political science (Nov. 7 & 9), Joseph Moreau and John Makevich of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District (Nov. 14 & 16), Carl Guardino, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and co-founder of the annual Silicon Valley Turkey Trot (Nov. 21 & 23), and McKinsey and Co. partner Brian Gregg in an encore presentation.