November 21, 2023 – The Joint Venture board of directors elected Brent C. Harris to its body. Harris is VP of Augmented Reality at Meta. Harris is focused on how to build the next mobile computing platform for people and businesses across the globe and was named an “expert in international regulation” by Wired. “I am enthusiastic about taking on this role at Joint Venture to contribute towards tackling crucial economic and societal challenges in Silicon Valley and to help grow the organization," said Harris. 
November 27, 2023 - In an opinion piece in the Mercury News, David Witkowski, Joint Venture's, Executive Director of Civic Technologies, says the California Public Utilities Commission seems to be hesitating and giving undue consideration to people opposed to technical progress. "...it is being held back by a minority of naysayers who are opposed to technical progress. It’s time for the commission to move our state’s communications network forward to the 21st century."
November 20, 2023 - Joint Venture’s Institute has completed a report in partnership with the University of Washington School of Social Work, Center for Women’s Welfare which models guaranteed basic income (GBI) scenarios. Supported by a 2022-23 grant from the County of Santa Clara with additional support from Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Modeling Guaranteed Basic Income & Household Income Adequacy in Santa Clara County examines how GBI programs can help move families out of poverty and into economic security.
November 27, 2023 - With one of the highest priced housing markets in the country, Silicon Valley’s median home sale price shot up to an all-time high of $1.53 million in 2022. The hottest Silicon Valley housing markets this summer were Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, and Fremont. Is demand changing the demographics within those sub-regional areas? Joint Venture’s research arm, partnered with Unacast to tap into aggregated mobile device location data. The analysis offers zip-code-level insights on characteristics ranging from age to poverty rate to migration patterns. 
November 27, 2023 - Joint Venture’s Institute for Regional Studies, recently joined with the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits and Thrive Alliance to produce A Landscape of Change and Impact, a report on issues confronting nonprofits in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. The groups produced the report to support the nonprofit community and its partners by offering an overview of organizational health, workplace practices, racial justice and equity, and strategic alliances.
November 27, 2023 - Carl Sagan once said, “Anything else you’re interested in is not going to happen if you can’t breathe the air and drink the water. Don’t sit this one out. Do something." Barry Vesser, COO of the Climate Center, has taken this sentiment to heart. Barry leads The Climate Center’s program and policy development and implementation teams. Barry moved around a great deal as a young man and served in the Peace Corps in the Philippines where he was inspired by the sense of community and kindness that was expressed by people of modest means. 
November 20, 2023 - Mark your calendar now for the 2024 State of the Valley Conference to be held Friday, March 1 at San Jose State University. Count on the most recent data on the state of the Bay Area and illuminating analysis by experts who will break down the numbers.
2020 State of the Valley Program
7:00 am
MUSIC, BREAKFAST, NETWORKING
Enjoy breakfast and music by the San Jose Jazz High School All-Stars. Visit the booths and exhibits on the concourse.
Music provided courtesy of UA Local Union 393.
8:00 am
Welcome, Conference Overview
- Honorable SUSAN ELLENBERG
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
Board of Directors, Joint Venture Silicon Valley - MATT MAHAN
CEO, Brigade
Co-Chair of the Board, Joint Venture Silicon Valley
8:15 am
The Stanford Children's Health
BREAKFAST BRIEFING
Silicon Valley’s Annual Check-up: A Briefing on the 2020 Index
The Index has been telling the Silicon Valley story since 1995. The indicators measure the dynamism of our economy and the health of our community, highlighting challenges and providing an analytical foundation for decision making.
- Russell Hancock
President & Chief Executive Officer, Joint Venture Silicon Valley
President, Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies
9:00 am
BREAK - Refresh your breakfast while you network, listen to the San Jose Jazz High School All-Stars and visit the Exhibitor tables.
Music provided courtesy of UA Local Union 393.
9:15 am
The Silicon Valley Community Foundation
THOUGHT LEADERS FORUM
CAN ONE STREET SOLVE SILICON VALLEY’S HOUSING AND TRANSPORTATION WOES?
El Camino Real and the future of transit-oriented development
Over the past decade the Bay Area has added 11 jobs for every home built, and the extreme mismatch has created a crisis threatening our vitality and perhaps our viability. But what if we did some radical re-thinking about key corridors like El Camino Real? What if the zoning permitted higher density, allowing the creation of a quarter-million new housing units? What if autonomous rapid transit were implemented in reserved lanes the 45-mile length of the corridor?
Considered the founding father of New Urbanism, Peter Calthorpe is legendary in planning and design circles for his pioneering approaches to revitalization, place-making and sustainable urban design. In this presentation Mr. Calthorpe will reflect expansively on Silicon Valley’s rapidly changing built environment, our unbridled growth, and his conviction that the region can solve the housing and mobility crises with infill and new-generation technologies.
- Peter Calthorpe
Founder, Congress for the New Urbanism
Senior Vice President, HDR Calthorpe
9:45 am
WHAT CAN HISTORY TELL US ABOUT SILICON VALLEY’S FUTURE?
Margaret O’Mara is hailed for writing the definitive chronicle of Silicon Valley—the epic saga of how the technology companies birthed here changed the course of modern civilization.
But now what? With tech facing fierce regulatory scrutiny and a barrage of withering critiques, is Silicon Valley’s historic advantage about to shift? Will the region’s high costs and frenzied atmosphere accelerate that shift? is a rising generation of entrepreneurs thinking of Silicon Valley less as a place and more as a network, a set of tools, and a bootstrapping mentality that can happen anywhere?
In this presentation Professor O’Mara delineates these trends and more, using history as a lens to think about the future.
- Margaret O’Mara
Howard & Frances Keller Endowed Professor of History, University of Washington
Distinguished Fellow, Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies
Author of The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America
10:15 am
BREAK - Networking, exhibits, music by the San Jose Jazz High School All-Stars
Music provided courtesy of UA Local Union 393.
10:30 am
The Applied Materials
PATHBREAKERS SYMPOSIUM
In cooperation with the Computer History Museum
TECH, MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY
Access to reliable information has always been the underpinning of American democracy, and the role of the press in distributing it has always been considered essential—until now.
Technologies and platforms invented and amplified in Silicon Valley have increased opportunities for free expression, and dramatically expanded the pool of knowledge available to our societies. But they have also enabled the viral spread of misinformation and disinformation—sometimes innocently, sometimes with malice—which has eroded basic trust.
What is the best path forward? In a nation where the line between news and opinion has become blurred, can the new media channels and social platforms be reformed? Will the heavy hand of regulation be the ultimate solution? Can Silicon Valley innovators provide reliable solutions?
- Richard Gingras
Vice President, News, Google - Sally Lehrman
CEO, The Trust Project - Dan’l Lewin (moderator)
CEO, Computer History Museum
This session presented with generous support and leadership from the Computer History Museum.
11:00 am
BREAK
11:15 am
The Accenture
LEADERSHIP LECTURE
Keynote Presentation
BEYOND SILICON VALLEY: THE NATIONAL SCENE
With a national election looming and California’s primary only weeks away, the conference concludes with an examination of the broader national scene. What do developments in Washington portend for Silicon Valley? Will California play an out-sized role in the presidential election? Will Silicon Valley’s issues make it to the national stage? Is there a path out of the partisan gridlock in the Capitol and the grim polarization it has unleashed on the American landscape?
News icon Dan Rather will speak reflectively and expansively on these issues and more, drawing on sixty years chronicling America’s historic events.
- Dan Rather
American journalist and author, What Unites Us: Reflections on Patriotism
12:00 pm
Adjournment
