Milking the Myth: Innovation Funding in Theory and Practice

The history of Silicon Valley was re‐invented in the early 1980s to suit contemporary requirements to portray innovation as less a product of circumstance than the culmination of managed process. Stanford University was cast as the source of the information required for innovation and Silicon Valley as its science park. This is myth, and myth can be a powerful weapon. Being based on faith rather than reason, myth is invulnerable to attack by logic. This article looks at recent exploitation of this Silicon Valley myth in support of a UK government programme to fund universities in recognition of their contribution to the innovation of local firms. Adherence to the myth was essential to securing funding, and proved an obstacle to the contribution the universities might have made to innovation.