San Diego Wireless Valley

San Diego Telecom Industry

Research Project

Project Scope

San Diego is a well-known, yet little researched, occurrence of a high-technology regional economy. From once being a “sleepy Navy town,” in the 1980s and 1990s the local economy diversified with the growth of new firms in both telecommunications and biotechnology.

Our project studies the growth of the San Diego telecommunications cluster, the role of key institutions such as universities, the military and trade associations, as well as key individuals and firms that fueled the growth of local industry. We are combining both quantitative and qualitative data to build upon prior research on technology clusters such as Silicon Valley (e.g. Saxenian 1994; Kenney 2000).

Through the end of 2009, we have completed more than 65 interviews, with company founders, early employees, venture capitalists and others involved in the success of the region. We also have a database of more than 300 telecommunications-related firms with operations in San Diego, based on Dr. Simard’s 2004 Stanford dissertation.

The researchers of the Wireless Valley research project are:

Dr. Joel West, Professor, Innovation and Entrpreneurship, San José State University College of Business
Dr. Caroline Simard, Vice President, Research & Executive Programs, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology

With Dr. Irwin Jacobs prior to
May 2005 speech in Silicon Valley.

Research Program

Planned Book

The major focus of the project is the preparation of an academic book on the topic

Joel West, Digitizing Communications: From MIT to Qualcomm.

Click here for a book prospectus.

Papers in Progress

The researchers have prepared a series of papers that have been presented at academic conferences:

Joel West and Caroline Simard, “Tapping the Knowledge of Remote Universities: Technological Entrepreneurship in the San Diego Telecom Industry,” 2007 Technology Transfer Society Conference, Palm Desert, Calif., Oct. 25, 2007.
Joel West and Caroline Simard, “Knowledge Flows in New Firm Creation: Insights from San Diego’s Wireless Cluster,” Strategic Management Society, Knowledge & Innovation Interest Group pre-conference, November 2003.
Caroline Simard and Joel West, “The Role of Founder Ties in the Formation of San Diego’s ‘Wireless Valley’,” DRUID Summer Conference on Creating, Sharing and Transferring Knowledge, June 14, 2003.

Versions of these papers have also been presented at MIT, ETH Zürich and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

We are currently working to finalize these for journal publication.

Research Completed

This is research that has been completed and is now available:

Simard, Caroline (2004) “From weapons to cell-phones: Knowledge networks in the creation of San Diego’s Wireless Valley.” Unpublished dissertation. Stanford University, Department of Communication.
Simard, Caroline and Joel West (2006) “Knowledge networks and the geographic locus of innovation,” in Henry Chesbrough, Wim Vanhaverbeke, and Joel West, eds., Open Innovation: Researching a New Paradigm. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 220-240.
West, Joel (2002) “Qualcomm 2000: CDMA Technologies,” European Case Clearinghouse, Case 302-069-1, May 2002.
West, Joel (2002) “Qualcomm 2001: 3G Strategies,” European Case Clearinghouse, Case 302-070-1, May 2002. Reprinted in Sherrie Bolin, ed., The Standards Edge, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Sheridan Books, 2002, pp. 497-513.
West, Joel (2008) “Commercializing Open Science: Deep Space Communications as the Lead Market for Shannon Theory, 1960-1973,” Journal of Management Studies, 45, 8 (December 2008): 1506-1532. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2008.00807.x
West, Joel (2009) “Before Qualcomm: Linkabit and the Origins of the San Diego Telecom Industry,” Journal of San Diego History, 55, 1-2 (Winter/Spring 2009): 1-20
West, Joel and Caroline Simard (2007) “Balancing Intrapreneurial Innovation Vs. Entrepreneurial Spinoffs During Periods of Technological Ferment,” Sloan Industry Studies Working Papers WP-2007-32.
West, Joel and Justin Tan (2002) “Qualcomm in China (A),” Asian Case Research Journal, 6, 2 (Dec. 2002): 85-100, doi:10.1142/S0218927502000257. and “Qualcomm in China (B),” Asian Case Research Journal, 6, 2 (Dec. 2002): 101-128 doi:10.1142/S0218927502000269.

Return to Joel’s home page or see his full list of publications on wireless telecommunications