MIT and the Rise of Entrepreneurial Science

Rating:
Summary: Documents the rise of Route 128
Review: The main hub of high technology in the United States is Silicon Valley. It is centred on Stanford and Hewlett Packard. But there is another hub, based around MIT in Cambridge. Sometimes known as Route 128, for the main highway that runs through it. In this region was spawned many technology startups, often with MIT connections via their founders.

This book celebrates MIT's role in nucleating and nuturing the startups. From providing alumni, faculty and students who became founders or initial employees, to encouraging an entrepreneurial attitude in them, before they left for these companies. It's good for a historical overview of the region in the postware period.

Storied names echo from this book. Digital Equipment Corporation, Data General, Wang, Apollo. Though if you look carefully, most of these were later taken over.

The book seems to have an undercurrent of rivalry with Stanford. No surprise. Stanford has clearly been more successful over the decades.