The Next Silicon Valley: Jacksonville?

[RattlerGator]

My goodness -- "Tolerance of immigrants & LBGT, which make up a big part of Silicon Valley's work force"

What !?! Why do people do this? Advocacy; it just never stops.

Oh, and they don't care about sports !!! Laughably absurd. "They" certainly do, as do practically all other segments of our society. The thing about sports, if you understand anything at all about the long tail of distribution, is that a whole bunch of people may be disinterested . . . but damn few things in our culture or cultures around the globe singularly capture as much attention. Which is the important thing so many on this board seem to be completely ignorant of.

Hate it all you want. But that's the fact of the matter.

[CityLife]

Some posters have done a good job sharing why Jax will not be "the next Silicon Valley". I'll take it a step further. Jax is not even positioned to be the "next Silicon Valley" in Florida. Orlando is MILES ahead of Jacksonville in this regard and with the recent creation of the Florida High Tech Corridor, Jacksonville isn't even on the train.  I say that as someone that hates Orlando. http://www.floridahightech.com/

If we're talking trends and new economic development strategies (in addition to financial services, logistics, etc), I think Jacksonville's best niche would be going all in as a cultural, arts, music, brewing, and culinary hub. Like a Portland, Nashville, or Asheville. Jacksonville's institutions and infrastructure are probably better suited to a movement like that, and it is already happening organically. That is not to say that tech should be ignored, just that the city is probably a lot better positioned to focus in areas other than tech.

[spuwho]

Jacksonville's biggest asset is that we are diversified in our economics.

We don't rely on just one industry to be the primary driver.

The last economic development chart for Florida showed us to have the 2nd most diverse business climate only behind Miami.

I think that is an incredible asset to have and one other "one trick" cities would love to have.

Bring in more tech R&D? Absolutely. But have it dominate our economic climate? No.

[finehoe]

I think Jacksonville's best niche would be going all in as a cultural, arts, music, brewing, and culinary hub.

These all tend to be low-wage ventures as well, which do well here.

[finehoe]

My goodness -- "Tolerance of immigrants & LBGT, which make up a big part of Silicon Valley's work force"

What !?! Why do people do this? Advocacy; it just never stops.

Bigotry it just never stops.

Openness to gays and lesbians similarly reflects an ecosystem that is open to new people and new ideas. It's amazing how consistently people have misconstrued what my colleagues and I have had to say about the connection between gays and economic growth. They miss the point. A strong and vibrant gay community is a solid leading indicator of a place that is open to many different kinds of people. Ronald Inglehart, who has studied the relationship between culture and economic growth for some four decades, has noted that the lack of societal acceptance of gays is the most significant remaining bastion of intolerance and discrimination around the world. Accordingly, communities that have long been more accepting and open to gay people have an underlying ecosystem which is also more likely to be accepting of new ideas and different types of people, including the eggheads and eccentrics who invent new things and start new enterprises. As Bill Bishop put it, "where gay households abound, geeks follow."

http://www.citylab.com/housing/2012/07/geography-tolerance/2241/

[simms3]

Jacksonville's biggest asset is that we are diversified in our economics.

We don't rely on just one industry to be the primary driver.

The last economic development chart for Florida showed us to have the 2nd most diverse business climate only behind Miami.

I think that is an incredible asset to have and one other "one trick" cities would love to have.

Bring in more tech R&D? Absolutely. But have it dominate our economic climate? No.

You say this without context.  Most major major cities, including the San Francisco Bay Area, have incredibly diverse economies.  Simultaneously, most cities that have historically done really really well have in fact dominated in at least one economic segment or have taken advantage of an absolute advantage.

[simms3]

If we're talking trends and new economic development strategies (in addition to financial services, logistics, etc), I think Jacksonville's best niche would be going all in as a cultural, arts, music, brewing, and culinary hub. Like a Portland, Nashville, or Asheville. Jacksonville's institutions and infrastructure are probably better suited to a movement like that, and it is already happening organically. That is not to say that tech should be ignored, just that the city is probably a lot better positioned to focus in areas other than tech.

Portland doesn't grow and thrive because of a bunch of granola crunching hipsters who ride bikes, though, and Nashville isn't all country music.  Asheville is a tiny town.  Portland is a large tech hub, as well.  Simultaneously, just because places like New York and San Francisco are bastions of tech and finance, among other things, does not mean these places don't have their fair share of culture, art, music scenes, brews, culinary, etc.  In fact, I'd say both New York and San Francisco also still dominate many of these other categories that you mention.

Being "cultural" in the hipster sense, and having an amazing culinary scene (of which I'm pretty sure Jacksonville has a long way to go to even fully compete just within the relatively noncompetitive southeast), and having a large beer/brewery scene, and curating art/music/culture are not mutually exclusive to being an economic powerhouse with big corporations, finance sector, etc.  In fact, often where there's big $$$$ there's big culture.

[simms3]

My goodness -- "Tolerance of immigrants & LBGT, which make up a big part of Silicon Valley's work force"

What !?! Why do people do this? Advocacy; it just never stops.

Oh, and they don't care about sports !!! Laughably absurd. "They" certainly do, as do practically all other segments of our society. The thing about sports, if you understand anything at all about the long tail of distribution, is that a whole bunch of people may be disinterested . . . but damn few things in our culture or cultures around the globe singularly capture as much attention. Which is the important thing so many on this board seem to be completely ignorant of.

Hate it all you want. But that's the fact of the matter.

You are a poster that frequently gives me a hard time, I recall.  But listen to yourself.  Wow.  Jacksonville's biggest problem is it has too many people like you who think of yourselves as entirely rational/reasonable, but in reality you come across as naive and bigoted.  If the whole city were filled with people with your mentality, you'd be stuck in the stone 1970s!  Oh wait...Jax IS still stuck in the 1970s!

[CityLife]

If we're talking trends and new economic development strategies (in addition to financial services, logistics, etc), I think Jacksonville's best niche would be going all in as a cultural, arts, music, brewing, and culinary hub. Like a Portland, Nashville, or Asheville. Jacksonville's institutions and infrastructure are probably better suited to a movement like that, and it is already happening organically. That is not to say that tech should be ignored, just that the city is probably a lot better positioned to focus in areas other than tech.

Portland doesn't grow and thrive because of a bunch of granola crunching hipsters who ride bikes, though, and Nashville isn't all country music.  Asheville is a tiny town.  Portland is a large tech hub, as well.  Simultaneously, just because places like New York and San Francisco are bastions of tech and finance, among other things, does not mean these places don't have their fair share of culture, art, music scenes, brews, culinary, etc.  In fact, I'd say both New York and San Francisco also still dominate many of these other categories that you mention.

Being "cultural" in the hipster sense, and having an amazing culinary scene (of which I'm pretty sure Jacksonville has a long way to go to even fully compete just within the relatively noncompetitive southeast), and having a large beer/brewery scene, and curating art/music/culture are not mutually exclusive to being an economic powerhouse with big corporations, finance sector, etc.  In fact, often where there's big $$$$ there's big culture.

Perhaps you missed the part where I said we should focus on arts/culture in addition to financial services, logistics, and other strengths. Clearly I am aware of the symbiotic relationship between culture and business. Due to Jax's lack of a major research university, it needs to provide exceptional cultural offerings to draw in and retain talent. Particularly young talent.

[whyisjohngalt]

Jacksonville is too spread out to have the density a unifying identity needs.

There's probably a hub with whatever niche you're looking for but the majority of the population seems to be much more blue collar.  These post don't really reflect their views.

Who's going to fervently advocate for them?

[finehoe]

There's probably a hub with whatever niche you're looking for but the majority of the population seems to be much more blue collar.  These post don't really reflect their views.

Who's going to fervently advocate for them?

Bernie Sanders:  https://berniesanders.com/issues/

[jaxlongtimer]

Bumping this thread from 10 years ago!  With UF coming to town, thought an update would be appropriate.

So far, I don't think we have moved much toward being a SV-like town but maybe someone here sees it differently.  Will UF change that? And, even if they move us in that direction, how many years out before we see real movement?

Coincidentally, the Florida T-U just ran the below article on UF's building timelines with the City.  Looks pretty vague, no guarantees, and goes out 10 years or more.  Propelling Jax to be closer to SV seems unlikely at this time.

Proposed agreement shows five buildings for UF grad campus in downtown Jacksonville

...UF would have up to seven years to begin construction on the second parcel and would have to finish that building by 2035...

....If UF does not spend at least $42 million of that funding on the semiconductor institute over a 10-year period, the university would have to fully repay the city's second allotment of $50 million...

...UF plans to operate the Florida Semiconductor Institute at its main Gainesville campus and at the Jacksonville graduate campus. Jacksonville would be a "statewide hub" for research, development and workforce initiatives in semiconductor technologies, according to the development agreement....

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2025/05/15/agreement-shows-what-uf-grad-campus-would-build-in-jacksonville/83574293007/?utm_source=timesunion-dailybriefing-strada&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailybriefing-headline-stack&utm_term=hero&utm_content=nftu-jacksonville-nletter65

[Ken_FSU]

Ten years doesn't make the premise any less goofy than the guy who once suggested on here that Five Points was evolving into "Jacksonville's Chinatown" because a second sushi restaurant had opened up in Riverside (sushi isn't even Chinese, obviously, but I suppose that's beside the point).

In 99% of cases where someone is asking "Is City X the next Y," it's sad, desperate, inauthentic, and fails to address why Jacksonville has yet to make Jacksonville work.

There's an old saying:

"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

This is exactly what happened with Silicon Valley. Seattle wasn't trying to be the next ________, it was instead just trying to be the best Seattle it possibly could be. And this started with recognizing what made Seattle great - the natural environment - and investing heavily in master-planned, city-wide interconnected greenspace (dating back to Olmstead in the early 1900s), public waterfront access (Alki Beach, Gasworks Park, Discovery Park, etc,), it's epic trail system, and the stringent protection of the surrounding ecosystems. This created a quality of life that made Seattle very attractive to young, talented professionals.

Similarly, the city and state invested heavily in strategically beefing up the University of Washington's computer science program, which convinced private corporations to donate to the program as well.

At the same time, Seattle had positioned itself well as a major gateway to Asia and a powerful port, logistics and trade hub.

Boeing had been there for ages planting the seeds, but the "luck" came in the early 1990s when Microsoft was looking to relocate from New Mexico, and Bill Gates and Paul Allen loved Seattle so much from growing up there that they decided it would be a good global headquarters for Microsoft. Microsoft's move, the existing deep talent pool coming out of UW and Boeing, and the pop-culture "coolness" that was early 90s Seattle (grunge music, bands like Nirvana, the explosion of Starbucks and coffee culture, the city's progressive vibe, etc) all played a part in the Amazons, Expedias, and eventually Facebooks setting up shop.

It's inherently stupid to suggest that 2015 Jacksonville was anything like 1990 Seattle in terms of priorities, talent pool, philanthropy, capital investment/VC, public infrastructure, national rep, or education.

Ironically, this mayoral administration is the first one that I've seen since moving here over 20 years ago that has similar ethos, but we've gotta learn to crawl before we can walk. Getting back to "luck is when preparation meets opportunity," if we try to skip the "preparation" part, the luck will never come. We saw this during the pandemic, when the greatest opportunity the city has had in 50+ years to take a leap forward failed to materialize into any meaningful advancement.

Fix public transit. Invest HEAVILY in UF's CS and other relevant programs so that local undergrads are actually equipped to enter UF's grad program, finish and maintain the riverfront parks and Emerald Trail, preserve our natural resources instead of turning them into golf courses, and cut the small-time petty bulllshit infighting on City Council and come together around improving the city, and THEN, maybe 20 years down the road, we'll be prepared when luck strikes to take that great, rapid leap forward into whatever the next authentic Jacksonville phase will be.

[jcjohnpaint]

Ken,
Very well said. Couldn't agree more.