Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is a commonly used nickname for the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California, USA, originally referring to the concentration of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers, but eventually becoming a metaphor for the entire concentration of high tech businesses. It encompasses the northern part of Santa Clara Valley and adjacent communities in the southern parts of the San Francisco Peninsula and East Bay. It reaches approximately from Menlo Park (on the Peninsula) and the Fremont/Newark area in the East Bay down through San Jose, centered roughly on Sunnyvale. In north Santa Clara County, an industrial "Big Dipper" can be seen from aerial photographs because the buildings and streets are laid out in a fashion that is easily distinguishable from the residential areas. (http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=37.304051,-121.872734&spn=0.11,0.18&t=k—zoom out for a wider view.)

Universities

• Carnegie Mellon University (West Coast Campus)
• San Jose State University
• Santa Clara University
• Stanford University

Technically the following Universities are not located in Silicon Valley, but instrumental as a source of research and new graduates:

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• California State University, East Bay
• University of California, Davis
• University of California, Berkeley
• University of California, Santa Cruz