Amit has written about  this attempt by the Indian government to set up a “second Silicon Valley” in the US.  It is of course a bad idea, as government attempts to fund things generally are. But this one puzzled me quite a bit. Apparently, the rationale is that the first Silicon Valley in California, is overcrowded, so they are setting up the second valley to explore new markets in New Jersey and Chicago.

 Wait, what? Has software increased so much in bulk that there is now a need to reduce transport costs by producing it close to its point of consumption? Why do they need to set up a second Silicon Valley in New Jersey to explore markets in New Jersey? Reading the article again makes the subterfuge clear. They have not mentioned anywhere that they will be setting up development centres, only “incubation centres”.  If I were to guess, what they will be actually doing is to set up marketing offices in those areas. They can’t tell the government: “Give us some money so that we can set up marketing offices”. So they dressed it up as “Give us some money so that we can set up Silicon Valley II”. The government has bought the line and so has the idiot reporter.