Research has shown that the mere presence of assets is not enough. As noted, Houston's resources in bioscience and communications dwarf those of San Diego, yet San Diego is currently generating many more entrepreneurial start-ups in these sectors. Pittsburgh is blessed with several leading universities, including Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University, but has had difficulty generating and retaining innovative firms. The key difference between these regions appears to be regional leaders committed to supporting innovation through creating, linking and strengthening networks. In successful regions like San Diego, Austin and Silicon Valley, business and civic leaders set the stage for entrepreneurs to do what they do best.
Leaders build, connect and leverage social networks to help facilitate the innovation process.
They make and leverage investments in institutions like universities and find new sources of capital for innovative companies. Austin and San Diego provide examples of a relatively rapid expansion of fundamental innovation assets. Regional leaders ensure that public and private assets are leveraged for commercial benefit. They often expand connections through new intermediary mechanisms. San Diego and Pittsburgh provide examples of the use of new mechanisms to connect entrepreneurs and companies to assets.