What: Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO, Carl Guardino, will be available by phone for questions and comments on the innovation economy during and after the Democratic Debates.
When & Where: Wednesday, June 26, 6:00 pm – 9:30 pm PST – Carl will watch debates in Sacramento, where he will be for a CTC meeting. He will be available 6:00-8:00 pm during the debate, and 8:00-9:30 pm after the debate by cell phone at (408) 838-4848.
Thursday, June 27, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm PST – Carl will be in Monte Sereno watching the debates from home. He will be available 6:00-8:00 pm during the debate, and 8:00-9:30 pm after the debate by cell phone at (408) 838-4848.
Details: The Leadership Group, in partnership with KQED, has been hosting Road to the White House Town Halls in order to introduce presidential candidates to Silicon Valley and the unique issues facing the innovation economy. During the debates, we will be listening carefully to candidates’ views on preparing our future workforce, skilled immigration, tariff wars, and issues surrounding privacy and regulation including threats of breaking up large innovation economy companies.
Stats:
- Nearly 44% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children.
- S. companies founded by visa-holding entrepreneurs created 1.6 million new jobs over 10 years.
- For every IT job created by an entrepreneur, an average of four additional jobs are created in the same region.
- According to the S Bureau of Labor Statistics, tech employment is slated to grow 13% by 2026, outpacing most other industries.
- Presently, the S does not produce enough STEM graduates to meet job demand from tech companies. Visa holders and DACA recipients are needed to fill this gap.
- H-4 visa work permits are under threat. There are 100k H-4 visa recipients working in the S, the majority of whom work in the software development, scientific and technology industries.
- Denials of H-1B visa renewals have spiked, from 4% in 2016 to 18% in the first quarter of 2019.
- San Francisco and San Jose collectively represent 10% of the country’s tech workforce and 40% of the country’s venture capital investments.
- Tariff wars are bad for business, and high tech companies are hit especially hard, as they upset established business relations, disrupt collaborative R&D, decouple critical supply chains, and make it more expensive for U.S. companies to access global markets.
- Regulation of privacy concerns should be addressed with focused legislation that applies to a broader group of companies and should not be addressed with anti-trust regulation of a few, very successful innovation companies.
- Anti-Trust laws were created to protect consumers from unfair business practices. They were designed to prevent collusion, restraint of trade and monopolies. They do not apply to innovation companies, which provide valuable low-cost services to consumers, frequently driving prices lower. Many other valuable services, such as search engines, and access to social media, are free.
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About Silicon Valley Leadership Group
The Silicon Valley Leadership Group, founded in 1978 by David Packard of Hewlett-Packard, represents more than 330 of Silicon Valley’s most respected employers on issues, programs and campaigns that affect the economic health and quality of life in Silicon Valley including energy, transportation, education, housing, health care, tax policies, economic vitality and the environment. Svlg.org
Contact:
Kimberly Ellis, SVP MarComm
Kellis@svlg.org | (408) 501-7853
Pam Kelly, Sr. MarComm Mgr.
Pkelly@svlg.org | (408) 501-7879
