Silicon Valley can't spur innovation on its own – the state has a vital role

The billionaire entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley have not all been recycling their earnings into Napa Valley vineyards. With publicity commensurate with their wealth and ambitions, such notable visionaries as Elon Musk (co-founder of PayPal, the online payments giant owned by eBay) have staked out claims at and beyond the frontier of available technology, from Tesla's all-electric cars to the proto spaceships of SpaceX. This is a moment when the Silicon Valley style and brand – Go Big or Go Home -- has appeal. The recovery from the Great Recession remains frustratingly slow. In response, governments across the developed world have perversely embraced austerity.