Though all emerging tech ecosystems around the country have unique strengths and weaknesses, they all have one thing in common: a nickname based off Silicon Valley.
Iowa's tech scene has been dubbed "Sili-corn Valley." New York City has been christened "Silicon Alley." The list goes on: Israel is "Silicon Wadi," Portland is "Silicon Forest" and Washington DC is "Silicon Beltway."
Similarly, the Midwest, including Chicago, is often referred to as Silicon Prairie.
Is it time for a nickname change? Fred Hoch, CEO of the Illinois Technology Association believes so.
He recently wrote a piece for the ITA blog arguing that Chicago's tech ecosystem should be called "The Chicago School of Technology," as a reference to schools of thought that have come out of the city, such as architecture and sociology.
Silicon Prairie "is an awkward fit, implying an allegiance to a philosophy of thought that doesn’t comfortably apply to the unique tech ecosystem we have here in Chicago," he wrote.
"Positing Chicago as the Silicon something-or-other is simply grafting an established system onto a new geographical center that doesn’t necessarily warrant or support it," Hoch added. "But by virtue of there being no better term to describe the region’s tech community, we seem to have adopted the Silicon Prairie label by default. Well, it’s time for that to change."
In the Chicago Inno podcast, Will chats with Hoch about why we should consider the nickname change, what "The Chicago School of Technology" means and why it's important to set Chicago apart from other tech ecosystems.
