Silicon Valley's lead over Europe is narrowing MUNICH: A technology and media conference held here this week provided ample evidence that Silicon Valley's dominance of Internet-style technology innovation is waning. ... Several organizers noted that Silicon Valley's original success as an innovation center was in large part the result of business and social networks developed over several decades in a community of venture capitalists and technologists.

Now, they said, with the Internet supplementing and replacing traditional face-to-face social networks, Silicon Valley may be losing its competitive advantage. International Herald Tribune