AnnaLee (Anno) Saxenian is a professor in the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley. Her scholarship focuses on regional economies and the conditions under which people, ideas, and geographies combine and connect into hubs of economic activity. She was Dean of the School of Information from 2004-1019, and upon stepping down she received the Berkeley Citation “for distinguished achievement and notable service to the University.”
Anno is the author of the internationally acclaimed Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128, which argues that Silicon Valley’s adaptive capacity derives from it decentralized industrial and social structures that support rapid information exchange and innovation.
Her most recent book is The New Argonauts: Regional Advantage in a Global Economy. Also published by Harvard University Press, it explores how immigrant engineers and scientists have transferred technology entrepreneurship to regions in China, India, and Taiwan.