The San José BioCenter: BioConvergence Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley

We describe the role of an incubator to accelerate entrepreneurship in the BioConvergence industry in Silicon Valley. Soft systems methodology (SSM) is used to explain the concept of an entrepreneurial system and apply it to the evolution of the San Jose BioCenter (SJBC), an incubator for BioConvergence startup companies (i.e., a service provider in the BioConvergence entrepreneurial system). The San Jose Redevelopment Agency (SJRDA) fostered and continues to nurture incubators in partnership with San Jose State University Foundation (SJSUF), which operates the fairly autonomous, loosely coupled SJBC. These entities are all part of the entrepreneurial system that characterizes Silicon Valley. Specifically, using the language of SSM, in the present study we analyze the second order or complementary relationships connected to the "incubation" service provider (i.e. SJBC) component of the BioConvergence entrepreneurial system.