Chances are, you can access this article from a smartphone right now: a device that was unimaginable for most just 20 years ago. In milliseconds, it serves up real-time directions, messages, music, entertainment and distraction for six billion people around the globe.

It would not be an exaggeration to credit the major technological innovations behind your smartphone - silicon chips, 5G, cloud computing, and iOS and Android operating systems - to Silicon Valley, the global hub for technology and entrepreneurship over the past few decades.