About this item
Chronicling her return to America's heartland, CNBC contributor Rebecca A. Fannin provides an optimistic and engaging look at the current entrepreneurial comeback happening in the Midwest, documenting its transformation from Rust Belt to Tech Belt.. The American Midwest was once a proud bastion of good-paying jobs and middle-class life. Recently it has come to evoke bleakness: job loss, opiate addiction, despair. But without fanfare, a pivotal movement has grown, quietly transforming the heartland into a high-tech hub.. In Silicon Heartland, tech journalist Rebecca A. Fannin returns to her hometown region to report on how tech ecosystems - of entrepreneurial talent, venture capital, accelerators, incubators, universities, and R&D - are retooling midsized heartland cities and Appalachian towns.
About the Author
Personal BiographyRebecca A. Fannin is a leading expert on global innovation and an internationally recognized author, speaker and media entrepreneur. She began covering venture capital from Silicon Valley during the height of the dotcom boom. Following the VC money, she became one of the first American journalists to write about China's entrepreneurial boom, reporting from Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Her latest book is Tech Titans of China (Hachette's Nicholas Brealey, 2019) . Rebecca's first book, Silicon Dragon: How China is Winning the Tech Race (McGraw-Hill 2008) , profiled Jack Ma of Alibaba and Robin Li of Baidu, and she has followed these Chinese tech titans ever since. Her second book, Startup Asia (Wiley 2011) , explored how India is the next up and comer, which again predicted a leading-edge trend. She also contributed to a textbook, Innovation in Emerging Markets (Palgrave Macmillan 2016) . Inspired by the entrepreneurs she met and interviewed in China, Rebecca became a media entrepreneur herself. In 2010, she formed media and events platform Silicon Dragon Ventures, www.silicondragonventures.com, which publishes a weekly e-newsletter, produces videos and podcasts, and programs and produces events in many innovation hubs globally.Rebecca's journalistic career has taken her to the world's leading hubs of tech innovation as a correspondent for CNBC.com and contributor to Forbes for 10 years. Her articles also have appeared in Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Inc., and Techonomy. She is a regular contributor to thought leadership papers published by multinational companies. Rebecca frequently speaks at major business, tech, and policy forums, and is regularly quoted in leading media outlets. She additionally has provided expert testimony about China's Internet to a U.S. Congressional committee in 2010. Rebecca resides in New York City and San Francisco, and logs major frequent flier miles in her grassroots search to cover the next, new thing. Originally from Lancaster, Ohio, she is the daughter of an Ohio University professor of history and a kindergarten teacher. She moved to New York City directly after graduation from Ohio University, and joined Crain Communications as an associate editor. Later, she was editor of Pulitzer-owned International Business magazine, deputy international editor at Ad Age, and international news editor at Red Herring in San Francisco.
