Last week, Joint Venture Silicon Valley (JVSV) convened its annual State of the Valley conference, and Fremont was there in full force – on the stage and in the audience – with City representatives and Fremont companies in attendance. The overall message was incredibly positive. JVSV’s 2014 Index cited record job growth, patent generation, and investment. But there were also warnings about continued middle class erosion and education/income inequality in our region.

For Fremont, this year’s event also meant staking a claim on our part of the Silicon Valley story with Fremont highlighted in many parts of the program. If you’ve been following us on Twitter or reading our blog, you know that Fremont is bold about the role it plays in our region and State of the Valley was yet another validation that we’re onto something.

Here are some of the highlights.

JVSV CEO Russell Hancock kicked the morning off with a summary of the 2014 Index. In his words, “Silicon Valley is sizzling … and it might get hotter.” The record growth we are seeing shows signs of being sustained growth and is not indicative of bubble economics we’ve seen in the past.

As a JVSV board member, Fremont City Manager Fred Diaz was part of the program lineup, introducing the morning keynote speaker, Manuel Pastor. Fred is playing an important role within JVSV, offering the public perspective to the organization’s regional initiatives.

Demographer and USC Professor, Manual Pastor, painted a statistical picture of Silicon Valley “linking high tech with high need.” His research shows that this region is the most “immigrant-intensive” region in California, pointing out that public transportation infrastructure that gets people to work is critical when addressing equality issues.

Salman Kahn of the famed Kahn Academy received this year’s David Packard Award for his tremendous achievement in providing a “free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.” It was striking that, when asked how many people had used the Kahn Academy program, more than half the audience raised their hands.

Closing the program, Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom offered the afternoon keynote. He challenged leaders in the room to rethink political norms and to demand the reengineering of government systems to keep pace with Silicon Valley innovation.