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Places Where the World's Tech Pools, Despite the Internet

Posted by timothy on from the pretty-people-pool-in-airports dept.

Slatterz writes "A decade ago people were talking about the death of distance, and how the internet would make physical geography irrelevant. This has not come to pass; there are still places around the world that are hubs of technology just as there are for air travel, product manufacturing or natural resource exploitation. This list of the ten best IT centres of excellence includes some interesting trivia about Station X during the Second World War, why Romania is teeming with software developers, Silicon Valley, Fort Meade Maryland, and Zhongguancun in China, where Microsoft is building its Chinese headquarters."

6 of 229 comments (clear)

  1. Not just Fort Meade - all of the DC area by Reality+Master+201 · · Score: 4, Informative

    All of the VA/MD area around Washington is a big center for computers/IT. NIST is in Gaithersburg, MD and DARPA in Virginia Square, VA, as well as several universities (e.g., UMD, JHU) that are doing interesting research in human language technology - a big area of interest for the military and intelligence communities. Lots of major corporations have facilities in the area, too - IBM, SRI, and BBN to name a few.

  2. Top Places ... by __aajwxe560 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The list:

    10. Boston
    9. Romania
    8. Fort Meade, Maryland
    7. Finland
    6. Zhongguancun, China
    5. San Fransisco
    4. Japan
    3. Bangalore
    2. Taiwan
    1. Silicon Valley

    1. Re:Top Places ... by amerinese · · Score: 3, Informative

      You're absolutely right. In Taiwan, you see the same clustering effects with most of the semiconductor fabs (TSMC, UMC), chip designers, flat panel manufacturers, electronics designers all clustered around Hsinchu and the Hsinchu Science Park. Taiwan's "Silicon Valley" or technology hub is Hsinchu.

      In Taipei, about one hour north, there are a growing number of software firms.

      In Tainan, in southern Taiwan, there also is a cluster of flat panel and solar green energy firms.

      Note though, that compared to many other parts of the world, Taiwan is a fairly small place. On top of that, the high speed rail shrinks the distance between all the major cities so that the whole island in some way could legitimately be considered one large cluster. There certainly has been a spreading out of firms from Hsinchu to Taoyuan (30 minutes north) and Taipei (1 hour north), besides the clusters in central and southern Taiwan.

      (Off topic, there are also a bunch of clusters for precision tools, bicycles, and many other industries! But I suppose none of those could possibly be conducted over internet)

    2. Re:Top Places ... by Snowblindeye · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's funny how it breaks down the Bay Area into San Francisco and Silicon Valley while on the other hand it puts entire Japan (population 130 mil) as one entry.

      Yeah, weird how they didn't even explain that in the article. Oh wait... they did!

      The whole San Francisco entry basically talks about why they made it a separate entry from Silicon Valley, and how its different.

      From the article:

      When we were coming up with this list I joked that San Francisco should be considered a separate region from Silicon Valley if only because companies from the valley actually turn a profit at some point. The differences between the two areas, however, are distinct and have become more apparent in recent years.

      On the surface, it seems like San Francisco is sort of the mouthpiece for Silicon Valley; a place where the reporters and PR staff are kept so that they don't bother the engineers down in Palo Alto and Cupertino.

      In reality, San Francisco has a technology sector all its own, one which blossomed with the rise of the "Web 2.0" era. Because an internet-based service doesn't require a large lab or factory space, startups were able to move from garages to small offices and apartments.

      Today, companies such as Salesforce.com and Craigslist maintain their headquarters in San Francisco, while web sites such as Twitter have taken up residence in the trendy South of Market neighbourhood and made the former warehouse district the new hot place to find a start-up.

      [...]

      Silicon Valley is where you go to start up a business that needs lots of space to grow. San Francisco is where you come if you're a small services startup with low headcount that wants somewhere with good coffee and the best sushi this side of the Pacific.

      Shaun and I may have had a giggle about the loss-making side of the business but the fact remains that online is king here.

      [...]

      The city is the heart of IT innovation, even if Silicon Valley is the soul.

  3. What no RTP? by MadMorf · · Score: 4, Informative

    So, I guess Cisco, IBM, GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer, Sony Ericson, NIH, EPA, NetApp, EMC, Red Hat and others don't count? And don't forget, as I've mentioned before, the Sanrio store...

    --
    Goofy, Geeky Gifts and More!
  4. Re:Silicon Valley = Cultural Diversity by DigiShaman · · Score: 3, Informative

    FYI, most (if not all) hunters eat what they kill. It's not like anything is going to waste.

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.