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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."

13 of 229 comments (clear)

  1. no internet = have to program yourself by timmarhy · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I could see why countries were internet access isn't common but technology is at a reasonible level would require lots of programmers. language barreries would be the other reason - no off the self versions of software in your native language.

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  2. Silicon Valley = Cultural Diversity by cryfreedomlove · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Silicon Valley is special to me because of its cultural diversity. In one medium sized company you can work shoulder to shoulder with people from every major world ethnic group and every major world religion (including no religion). They work together, peacefully, to make better lives for themselves and their children. Look around the rest of the world. This place is unique and special. I see lots of other places around the world where folks insist on segregating themselves by ethnicity and/or religion. They must hate my home, Silicon Valley.

    Peace.

    1. Re:Silicon Valley = Cultural Diversity by triffid_98 · · Score: 1, Interesting
      Yes, we call them H-1B's. In other news, our local unemployment rate is now above 10%.

      Silicon Valley is special to me because of its cultural diversity. In one medium sized company you can work shoulder to shoulder with people from every major world ethnic group...

  3. Dublin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Anyone spot the the city missing from the list? Dublin?!

  4. Ft Meade tech pool? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Ft Meade, seriously? I mean, NSA and all, but come on. I think whoever wrote the summary has never been to Ft Meade. I don't think DISA relocating there quite qualifies it as a "tech pool". If you were to say the DC Metro area, then yes, I would agree with that, particularly with all the defense contracting/DOD/IC elements in the area.

  5. Geeks live where they want to live by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Richard Florida (an economics prof.) wondered why his home town didn't keep the geeks that graduated from his school. They would graduate and then move elsewhere. Hi-tech companies couldn't get employees in spite of the fact that they graduated within five miles of the company.

    What Florida discovered was that geeks want to live in certain places and not others. He wrote lots of papers and finally produced a popular book, 'The Rise of the Creative Class'.

    He pointed out how Silicon Valley was able to flourish in spite of the fact that Boston was established in the hi-tech game. In Boston, employers can block employees from taking their knowledge to competing companies. In California, they can't.

    Lots of things determine whether geeks will gather in a particular place. The place I would look for the next hi-tech paradise is southern Ontario. It has all the characteristics Florida found that attract geeks and hi-tech companies.

  6. Yep, the internet did the opposite by heroine · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The internet concentrated the jobs instead of spreading them out. Now if you're not geographically in Silicon Valley, your job can be done in Taiwan, so all the job seekers come to Silicon Valley. In the old days, you could have gotten a job in Nebraska. Not anymore. No-one even knows what Nebraska is anymore.

  7. Geeks and Gays by swm · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Lots of places would like to be a high-tech hub.
    High tech is prestigious, brings high-paying jobs, has good health and safety and low (local) environmental impact.
    Lots of places build out infrastructure (roads, office parks, networks, schools, housing) hoping to become a high-tech hub.

    Some of these places succeed, some fail.

    It turns out (can't recall the source, sorry) that one of the best predictors of where you will actually get a high-tech hub is the size of the local homosexual community.

    Why?

    Geeks and gays are both seeking the same kind of social tolerance.

    1. Re:Geeks and Gays by quarterbuck · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Weather may be a better predictor.
      There is an interesting story about how Bangalore came to be the hub for India. In the 80's Texas Instruments wanted to set up shop in India. They visited Mumbai, Delhi etc. and stopped over in Bangalore. They liked the weather. So they sent another team headed by an Engineer called something Dickinson. He was walking around Bangalore and spotted a street called Dickinson street. He loved that and decided to set up a TI office on that street. Before that Bangalore was a retirement destination but now started attracting Engineers due to TI.
      Meanwhile in Pune(another city in India), Infosys was building its IT center and they heard that all the Engineers were going to Bangalore. The head of Infosys was from Bangalore so he did not need much convincing to move his headquarters there.
      And thus India's Silicon Valley was born.

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  8. Why California gets it by Animats · · Score: 5, Interesting

    One of the big reasons high-tech has been so successful in California is the provision in the California Labor Code that prohibits employers from owning what you do on your own time. No employment contract in California can override that. So you can do a startup while still employed.

    Employers hate this, but it's one of the big reasons for Silicon Valley's success. It also boosts innovation in aerospace and Hollywood, both major California industries.

  9. corrections to article by societyofrobots · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "Japan leads the world in robotics"
    Hardly true. They lead the world in bipedal robots, but that's it!

    I would actually argue that Pittsburgh leads the world in robotics. Which brings to mind, considering the huge influence that Pittsburgh has on IT, why isn't it listed?

    1. Re:corrections to article by coaxial · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'll tell you why Pittsburgh isn't listed. Once you graduate CMU, you leave. If Pittsburgh could hold on to the CMU graduates, they'd have something, but they can't, so they don't.

      Paul Graham talked about this very thing, including citing the problems of Pittsburgh-CMU conundrum. He posits that it's the lack of venture capital (or "rich people" as he put it) in Pittsburgh, but I suspect (as he seems to) that there's something more missing.

  10. Re:What's really behind Finlands IT success by Louai · · Score: 1, Interesting

    A common expression amongst Finns is "Vaikka läpi harmaan kiven", "Even through gray rock". More elaborately put, if you are determined enough, you'll get there eventually, no matter the obstacles. There are other similar expressions, and even a word that sums it all up, sisu.