<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"This post originally appeared on the\u00A0TransferWise blog. TransferWise is the clever new way to transfer money between countries, from the people the people who built Skype and PayPal.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nFrom Silicon Valley to Silicon Alley, and Berlin\u2019s hip coffee shops to East London\u2019s\u00A0Silicon Roundabout, the world is well versed in the global innovation boom towns. But have you heard of what\u2019s going on in Cyprus, Sweden or North Carolina?\r\nToday, with the decentralising nature of the Internet, distributed cloud technology and a growing sentiment toward entrepreneurship, the global startup ecosystem has never been so dispersed.\r\nWhat\u2019s the magic formula that helps a city to incubate innovation? Is it the low rent prices, stable infrastructure, education facilities or weather conditions? Perhaps it\u2019s a complex algorithm of all of the above?\r\nFrom the Far East to the Mediterranean, we found eight cities where technology\u2019s influence is growing by the minute, and the world should start paying close attention.\r\n1. Eindhoven, Netherlands\r\n\r\nDubbed by Forbes as the\u00A0most inventive city in the world\u00A0due to its \u201Cpatent intensity\u201D, Eindhoven is a hotbed for hardware design and high-tech innovation.\r\nIn the future, biodegradable implants known as\u00A0Bioneedles\u00A0may replace the syringe, needle and vial vaccination \u2013 a reduction of HIV infection and hepatitis are among the benefits attributed to this cheap and safe technology. And this is just one of the many pioneering technologies surfacing out of this mid-sized Southern city of the Netherlands.\r\nIt\u2019s home to hot startups like leading 3D printing marketplace\u00A0Shapeways, interactive education service\u00A0Gynzy\u00A0and real-time advertising platform\u00A0Flxone.\r\n2. Pune, India\u2028\r\n\r\nMove over Bangalore, there\u2019s a new Indian metropolis evolving with its finger on the pulse of cloud, mobile and digital technologies. With its young demographic, acclaimed university, flourishing nightlife and convenient connection to the financial centre of Mumbai, Pune is attracting a pool of startups and fresh IT talent.\r\nStartups range from award-winning data software\u00A0Druva\u00A0to telecommunication hardware\u00A0Swipe. Known as India\u2019s first \u2018Wi-Fi City\u2019 after the\u00A0Unwiring Pune\u00A0project was instigated in 2006, the city\u2019s Wi-Fi coffee shop culture and affordable standard of living add to its entrepreneurial appeal.\r\n3. Nicosia, Cyprus\u2028\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nDespite its recent financial crisis, the\u00A0WIPO cites\u00A0Cyprus as a country showing great potential in intellectual property and technology output. Companies like NCR and TSYS have caught on, choosing the Mediterranean island capital for their regional headquarters.\r\nWith its high per-capita income, favourable tax system, sophisticated infrastructure and low business set-up costs the possibilities are prime in Cyprus. Bitcoin marketers Neo &amp;amp;amp; Bee will open their\u00A0first real-life branch\u00A0in Nicosia later this month, a place where the use of the virtual currency is already creeping into everyday life.\r\n4. Dublin, Ireland\r\nGoogle, Facebook, Amazon, and Linkedin have all established their European headquarters in this Irish capital. Lower taxes and living costs, in comparison to its English neighbour, are what urged this move originally.\r\nBut now more and more tech companies cite a pool of talent and the\u00A0Irish Venture Capital Association\u2019s investment tendencies as reasons for the city\u2019s appeal.\u00A0Accelerator facilities like\u00A0Dog Patch Labs, launched by leading US venture capital firm Polaris Venture Partners, host music discovery platform\u00A0Seevl, Guitar Hero-like software\u00A0Riffstation\u00A0and big data management tool\u00A0Logentries, to name a few.\r\nThe city also hosts the must-go tech conferences\u00A0Web Summit\u00A0and\u00A0F.ounders.\r\n5. Raleigh, North Carolina\r\nAffordable housing, short commutes and the title of\u00A0No.1 U.S. city for young families\u00A0are all triggers for the flock of technology companies and university graduates to Raleigh.\r\nOver the past two decades, Raleigh has experienced the third-highest job growth and second-highest population increase in the country. It\u2019s also part of the\u00A0North Carolina Research Triangle, one of the most prominent U.S. research parks pioneering in IT and biotechnology.\r\nThe region (known as\u00A0Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) is anchored by cutting-edge research institutions from surrounding universities, growing high-tech companies like\u00A0Bandwith\u00A0and\u00A0Yealink\u00A0as well as Fortune 100 companies IBM, Cisco, Sony Ericsson and many more.\r\n6. Hong Kong\r\n\r\n\u2028Beijing may be the historical innovation hotspot of the Far East, but recently this focus has shifted to\u00A0Hong Kong. Its easy-breezy business climate paired with incredibly fast Internet speeds, a lack of censorship and plenty of trading tycoons are all contributing factors its growth.\r\n\r\nHong Kong is a booming breeding ground for startups, with global venture programs like\u00A0StartMeUpHK\u00A0offering resources and companies such as\u00A0Burg Limited\u00A0paving the way for wearable tech.\r\n7. Malm\u00F6, Sweden\r\nRanked as the\u00A0fourth on the list\u00A0of cities with most patent applications per 10,000 residents \u2014after Eindhoven, San Francisco and San Diego\u2014 this southern Swedish city is both young and diverse. Almost half of Malm\u00F6\u2019s population is under the age of 35 and boasts the highest proportion of\u00A0foreign-born residents\u00A0in the country.\r\nThe third largest city in the country, it\u2019s situated between the European capital Copenhagen and Swedish university town Lund. The region is teetering on the forefront of IT, mobile technology and life sciences.\r\nOnce an industrial town transformed into a nucleus of young innovation, Malm\u00F6 has attracted startups such as live video-streaming service\u00A0Bambuser, stock photography platform\u00A0Foap\u00A0and micro-donation tool\u00A0Flattr.\r\n8. Tel Aviv, Israel\u2028\r\n\r\nPerhaps its no longer as surprising, but with 5,000 startups the\u00A0Silicon Wadi\u00A0\u00A0(colloquial Hebrew for 'Silicon Valley') of the Mediterranean is certainly worth a mention.\r\nIt has the highest density of startups in the world and\u00A061 companies in NASDAQ. From\u00A0BillGuard\u2019s crowdsourced personal finance security to\u00A0Wix\u2019s web publishing tool and\u00A0Cardboard Technologies\u2019 biodegradable bicycle, the startup landscape has a reputation of being the most inventive in the world.\r\nIt\u2019s no wonder Google invested top dollar in its 8,000 sq. meter\u00A0Tel Aviv offices.\r\nWhat other global cities are being put on the map of innovation? Where in the world will the next hotbed of tech or financial genius emerge?\r\nPerhaps we\u2019ll be looking to Bangkok, Rio de Janeiro, Luxembourg, Toronto, Auckland, Beirut or Lagos?"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2014/02/23/pay-attention-8-emerging-tech-hubs/>