I have been thinking a fair amount lately about what it takes to make a successful start-up ecosystem. (I am focused, unsurprisingly given my background, on technology communities.) There are a limited number of thriving start-up ecosystems globally (Silicon Valley/San Francisco, Israel, New York, Boston, Chicago, London, and Berlin among them, together with a handful of cities in South America, India, China and Vietnam). Some of these, such as New York, Chicago, London and Berlin have come to be recognized as successful engines for company and product creation only in the past few years, though all have had growing company formation activity for much longer. At the same time, there are numerous efforts underway to create new innovation ecosystems, particularly as elements of urban renewal efforts, in places like Detroit, Las Vegas, Providence, Chattanooga, Brazil and Chile.
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