Guess which places are the leading hotbeds of start-up activity in the world? The Startup Genome project, a platform that relies on volunteers to gather data on new businesses around the world, ranked the top ecosystems in the world in 2012. Hot on the heels of Silicon Valley in first place were Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Boston, London, Toronto, Vancouver and Chicago. The ranking evaluated them on a host of factors: total entrepreneurial activity, the availability of funding, the performance of their start-ups in such areas as revenue and job creation, the talent of their founders, their regions' supportive infrastructure, how closely their entrepreneurs' mind-set mirrors great founders and how quickly the ecosystem adopts innovations such as new technologies. With grassroots interest in start-ups sprouting, more governments are recognizing that start-ups are important to job creation and are trying to create environments that nurture them. Efforts span the spectrum. Canada, the U.K. and the Netherlands have implemented measures to reduce bureaucratic burdens, Japan has developed an extensive network of advisory services for small- and medium-sized businesses, and countries such as Australia have made efforts to increase the share of government contracts that go to these firms. Some countries are trying to develop a start-up ecosystem by attracting start-ups from overseas. "What they are starting to do is look outside of their own borders," said Torsten Kolind, co-founder and CEO of YouNoodle, a San Francisco company that offers a platform to assist in running start-up competitions.
In early October, YouNoodle helped launch Global Startup Youth, a three-day event in Kuala Lumpur run by the organization Startup Malaysia, which invited 540 people ages 18 to 25 from more than 90 countries to come together and generate ideas for high-growth, globally sustainable ventures. It was part of Global Entrepreneurship Summit Malaysia 2013, an effort co-organized by the Malaysian and U.S. governments, GEW and other partners.
Guess which places are the leading hotbeds of start-up activity in the world? The Startup Genome project, a platform that relies on volunteers to gather data on new businesses around the world, ranked the top ecosystems in the world in 2012. Hot on the heels of Silicon Valley in first place were Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Boston, London, Toronto, Vancouver and Chicago. The ranking evaluated them on a host of factors: total entrepreneurial activity, the availability of funding, the performance of their start-ups in such areas as revenue and job creation, the talent of their founders, their regions' supportive infrastructure, how closely their entrepreneurs' mind-set mirrors great founders and how quickly the ecosystem adopts innovations such as new technologies. With grassroots interest in start-ups sprouting, more governments are recognizing that start-ups are important to job creation and are trying to create environments that nurture them. Efforts span the spectrum. Canada, the U.K. and the Netherlands have implemented measures to reduce bureaucratic burdens, Japan has developed an extensive network of advisory services for small- and medium-sized businesses, and countries such as Australia have made efforts to increase the share of government contracts that go to these firms. Some countries are trying to develop a start-up ecosystem by attracting start-ups from overseas. "What they are starting to do is look outside of their own borders," said Torsten Kolind, co-founder and CEO of YouNoodle, a San Francisco company that offers a platform to assist in running start-up competitions. 
