Israel is the closest. You have massive R&D centers for Intel (4 R&D sites, two fabs), Microsoft (2x R&D), Apple (2x R&D), Google (2x R&D), Facebook, Amazon (an

Israel is the closest. You have massive R&D centers for Intel (4 R&D sites, two fabs), Microsoft (2x R&D), Apple (2x R&D), Google (2x R&D), Facebook, Amazon (and even American startups like Magic Leap) all closer to each other than the distance between SF and Palo Alto. VC presence in Israel is probably second only to SV and the rate of startups per capita by far exceeds any other country. What Israel loses to SV is primarily cultural; no one gets the US consumer better than SV, that's why Israel is more focused on enterprise, security, semiconductor etc.