4 ms·

Aside from Cal, which other State(s) do you consider to be at least growing a culture of innovation? Just curious because might move to US from Canada in the fu

Aside from Cal, which other State(s) do you consider to be at least growing a culture of innovation? Just curious because might move to US from Canada in the future.

hardolaf 5y ago
Chicago, IL is a hotbed. Boston, MA also is doing great these days. Texas and Ohio seem to be in a race to the bottom in terms of the types of work they're trying to attract.
kragen 5y ago
Maybe Taiwan, Singapore, and Bangladesh? Canada's pretty great too.
quantumwannabe 5y ago
Innovation is a function of you and the people you work with, not where you live. You should be looking at the team you will be working on, not the reputation of a physical place or company. If you fail to do that, you will be disappointed when the reality inevitably doesn't match the hype. Nearly every state has loads of smart and innovative people, despite what HN's regional bias would lead you to believe. The exception would be the very tiny states, but they still have smart people, just fewer of them.
- kragen 5y ago
  The people you work with (in person) is to a significant extent a function of where you live, though, and what the team is allowed to attempt is even more so. Maybe there are a hundred smart and innovative fluorine chemists in your state, but 30 of them are assholes, 20 retired, 40 already have jobs too good to hire them away from, and the other 10 aren't allowed to do any lab work because of NIMBYs or because your legislature associates chemistry primarily with Breaking Bad. (That's a big problem in California today, but it wasn't 50 years ago.)
- hnthrowaway0315 5y ago
  Thanks, sounds reasonable. Although I'll probably look at the area too.
bonestamp2 5y ago
I'm sure there are more, and I haven't been everywhere, but these are ones that stand out to me: - Greater Boston area (outside of Boston, the high tech companies are pretty scattered) - Chicago (and the North/West suburbs) - Virginia (Tysons, Alexandria) - North Carolina (Research Triangle) - Portland - Austin The obvious ones: Bay Area, LA, NYC, Seattle area If you're into specific industries, then there are areas that are more focused than others.
- ghaff 5y ago
  Boston isn't as scattered as it was 20 years ago. A lot of pharma and biotech in Kendall Square as well as outposts of California companies. And there are various startups maybe especially in the Seaport. Amazon has a lot of space in the Seaport as well. But, yes, the computer industry in Massachusetts always tended to be in Metrowest and the defense contractors were/are out in the suburbs as well.
walnutclosefarm 5y ago
Minnesota's twin cities plus Rochester. Excellent place if you're interested in biomedical, health care technology innovation. Top ranked companies headquartered there, a great university, the Mayo Clinic. Really top notch. But if you're moving from Canada to escape the cold, Minnesota is not the place to stop. It's a bit warmer than Winnepeg, but colder than Toronto and the rest of Eastern Canada by quite a bit.

Aside from Cal, which other State(s) do you consider to be at least growing a culture of innovation? Just curious because might move to US from Canada in the future.

hardolaf 5y ago

Chicago, IL is a hotbed. Boston, MA also is doing great these days. Texas and Ohio seem to be in a race to the bottom in terms of the types of work they're trying to attract.

kragen 5y ago

Maybe Taiwan, Singapore, and Bangladesh? Canada's pretty great too.

quantumwannabe 5y ago

Innovation is a function of you and the people you work with, not where you live. You should be looking at the team you will be working on, not the reputation of a physical place or company. If you fail to do that, you will be disappointed when the reality inevitably doesn't match the hype. Nearly every state has loads of smart and innovative people, despite what HN's regional bias would lead you to believe. The exception would be the very tiny states, but they still have smart people, just fewer of them.

kragen 5y ago
The people you work with (in person) is to a significant extent a function of where you live, though, and what the team is allowed to attempt is even more so. Maybe there are a hundred smart and innovative fluorine chemists in your state, but 30 of them are assholes, 20 retired, 40 already have jobs too good to hire them away from, and the other 10 aren't allowed to do any lab work because of NIMBYs or because your legislature associates chemistry primarily with Breaking Bad. (That's a big problem in California today, but it wasn't 50 years ago.)
hnthrowaway0315 5y ago
Thanks, sounds reasonable. Although I'll probably look at the area too.

bonestamp2 5y ago

I'm sure there are more, and I haven't been everywhere, but these are ones that stand out to me: - Greater Boston area (outside of Boston, the high tech companies are pretty scattered) - Chicago (and the North/West suburbs) - Virginia (Tysons, Alexandria) - North Carolina (Research Triangle) - Portland - Austin The obvious ones: Bay Area, LA, NYC, Seattle area If you're into specific industries, then there are areas that are more focused than others.

ghaff 5y ago
Boston isn't as scattered as it was 20 years ago. A lot of pharma and biotech in Kendall Square as well as outposts of California companies. And there are various startups maybe especially in the Seaport. Amazon has a lot of space in the Seaport as well. But, yes, the computer industry in Massachusetts always tended to be in Metrowest and the defense contractors were/are out in the suburbs as well.

walnutclosefarm 5y ago

Minnesota's twin cities plus Rochester. Excellent place if you're interested in biomedical, health care technology innovation. Top ranked companies headquartered there, a great university, the Mayo Clinic. Really top notch. But if you're moving from Canada to escape the cold, Minnesota is not the place to stop. It's a bit warmer than Winnepeg, but colder than Toronto and the rest of Eastern Canada by quite a bit.