Missoula Ranked a "Top" Tech Hub--Watchout Silicon Valley!

In the HBO comedy “Silicon Valley,” one of the characters refers to the famed tech hub as “the cradle of innovation.” To be sure, Silicon Valley has given us the home computer, the iPhone and many other tech innovations.

Yet even some small college towns in the U.S. can lay claim to being cradles of innovation, although on a much smaller scale than Silicon Valley. Without a doubt, the built-in brainpower and resources of a university can be a catalyst for tech startups in small college towns. Not every college town graduates to the level of a mini-Silicon Valley, though.

“College towns are no longer just sleepy hamlets where learning, sports, conversation and partying prevail,” social and economic theorist Richard Florida wrote in 2011 on The Atlantic Cities website. “The rise of the idea-driven, human capital-powered knowledge economy has transformed many of them into economic powerhouses.”

So, which small college towns in the U.S. make the grade as standout tech hubs?

How We Produced This List
Before we answer that question, let’s look at how we compiled the list. We relied primarily on rankings of tech hubs in a 2013 report by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City, MO-based nonprofit that promotes entrepreneurship. We also considered rankings of tech hubs by Techie.com, along with other economic accolades, population trends and livability factors.

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