The Other Silicon Savannah

Hopefully you've been following TheAtlantic.com's ongoing special report, “Start-Up Nation: The Search for the Next Silicon Valley.” The premise is that, despite the success of Silicon Valley, it needn’t be and isn’t the only place where start-up companies can flourish and where technological innovations can arise. This map looks at other innovation hubs in the U.S., based on various rankings of patents, start-ups, entrepreneurs and people with college degrees. Our own Richard Florida writes that “the geography of start-up America is spreading, slowly and gradually, but inexorably” – and many of those hotbeds of innovation are popping up in the South. And beginning October 23, Senior Editor Alexis Madrigal will be road-tripping through the South, with stops in Richmond, Raleigh-Durham, Savannah, Atlanta, Chattanooga, Shreveport, and New Orleans, to see some of these innovation hubs and the companies they’ve spawned firsthand.

Halfway across the world, another "savannah" could one day soon be the subject of a similar journey. At least, the government of Kenya is hoping so, as they perpare to build a city from scratch that will be the continent’s “Silicon Savannah.” Konza Technology City aims to become a new hub for business and innovation, with technology and financial services as the primary drivers. The city will have office space for a variety of industries, with a goal of creating 200,000 jobs. There will also be 35,000 residences built on site. As of right now it’s dirt.