An Innovation Nation

From small towns to big, bright metropolitan areas, America's businesses, local governments, scientists, and everyday people are developing innovations that are making people's lives healthier, easier, more prosperous, or simply more interesting. Here is a sampling of the innovation hot spots in the United States.

Boise, Idaho: Job Innovation (Red on map)

Boise, the largest city in Idaho, is the commercial and financial center of the region in the United States known as the Northern Rockies.

One of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States, Boise led the nation in per capita job growth in 2006. Large employers such as Micron Technology, Hewlett-Packard, and startup companies continue to create jobs in the area.

In 2006, Boise was named one of the "Most Inventive Towns in America."

San Francisco, California: High-Tech Innovation (Purple on map)

Silicon Valley, located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay area, got its name from the large number of silicon computer chip manufacturers operating there.

The area, which became famous during the high-tech boom of the 1990s, remains the high-tech hub of the United States. Innovative companies such as Google, Apple, Yahoo, and eBay have taken root there, as have scores of small-tech and digital-media companies, as well as venture capitalists.

In 2006, California residents — private and corporate — received 15 percent of the all patents issued in the United States.

Austin, Texas: Workforce Innovation (Teal on map)

Seventy-five percent of Austin's residents are under age 45, and nearly 50,000 students attend the University of Texas at Austin.

One Austin company, Applied Materials, is taking advantage of the young population and hiring only college graduates to make machines used in manufacturing semiconductors. By doing so, as manufacturing jobs become more complicated, Applied Materials — and Austin — will have a growing supply of workers with knowledge in the field.

Austin also has the most places per capita in the United States where the public can access the Internet for free.

New York City: Digital Innovation (Blue on map)

In recent years, the areas of New York City known as Silicon Alley — Upper Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island — have supported the growth of a $9.2 billion high-tech and new media (communicating with consumers primarily through the Internet) industry.

The program, Digital NYC, assists with the construction and remodeling of affordable office locations with ready access to the Internet. As a result, New York City offers businesses hundreds of thousands of kilometers of installed fiber optic cable, enabling swift communication with worldwide clients.

Chicago, Illinois: Environmental Innovation (Green on map)

Chicago is well known as a U.S. leader in transportation, telecommunications, and finance. Over the last few years, Chicago also has become a leader in environmental innovations.

Chicago has 233,000 square meters of heat-reducing "green roofs" — layers of vegetative matter that grow directly on rooftops. This is more than all other U.S. cities combined. Millennium Park, a $475 million state-of-the-art example of modern urban green space, opened in 2004.

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina: Research Innovation (Yellow on map)

From microbiologists to software designers, the Raleigh-Durham area is home to highly educated professionals and employees working for the numerous large companies — such as IBM — that have established their major research facilities there.

With one of the highest per capita concentrations of doctoral degree holders in the United States, Raleigh-Durham is close to three major universities: Duke University, the University of North Carolina, and North Carolina State University.

The opinions expressed in these commentaries do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. government.