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Portland

Home to the first-ever interactive transit map, Portland leads in developer-made transit applications. The firm TriMet even assisted Google in preparing data for maps. Creative apps tell you when the next vehicle arrives, find the nearest stop to your location and alert you when you’re nearing your destination.

San Francisco

What about copying the Bay Area’s most cherished invention, the Internet café? Sitting down to a high-speed connection on a brand new iMac with a chipotle fish taco in your hand is one of life’s great pleasures. Anyone looking to copy one of SF’s better Interweb spots should research Quetzal, Golden Gate Perk or Chat Café.

Austin

As well as hosting SXSWi, North America’s definitive Web conference, Austin has a reputation as a smart place to launch a tech start-up. That’s because the city’s attracted successful tech venture capitalist firms like YCombinator and TechStars, but also because the city itself acts like a VC: Austin’s Capital Factory initiative funds five new tech start-ups a year.

Washington, DC

A historic DC walking tour on your iPhone. A Facebook widget that checks where city money is spent. These are the types of Internet applications submitted to Apps for Democracy, a program under DC mayor Adrian Fenty inviting local developers to identify city problems and solve them online. The project yielded 47 apps in 30 days – a $2,300,000 value.

Vancouver

Vancouver is leading the way in Canada in the open government movement. A motion passed at City Hall in May for open data, open standards and open source means programs that map out all public washrooms in an area and email alerts for water quality on city beaches are in the works.

Munich

The capital of Bavaria is also a capital of open-source. In 2006, the city switched all of its 15,000 computers from proprietary Microsoft Windows to the open Linux system. A bold move, considering that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made a desperation visit to Munich to convince the city not to leave his company.

Bangalore

A cluster of software, electronics and Web companies make this India’s version of Silicon Valley, though it’s not a valley at all, but a plateau. Three micro-neighbourhoods dedicated to tech work and the presence of multinationals like AOL and Qwest attract talent from all over the country.

Singapore

Apart from the heavily armed guards randomly demanding to see passports, Singapore’s Changi Airport is an easy place to work online. Internet kiosks are plentiful, with a fair five-minute usage limit. Or for those carrying laptops or netbooks, there’s free wireless. The airport’s site also has a an interactive map of the place to help you avoid last-second scurrying for a flight.

Seoul

WiBro sounds like a nickname for the beer-drinking, backwards-hat-wearing neighbour but is actually proof that our telecoms aren’t competing. WiBro, wireless broadband, is Seoul’s new high-speed wireless-everywhere coverage. It’d be like sitting on the 511 Bathurst dialing up Gmail and downloading The Hangover at the same time.

Tokyo

Any place that sells smartphones in vending machines deserves mention in a high-tech list, even if not many other ideas can be stolen (well, besides scramble crosswalks) from a crazy-busy city like this one. Tokyo also rivals London for top wages paid to developers and high-end Internet ITers, though that’s a bit of a red herring considering the cost of living.

Hong Kong

Cyberport is a city-made, brick-and-mortar space dedicated to IT and Web innovation. It’s as exciting to visit as it sounds. The world’s first Internet ‘hood boasts local start-ups and houses a tech-savvy five-star hotel and close to 3,000 permanent residents in a futuristic city. Should T.O. create a designated online neighbourhood? (HK is also a great place for electronics, both buying and developing.)

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