The really happening place for innovation, at the Internet level, is in San Francisco.
This became visible to me in reading about the merger of Cisco and Meraki. Cisco is an old line company that manufactures computer-communication equipment in the network-router and cloud category. It certainly has been a major factor in that world for a long time. Meraki is a 6-7 year old company with more than 300 employees started in Boston by three MIT fellows. Meraki is now in San Francisco acting as the innovative frontline for Cisco. Frontline innovators for important companies are in San Francisco.
This city is booming in every way. I have good inside information into what's happening in restaurants. Right now they are full. These are boomtown conditions. Meraki is an example of the innovative pioneers with technological skill who are coming to San Francisco.
This is not to demean Austin, Atlanta, Venice by the Beach or Des Moines. Each of these has its own realm of innovative geeks. What San Francisco has is a complete menu of both the technical, imaginative, the graphic and the geeky all in one place and all doing very well.
The interesting part of San Francisco that is most appealing is the milieu of innovation. It is possible to go to any party, go to a coffee shop or any bar and find people who are of the appropriate age and who are in the innovations-startup field. And they are highly qualified.