Technology Start-ups around the Globe

It can be hard for fledgling technology entrepreneurs to get a chance to connect with potential investors — and fellow entepreneurs. To address that, a new network called the OpenCoffee Club encourages locals to organize drop-in meetings for those involved in the start-up scene in their city. The movement has taken off from an initial blog post and meeting in London in 2007 — and there have now been OpenCoffee Club meetings in cities ranging from Bucharest to Bangalore and Boston.

Meanwhile, in an informative working paper on the Chinese government’s R&D agenda, Katherine Connor Linton of the U.S. International Trade Commission describes how the Chinese government is trying to encourage homegrown technology start-ups that locate in Beijing’s Tsinghua Science Park: Free rent for at least a year and other perks are reportedly available to Chinese students who have gone abroad for degrees — yet come back to China to launch their start-ups in the “returned students pioneer park.”