Europe's hottest startup capitals: Stockholm

Four times a year, a hundred or so entrepreneurs and a handful of venture capitalists meet at a secret location in Stockholm to play poker. "It's a closed group and only by invitation," says Kristofer Arwin, the founder of PriceRunner and TestFreaks, who started the event out of his office four years ago. "We were 20 entrepreneurs. Now there are about 160 in the network." At the most recent event, Spotify's chief product officer Gustav Söderström rubbed shoulders with boo. com founder Enrst Malmsten and Lea Bajc, a hyperactive venture capitalist. "You become friends with these guys," says Arwin. "All these people have got to know each other and have started new businesses, and become investors in other businesses, pretty much because they got to know each other in these circumstances."

Link (submitted by Richard)

National Youth Commission fosters Taiwan entrepreneurship

Taiwan is known for its entrepreneurs, inspired by its long history as an island frontier where people had to be resourceful to overcome the many difficulties they faced. 

In 2010, more than 15,900 small and medium enterprises were established, according to government sources.

Link (submitted by Anna)

Brazil's farming pioneers fight to maintain way of life

In recent years, Brazil has been at the frontline of a battle to curb deforestation, but in the 1980s it saw the land as fertile for development. The reversal in policy has angered some of the early pioneers who turned forest into farmland. 

"There was nothing when we came here 25 years ago, nothing at all," Gilmar Burnier told me, his eyes twinkling with pride as he led me through Querencia, a small town in northern Brazil.

Link (submitted by Kara)

Women's entrepreneurship in Sweden

At present, one out of every four businesses in Sweden is run by a woman, and women account for 32 per cent of new business start-ups. This means that there is great growth potential for women's entrepreneurship. The Government wants to improve the opportunities for women to start, develop and run businesses in order to unleash the growth potential for women's entrepreneurship.

Link (submitted by Richard)

Build the start-up ecosystem and the entrepreneurs will come

"Dublin’s case to become Europe’s answer to Silicon Valley is ‘come for the money and stay for the supports and networking’ – and it’s working, writes GORDON SMITH 

WAS IT JUST a coincidence that the winners of two Irish technology start-up competitions in 2011 both originated from outside Ireland? Maybe, but in the same year that a €10 million fund was launched to attract international entrepreneurs to these shores, it starts to look like part of a bigger plan."

Link (submitted by Lauren)