adiemuso, you talk about the importance of critical mass to fostering creativity, and HCA has already brought up Hong Kong as a counter example.

Allow me to also bring up Isreal, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel, they too, only have a population of 7.2 million.

Being small did not stop them from digging into themselves to innovate and become one of the most advanced economies in Southwest Asia. A lot of successful techological companies have also sprung out of Isreal. They also have the 2nd highest school life expectency in Asia (after Korea).

Now you know where all the LG, Samsung came from, considering that Korea doesn't have that big a population as well.

If critical mass is that important, then China must necessarily top the list of producing creative entrepreneurs.