As the U.S. economy emerges from recession, a new crop of start-ups is blooming. From micro-blogging to location-based services to green auto technology, social gaming, genetic testing, e-commerce and digital music, a new generation of start-ups is poised to lead the technology world into the next decade.
It's not surprising. Recessions breed innovation. The creative destruction wrought by economic downturns creates the conditions for new ideas to flourish and new firms to hatch. The slowdown of the early 1990's preceded the rapid growth of the first generation of iconic internet companies -- AOL (AOL), which owns and operatesDailyFinance, Netscape, Yahoo (YHOO), Amazon (AMZN), eBay (EBAY) and Google (GOOG) -- until the technology bubble laid waste to the industry, sparing only the hardiest firms.
China's Ministry of Commerce (MOF- COM) reports that US$462 million in Chinese FDI reached the U.S. in 2008, making the U.S. China's ninth largest FDI target behind Kazakhstan, where China invests heavily in the energy sector.
