Best places for entrepreneurs. A look at towns actively recruiting innovative businesses

When it comes to starting a business (or buying a house), the adage has remained the same: Location, location, location. However in recent years, the definition of what makes the perfect location in which to launch a new venture has changed — or rather expanded.

Innovation seems to be the overarching theme. Entrepreneurs are regularly tapping into new ideas to create new businesses, and now cities and towns across the country are coming up with innovative programs in which to create environments attractive for new businesses and economic growth, beyond the usual tax abatements.

"We are starting to see virtually every community try and bring in and grow new industries," says Jack Schultz, author of Boomtown USA and CEO of Agracel, an Effingham, Ill., outfit that specializes in industrial development in small towns.

Still, booming communities remain traditional lures for entrepreneurs when it comes to choosing a location. Florida remains an area of high growth — at 4 percent, the state’s job growth dwarfs the national average, currently 1.6 percent. However, a continuing development is the growth of smaller communities and "micropolitans" — places that, sizewise, are between a large city and a rural town) and which are routinely cited has high-growth areas. For instance, last year, the National Policy Research Council, a Washington-based research organization ranked Lincoln, Neb., (population 225,581) and Green Bay, Wis., (population 102,313) among its top five hot cities for entrepreneurs.

One emerging trend is that some cities aren’t waiting for economic growth to come to them — they are creating it for themselves. And town governments are finding that they, too, have to redefine themselves to attract businesses and entrepreneurs. Like the NFL, towns are seriously recruiting businesses.

By Stacy Perman

Full Story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13303854/