The "Oxford-Cambridge hub" has been identified by an influential US business magazine as one of the best places in the world to start a new company.

Forbes Global magazine headlines its article: "Move over, Silicon Valley. Entrepreneurial hot spots are emerging in Europe and Asia."

It quotes Friedrich Bornikoel, of TVM, an 18-year-old venture capital firm based in Munich, as saying that his city is probably in second place after the "Oxford-Cmabridge hub" as the hottest place for entrepreneurs to start their companies.

Forbes Global's own list of countries that are friendliest to entrepreneurs puts the US on top; Singapore is second and the UK fifth.

Leading venture capitalists tell Forbes Global that a dozen or so other European cities are rapidly emerging as clusters of entrepreneurial excellence - places that are beginning to give Silicon Valley in California and Boston, Massachusetts, a run for their money. Asia is seeing a similar trend.

Tim Brown, a partner at Alta Berkeley Venture Partners, which has backed 96 European start-ups, said the best deals had come from entrepreneurs based in or around ten areas - London, Stockholm, Geneva, Munich, Amsterdam, Milan, Helsinki, Paris, Nice and Israel.

Mr Brown notes several common characteristics:

*Top academic or commercial research facilities. London, for example, draws strength from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Helsinki has Nokia. Stockholm has the venerable Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences, and, to the south, the technology-oriented Lund University. Singapore has 13 government-funded research institutes.

*At least a handful of entrepreneurs with strong role models.

*Tax policies, especially on stock options and capital gains, that do not discourage entrepreneurs. The UK and Ireland are the best places in Europe for this.

They are also among the cheapest places in the world to start a business legally.