Google is adopting a number of tech hubs across North America, and the locations may surprise you.
As part of the company's two-year-old Google for Entrepreneurs effort to empower startups and their founders worldwide, Google announced a new Tech Hub Network on Wednesday in an effort to connect entrepreneurs across the continent.
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A tech hub is a physical space where entrepreneurs gather to build their companies, explained John Lyman, head of partnerships for Google for Entrepreneurs.
The new network will include seven initial partners, none of which operate in traditional tech hotspots like San Francisco, New York or Austin, Texas. Instead, the founding members of Google's new Tech Hub Network include 1871 (Chicago, Ill.), American Underground (Durham, N.C.), Coco (Minneapolis, Minn.), Communitech (Waterloo, Ontario), Galvanize (Denver, Colo.), Grand Circus (Detroit, Mich.) and Nashville Entrepreneur Center (Nashville, Tenn.).
"We think entrepreneurship has really changed in the last four or five years," Lyman said. "People are coming together now more collectively as they start companies. Instead of going off in a garage and starting a company with a few people, you go to a co-working space or a tech hub or an accelerator where you're with a larger community. We really want to help support that."
As part of the network, the tech hubs will receive a number of Google benefits, including funding, discounts on products and software, and access to Google mentors. The different hubs will come together once each quarter in a mass conference call, and there will also be one in-person function per year, Lyman said.
Google isn't sharing any financial details, but Lyman said the money given to the hubs is not an investment — it's sponsorship money. This means Google won't automatically become an equity holder in any of the hubs' startups.
But there's still something in it for Google. The tech giant will further develop relationships with startups all across the country and its Android products will be readily available for startups' use. (Imagine deciding between building your app for iOS or Android when you have Google Android engineers nearby for guidance.)


Google has helped support more then 30 different tech hubs in the past, most of which are located internationally. Google for Entrepreneurs sponsors a number of different programs focused on supporting startups and innovation around the world, including programs in North Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
What tech hotspots do you think deserve more attention? Give us your take in the comments below.
Image: Flickr, Marcin Wichary