When you talk about vibrant West Coast startup scenes, obviously Silicon Valley dominates the conversation. Then there's Seattle, of course. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Portland too. But just north of the border, the entrepreneurs in Vancouver, British Columbia insist that their city should be viewed alongside these other prominent West Coast hot-spots.

Home to the recent Olympic Winter Games, the coastal city is Canada's eighth largest, often ranking as one of the most livable cities in the world. Known for its proximity to both the mountains and the ocean, it's a great spot for the outdoorsy, the adventurous, and yes, the entrepreneurial.

When I asked for recommendations a couple of weeks ago for sites to feature in our "Never Mind the Valley" series, I was overwhelmed with the response. It's quite encouraging, in light of all the reports of global recessions, slumps, and downturns, to hear from so many people saying that their community is a thriving site for entrepreneurship. You can still send me your recommendations, and I'll be working my way through them in the coming weeks and months.

But we'll kick things off with Nashville.

"The home of country music," Nashville is known for its large music and tourist industry (although the area's largest employer is actually the health-care sector). Not surprising, then, the area has a sizable "creative class" as well as a tech-inspired community that drives several events, Ignites, and unconferences like BarCamp Nashville, PodCamp Nashville, and Nashville Startup Weekend.

Research Triangle Park is one of the oldest and largest research parks in the United States. Created in the 1950s, the RTP development now spans over 7000 acres and is home to over 170 companies and some 42,000 full-time employees. But the concentration of tech research and development extends beyond the bounds of just the research park itself, and the surrounding Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary, North Carolina metro areas are commonly labeled together as the Research Triangle, or "The Triangle."

Like many of the cities, we write about in the Never Mind the Valley series, Research Triangle boasts a strong university and a strong business climate, making the area, in the words of Chris Heivly, "frothy for entrepreneurship."

Madison, Wisconsin has always been known as a progressive town - in part because it's home to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. But over the last few years, the city has gained a reputation as an emerging technology startup hub in the Midwest.

Earlier this year, Forbes Magazine named Madison the 7th most innovative city in the U.S., ranking it ahead of the noted startup hotspot of Boston.

Like many cities that foster thriving startup communities, Madison benefits from strong university and government support (the latter in the form of a 25% tax credit for angel investors and a 2% forgivable loan for startups), as well as a number of entrepreneur-friendly events organizations.

If you're capable of seeing past the old stones of Paris and the picturesque rural villages, you'll realize that France is every bit as technologically advanced as any other Western country - more so in some areas. Not only does the country have a higher percentage of homes with high-speed Internet than the U.S. (plus it's faster and costs half as much), it ranks first in the world for number of blogs per Internet user, and has a formidable market of Internet consumers who spent €5.5 billion online in the first quarter of this year.

When I came to Paris in 2006, I had a well-developed idea for a startup and nothing else. It's now been about three years since I joined the fray as an entrepreneur and tech blogger. In that time, I've discovered that the startup scene is infused with passion, energy and a strong spirit of collaboration.

The largest primarily French-speaking city outside of Paris, Montreal is the second largest city in Canada and the largest in the province of Quebec. Despite some claims to the contrary, Montreal still maintains it is the cultural capital of Canada, and the city is often rated as one of the world's most livable.

Montreal is an important center for Canadian finance, telecommunications, aerospace, and software industries. Some reports state that as many as a third of the region's workers are part of the "creative class" - scientists, technology workers, entertainers, artists and designers. Montreal and Quebec have the highest level of tax credit support for developer salaries: For every $1 spent on developers, companies can get up to 65 cents back in cash from the government. And with six universities and twelve junior colleges within a 5 mile radius, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all the major cities in North America.

While not the political capital of Canada, Toronto is certainly the cultural and financial capital of the country. With over 5 million residents, Toronto is the largest city in Canada, sitting in a densely populated part of Southern Ontario. With over 200 ethnic groups speaking over 130 languages, Toronto's cosmopolitan population makes it one of the world's most diverse cities. Toronto also boasts a clean environment, low crime rates, a high standard of living, and incredibly nice folks who live there, all helping make it one of the world's most livable cities and according to a recent Huffington Post article, "the capital of cool."

Finland is quite a paradox. One would not think that a country with only 5 million people, plunged into darkness for a greater part of the year, would be the inventor of Linux, SSH, IRC, Nokia, F-Secure and MySQL. While the country is known for its technical feats, heavy metal bands, saunas, and educational system, it's less known for its startups.

Success stories include Sulake, owner of Habbo Hotel (one of the largest virtual worlds, with tens of millions of users, and pioneers of micro-transactions several years before Farmville) and Irc-Galleria, which is the largest social network for Finns.

A ReadWriteWeb Guide

For all of our startup friends from coast to coast and around the world, we look forward to seeing you at SXSW Interactive!

More and more, we're seeing good folks creating great products outside the SF Bay Area, and we love highlighting and showcasing vibrant startup communities in unexpected areas. As it turns out, we're not the only ones who have a penchant for non-Valley startups! While you're in Austin, check out these ten panels, parties and events focusing on entrepreneurialism outside Silicon Valley.

Holding down the proverbial fort for the mid-west, Chicago, the Windy City, is the third largest city in the U.S. and the most populous city that doesn't sit on an ocean coast. The city, which does, however, rest on the shore of Lake Michigan, is home to a unique culture of nearly 3 million people and countless numbers of Fortune 500 companies condensed into its 234 square miles of city. Though the city is often passed over for Silicon Valley and New York in terms of startup cultures, Chicago has a expanding repertoire of companies, entrepreneurs, investors and organizations helping put the city on the startup map.