"The ISSCC example underscores an important point. Namely, technology centers don't occur or stay where they're supposed to. In the 1980s and early '90s, Israel, Taiwan and South Korea all became technology powerhouses. During the same time, all three also topped Foreign Affair's annual "Top Five Countries to Most Likely Overrun in Wartime" poll.

The same will be true in greentech. In fact, to some degree it's already happening. VCs, among others, predict that Silicon Valley will become the epicenter of the U.S. industry because their friends live there and they're just fabulously talented people. But look at the six big U.S. clean IPOs: SunPower, First Solar, Comverge, EnerNoc, A123 Systems and Energy Recovery Only SunPower originated in California (Energy Recovery is in California, but by way of Norway.)

So what are the secret ingredients?