| Your assumptions are understandable, but let's have a closer look: * What kind of industry does Iceland have that requires 'physicists, programmers and engineers'? The same kind of industry that requires physicists, programmers, and engineers anywhere else: R&D, software engineering, tech sector in general. (See next answer.) * With a population in the hundreds of thousands, smaller than even medium sized cities in most countries, how much opportunity is/was there for these people? The population size doesn't define the size of the economy - the natural resources and infrastructure do. Iceland is a pretty large island that controls a huge swath of ocean around it that has valuable fisheries in it. Plus there's geothermal energy etc. etc., so the country is very rich. * It's not even big enough to sustain a serious university, let alone a real r&d environment. That's simply not true. Iceland has pretty significant research output in biology, genetics, computer science, geothermal and hydropower engineering, etc. etc. * Using Iceland as an example for other countries is usually fallacious, because it's so unique. :) That's certainly true. In a way. But people are people, nations are nations, good ideas are good ideas, and pitfalls are pitfalls. |