Lots of young people want to live in Berlin, because it's big and liberal and there's so much going on, meaning there's a good supply for young driven people. Berlin doesn't have much financial industry to compete with tech for the smart ones. And because of Berlin's history, the centers of Germany's large tech companies are elsewhere.

But I don't think Berlin stands out from other metropolitan areas nearly as much as Silicon Valley does. There are a lot of technology start-ups in and around Munich, a center of medical tech a bit north of there, and the gaming industry is centered in Hamburg.