There have been some interesting points on start-ups and for a long-time the concept of third place, third space, the virtual office — or just the Intel Centrino with 8 hours battery … has been both a vision and an ideal.
Whilst the ‘water cooler effect’ of the office is a soft-bias we all have in life, the data doesn’t (unless neatly designed) show the benefits of working in one office or one cubicle.
Anyway, numerous reports and analysis I have read do show the efficacy of coffee shops and cafes in a) stimulation and b) meeting space service for start-up culture. Of course, this also extends to a corporate … think how many innovative solutions have been created at you work when you go ‘downstairs for a coffee’.
Some of this can be dated back to De Bono, but it goes further than that. Amsterdam and London, with meetings that started financial ventures in the then-equivalent of cafes and tea houses.
Anyway, for 2thinknow Innovation Cities Index and City Benchmarking Data, cafes are part of the metrics.
Here’s a nice Boston Globe interview with Globe’s Innovation Reporter @ScottKirsner I did on the topic, and innovation cities index more generally.