Slovenia

Slovenia, two million people, keeps turning out world-class engineering. Akrapovič exhausts are the upgrade of choice across motorsport, Pipistrel flew the world's first type-certified electric aircraft, and Elan has put Alpine skiers on Slovenian skis for decades. Krka is one of Central Europe's biggest generic-medicine makers.

Ljubljana's tech scene gave the world Outfit7 (Talking Tom) and the Bitstamp exchange, Alpina keeps the sport-shoe tradition alive, and Cockta remains the home-grown answer to cola.