But the allure of China is also great, especially for firms looking to get hi-tech products manufactured.

BBC: Chinese counterfeits: How to beat the cheats

Rare earths are 17 chemically similar elements crucial to making many hi-tech products, such as phones and PCs.

BBC: US to build $120m rare earth research institute

Physical brick and mortar branches, once a staple in the traditional banking model, are now losing value in this era of hi-tech banking products.

FORBES: Where Banking Meets Tech: Why Businesses Must Adapt, Or Else

" Maybe it should really be called the "year of long-delayed hi-def network-products finally making it to market.

ENGADGET: DigitalDeck networked DVR

Ministry, owned by James Palumbo, son of Lord Palumbo, a former head of the Arts Council, now spans a record company, a magazine, a syndicated radio show, a website on which the club is broadcast live, clothes, and licensed products such as hi-fi equipment.

ECONOMIST: Much more than a good night out

SIM2 and Entertainment Experience, which heretofore focused on unique digital media products for the commercial cinema, education, and hi-tech display market spaces, announce that they will begin offering a hardware-software content solution-including pre-loaded, fully licensed motion picture content-that delivers better-than-HD digital video performance to home buffs.

ENGADGET: SIM2 tag-teams with Entertainment Experience to bring you movies on hard drives

This document laid out a path it believed could take the UK from a position where it currently claims 6% of the global market in space products and services to 10%, by 2030, creating perhaps 100, 000 new hi-tech jobs in the process.

BBC: Plan to 'Catapult' UK space tech

This document laid out the path it believed could take the UK from a position where it currently claims about 6% of the world market in space products and services to about 10% by 2030, creating perhaps 100, 000 new hi-tech jobs in the process.

BBC: Space ticks the boxes for UK plc