As Europe dominates world headlines with its economic problems, one bright area for the region is growth in its technology industry.

This has recently been seen in a few different ways.

At this week’s annual Paris LeWeb conference, there was an increase in the number of attendees to 3,500, up from 2010′s 2,800. These conference goers include entrepreneurs, programmers and journalists who come for the opportunity to meet with European and American start-ups.

Europe has seen some of its start-ups find success, such as Angry Birds, Spotify, SoundCloud, Last.fm and Cut the Rope and then travel across the pond to find dominance in the United States. This is unusual as the birthplace of start-ups has typically been in Silicon Valley.

Loïc Le Meur, a co-founder of the LeWeb conference recently said in The New York Times, “There has been a dramatic shift in the last few years with European entrepreneurs who are no longer trying to be copycats of American tech, which was pretty sad. Europeans are now really innovating on their own.”

The flurry of innovation activity is taking place all over Europe. Dublin has a built a nice little Silicon Valley-like culture, appealing enough for Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Facebook to have their European headquarters in the city as well as low taxes.

It’s also become easier for start-ups in some countries, such as Ireland and Germany to get up and running as they receive incentives with less restrictions than ones in the United States.  They also found themselves located across the region, rather than in one geographic area.

While Europe is headed in the right direction, there’s still a ways to go; however, it’s nice to hear some innovative news from an area that needs it.

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