This is the kind of topic I wish audio mags and others would cover. Given my gear, I'm most familiar with the very different stories - both successful - of Bruno Putzeys and Eelco Grimm.
Bruno is like a meteor: Grimm, Hypex/Mola Mola, Kii, Purifi. Can he establish or help establish companies? Yes, indeed. Are there a lot of products out there that use his designs. Yes, very much so (although some may not like it, he put Class D on the map).
Eelco might seem like more of an example of slow and steady, but that is only from the perspective of domestic hifi. Previous to the current success with active speakers, MU1, MU2, and now the phono stage, Grimm Audio supplied top flight digital gear (AD and clocks) to pro audio and thus recording studios. Eelco has his own label. He is an engineering professor inspiring the next generation (so is Guido Tent his partner in crime).
And there is the link: fine engineering schools. But why leave it to chance? Why not create the linkages between the steps similar to Danish Sound Cluster. It seems similar in some way to sports. With a large enough population the top talent emerges. With smaller populations, cultivation works well.
But it is also similar to medical research done in universities. In the U.S., which does a lot of research that helps populations all over the world, one link is federal funding and the regulatory side that allows profits from licensing to stay within the university, which creates a virtuous circle of innovation. This is basically a medical innovation engine. In the U.S. there are so many smart folks that the universities don't go out looking for the talent that will one day work within its system, although some do have fine programs that educate such people and these programs themselves attract the talent.
So, back to audio. Perhaps it is the engineering schools that have been the drivers in the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, etc., places that are producing good gear. If so, then we might answer in the positive to your query.
