Yes, Athens was a centre of literary activity and many philosophers moved there. That doesn't mean it was technologically more advanced. Although it was not a rural backwater such as Sparta, even at its peak Athens was a provincial town compared to Babylon. Within the Greek world, the best doctors came from Kos (where Hippocrates lived) and advances in engineering (including artillery) came from the Greek city states in Southern Italy (the region where the Pythagoreans were active; not a coincidence) and Sicily. Syracusae was especially important, arguably the largest and most powerful city state in the Greek world (Athens' Sicilian expedition was a great failure) and the great rival of Carthage for centuries (Rome was a late entry); Syracusae attracted talent from everywhere (even Plato stayed there for a few years) and was also the first Greek state to have quadriremes, quinqueremes, and hexaremes. Polyremes may actually have been invented in Sidon, Tyre, or Carthage; those also produce high-quality goods such as glass, dyes, and textiles far superior to anything the contemporary Greeks could produce.
Virtually all surviving texts from the classical period (5th and 4th C BC) are from Athens and the Athenian dialect (Attic) was prestigious in the Hellenistic and later periods and formed the basis of Hellenistic and Modern Greek. As a consequence historiography is largely Atheno-centric and it is especially important to remain critical to avoid unjust stereotyping.
Philosophers, true; “education system” is rather an exaggeration, though. It was mostly rich young men following and listening to gurus to learn how to win debates (an useful skill for those with political ambitions in the Athenian democracy).
