The capital made a massive march up the tables, but still punches below its weight, according to the “Startup Ecosystem Rankings Report 2019” (which actually covers the year 2018).
The paper, released earlier this year, was produced by StartupBlink, which runs a global map that tracks “registered startups, coworking spaces, and accelerators”; with Crunchbase, a business information site; Similarweb, an internet analytics service; and Coworker.com, a booking site for coworking spaces.
The grand duchy’s 53rd place in 2018 was a gain of 12 slots over 2017. Luxembourg City’s 203rd placement was up from 873rd the previous year. Despite the capital’s jump of 670 slots, the report commented:
“… we would expect to see one of the world’s richest countries rank higher. The high cost of living, small market size, and, consequently, a tiny startup ecosystem, are challenges that still have to be overcome.
“We also take into account some of the worthwhile governmental initiatives, like Digital Luxembourg, a collaborative government initiative strengthening the country’s digital efforts while mentoring and guiding startups.”
The report stated:
“The main goal of the rankings is to feature and rank hundreds of ecosystems rather than highlighting a few highly successful ecosystems that are already well known.”
The authors wrote:
“To ensure that the rankings are as accurate and objective as possible we based it on quantifiable data. We refrained from using tools such as surveys and interviews and only processed data that was either accumulated on the StartupBlink map or assessed by our partners or other reliable external sources. We try to make as few assumptions as possible regarding cause and effect and focus on one thing: measuring what exists now.”
Top 10 countries
- US
- UK
- Canada
- Israel
- Australia
- Netherlands
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Germany
- Spain
Top 10 cities (metropolitan areas)
- San Francisco
- New York City
- London
- Los Angeles
- Boston
- Tel Aviv
- Berlin
- Chicago
- Seattle
- Moscow
The startup ecosystems report was released on 16 April.