5 Characteristics of Startup Friendly Cities
Photo via The Wall Street Journal.
New York City may be a recently-anointed hotbed for startups, with funding applications for new companies outpacing those filed in Silicon Valley and some renewed attention from Wall Street, but it’s hardly alone in its quest to be the top destination for the next big things.
The just-released CITIE report – that’s short for City Initiatives for Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship – puts New York at the top of its Most Innovative Cities list, followed by London, Helsinki, Barcelona and Amsterdam. The report, a joint effort from UK-based innovation charity Nesta, Future Cities Catapult and Accenture, looked primarily at how supportive local governments in 40 cities across the globe are toward startups at a policy level, beginning with three main questions: How open is the city to new ideas and new businesses? How does the city optimise its infrastructure for high-growth businesses? And how does the city build innovation into its own activities?
Based on the CITIE report, The Wall Street Journal has compiled a list of six basic things any city can do to foster startups. Here are their tips.
Keep Regulation in Step with Technology: Citing the disruptive nature of startups like Airbnb and Uber, the WSJ and CITIE recommend local governments re-examine existing regulation without only “protecting incumbents.” When Airbnb arrived in Amsterdam, the local city hall reacted by clarifying “homeowners’ rights and responsibilities for short-term letting,” rather than attempting to shut out the startup altogether.
Award City Contracts to Startups: São Paolo looks favorably upon small businesses, provided their bid price for city contracts doesn’t exceed proposals from larger companies by greater than 10%.
Make Public Data Accessible: “New businesses can help cities use [public] data,” the WSJ says, pointing to London as a city that has made information about energy consumption, school results and bus timetables available to startups.
Bring Investors Together with Entrepreneurs: Allow New York’s Digital.NYC map of startup activity across the city to be a guide; early-stage businesses are listed there in part as a way to attract attention from potential investors.
Free, Public Wi-Fi and a Fast Internet Connection are Vital: Melbourne has provided its residents with free wi-fi in the city center since early 2015, a service that’s in line with the increasing number of startup entrepreneurs who work on-the-go more often than they do from a traditional workspace. The availability of high-speed fiber-optic Internet is also invaluable for early stage companies.
For an closer look, the entire CITIE report can be viewed or downloaded as a PDF here.
