Greece’s “mark” on the startup world map has become visible as although the industry is experiencing challenging times globally, the country is showing signs of progress, strengthening its position in the top 50 startup ecosystems list. World.

According to the new StartupBlink Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2023 report, which maps and evaluates the startup ecosystems of 1,000 cities in 100 countries, Greece has climbed two places in the global rankings this year. Thus, from 48th place last year, this year it ranked 46th out of 100 countries, 18th in Western Europe and 4th in the Balkan region. In the world ranking, our country is preceded by Turkey, and after Greece, Argentina, Slovenia, Ukraine and Hungary follow.

However, high employer fees and bureaucracy remain thorns, two issues that worry young entrepreneurs and generally affect the competitiveness of the Greek economy.

“The emerging startup ecosystem in Greece is still in its infancy and still has a long way to go given the high levels of bureaucracy and the fragmented network of industry representatives,” the related report says. Of course, as he notes, despite the economic crisis and the blow it has received from the spread of the pandemic, the country has remained resilient, with companies like Viva Wallet with a capitalization of more than 1 billion euros acting as unicorns in 2022. The “wealth” of our country is a highly promising technology and information technology sector, as well as a highly qualified workforce, which at the same time has a deep knowledge of the English language.

In addition to the above, Greece’s geographic location and its proximity to both European markets and the Middle East and Africa create conditions for its transformation into a regional technology hub, the report says. However, the stay in our country of those employed in the technology sector and the strengthening of the entrepreneurial mentality through the education system are the biggest challenges. In terms of city rankings, Athens moved up 16 spots to 116th out of 1,000 cities, while Thessaloniki also gained significantly. As a result of the latest development of the hub in the capital, it has risen by 42 positions compared to last year, ranking 465th out of 1000 cities.

The United States, United Kingdom and Israel have held the “Sceptres” ranking of countries with the best ecosystems for a year now, while approximately 252 American cities dominate among 1000 cities. San Francisco is in first place, followed by New York, London, Los Angeles, Boston, Beijing and Shanghai.

At the same time, despite progress, the startup sector around the world has been hit by the changing economic climate and banking shocks that have taken place in recent months, most notably the collapse of startup bank Silicon Valley Bank. According to the survey, in the first 4.5 months of 2023 alone, 200,000 people in the tech industry saw an exit as a result of a change in the strategy of several tech companies.