Brussels start-ups prize capital's attractiveness and business-friendly climate
No less than 90% of Brussels start-up companies find the Belgian capital even more interesting than Paris, London or Berlin, thanks to its ability to bring in newcomers and its pro-business approach.
So what is it that attracts them so much? The solid IT infrastructure and the range of accompanying measures. Other renowned innovation centres like Paris (67%), Berlin (88%) and London (87%) do less well than Brussels on that front. On the other hand, we are still behind Amsterdam and Zürich (both 93%). Moreover, 87% of Brussels start-ups expressly stated that they did not want to move their activities abroad. This percentage is significantly higher than the European average of 59%.
Nonetheless, there is still room for improvement before Brussels can join the front-runners in the rankings: Oslo (97%) and Stockholm (100%). Attracting new customers and capable staff, for example, along with better access to capital, are a few areas where serious work is still needed. Only once these have been successfully tackled can our capital city grow into an international start-up magnet.
The study was carried out by the European Start-up Survey under the direction of the consulting firm PwC.