The emerging hotspot backbone
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THE EMERGING HOTSPOT BACKBONE
“In all those places where we see a growing number of start-ups within the field of mobile services, we also see a large presence of what we call ‘the creative class’“ Richard Florida.
In each of the twenty areas selected there is a large creative class community. In the five cases that we have studied more deeply, the presence of artists, developers, media people and other knowledge workers is significant. Very good examples of this are: the Shoreditch area in London, Kreuzberg in Berlin and Möllan in Malmö; all these areas were regarded as
rough neighbourhoods just five years ago, but today they are regarded as the ‘hippest’ places in the region. The combination of cool clubs, new restaurants and well-educated inhabitants seem to be the most important factors when we look at the start-up scene in Europe.
rough neighbourhoods just five years ago, but today they are regarded as the ‘hippest’ places in the region. The combination of cool clubs, new restaurants and well-educated inhabitants seem to be the most important factors when we look at the start-up scene in Europe.
The ability to attract the right foreign talent into a region should not be underestimated. But, from inspection of policy documents from most regions in Europe, this is still an area where more work needs to be done. Of course everybody realises that talent is important; but few regions have a clear strategy on how to attract talent – a failing that is not limited to Europe.
LEARNING FROM THE CASE STUDIES
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Industry presence and access to capital beat policies |
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Industrial history is more important than many of us believe
If a region has a history in the mobile industry or has industries related to mobile services it will create a mind-set within those start-up companies to use the technology.
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Public sector can play a role as a buyer
Estonia is the best example of how the public sector can create a whole industry. Policies forcing integration of mobile services into government services for voting, tax declarations and other public activities were introduced as far back as the 90’s.
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Incentives have low impact
Incentives such as: tax deductions, cheap offices and business development schemes for start-ups are seen a shortsighted and do not encourage medium to long-term growth.
Access to talent and money is much more important together with the ‘vibe’ of the region, and its entrepreneurial culture.
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Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure
According to those interviewed, the most important factors for new companies when deciding where to locate, are: public transport, 4G, Wi-Fi in cafés, labs, meeting places, etc.
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A small home market is often an advantage
A small home market should force companies to think of internationalisation from day one; and in so doing the companies will be more competitive.
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Compensating for a lack of capital
Even if a region does not have access to large amounts of risk capital, this can be compensated by the presence of industry, the public sector acting as a buyer of innovations, and international collaboration with actors on the financial market.
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