Startups: Athens is no longer a one-way street
H Athena continues to hold the scepter of the ecosystem of start-ups bringing together the largest number of start-ups, yet the capital is no longer a one-stop shop for start-ups. Central Macedonia and Crete have been changing in recent years around the world not only for start-ups and for multinational companies that develop technology in these areas. According to the conclusions of a study prepared by Ioanna-Sappho Pepelasi, professor emeritus at the Athens University of Economics and Business, evaluating the data as recorded in Regional Innovation Scoreboard and to platform of Elevate Greeceof the approximately 664 start-ups registered in the national register of start-ups by November 2022, 454 are located in Attica, with Central Macedonia (92) and Crete (42) following.
Although it remains dominant in innovative businesses, Central Macedonia and Crete are gaining ground.
Athens is a gathering place for start-ups as 68% of all startups in Greece are located in the capital. Second in importance comes Central Macedonia with 14%, third is Crete with 6% and fourth is Western Greece, which attracts 3% of the country’s total newly born countries. Of course, there are also regions with less than ten startups. Among them are Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Epirus, North Aegean, South Aegean, Western Macedonia, the Ionian Islands and the Peloponnese. The life sciences (med tech, bio tech), the environment (energy-green tech) as well as the hospitality and tourism sector are particularly popular sectors, as approximately 30% of registered products operate in them. As for manufacturing, which Western countries are bringing back as an important element in their agenda for the new development model, only 35 start-ups across the country are active in this sector. At the same time, the study points out that many companies have been founded with equity capital, while less than half, at least in the very long stages of development, have received external financing.
Athens does not maintain the “reins” of the ecosystem only because of the number of startups that gather in the area. It is also a hub for many organizations that support startups. For example, of the 27 incubators (space for the development of startups), the majority are located in Athens, eight are based in Thessaloniki, two in Patras, one in Crete, one in Trikala, another in Larissa and one in Lesvos. At the same time, of the 30 accelerators for the development of startups, only four are located outside of Athens.