With up to 1500 start-ups in France each year, investment activity in the French start up scene has seen a steady rise in recent years, largely attributed to government involvement, numerous outstanding research institutions, well developed venture capital industry, a new wave of entrepreneurship, and a shift in cultural attitude. France has approximately 1000 new start-ups every year.

Paris, one of Europe’s most economically powerful, is right at the heart of all the buzz, also benefiting from an increasing number of co-working spaces and accelerators, it has been ranked 6th out of 35 best tech cities in the world, 5th out of 60 in the European Digital City index, and Nesta’s CITIE ranked Paris a top frontrunner, higher even than San Francisco in terms of the policy environment.

Germany is the largest national economy in Europe, and was marked by strong and steady growth during 2016. With a new start-up founded every 20 minutes in Berlin, start-ups have become as ubiquitous as their beer and graffiti, outlining the cities uniqueness n comparison with other German cities that are largely dependent on the industrial sector, whilst Berlin builds on its diverse creative sector. The nascent Berlin tech scene is young with a mature attitude, and it’s no surprise it’s pitted as the next major tech hub.

With an ever expanding entrepreneurship ecosystem, an array of world-class universities, scores of the incubators and accelerator programmes, reinforced by the city’s substantial financial sector, London is by most accounts the tech start-up capital of Europe. The strong creative cluster around Silicon Roundabout feeds into the energy of the start-up scene, it’s not surprise its ranked 1st for start-ups city in EDCi 2016.