Bucharest ranks 7th in the Top 25 Tech Cities of the Future 2020-2021

Bucharest ranks 7th in the Top 25 Tech Cities of the Future 2020-2021, according to a fDi – TNW survey.

The debut Tech Cities of the Future ranking is focused on finding those European cities with the most promising prospects for start-ups, tech and innovation investment.

London has ranked first in the chart as its combination of capital, talent and infrastructure has proved unbeatable among European cities, while Paris, Dublin and Amsterdam came second, third and fourth.

Two German cities, Berlin and Munich ranked 5th and 6th.

According to data compiled by London&Partners, the UK capital is producing more unicorn tech companies (firms valued at more than $1bn) than any other European city. These companies include Monzo, Revolut, Deliveroo and Farfetch.

London continues to be a hotbed for innovation, with more than 5,000 patents in software and more than 100 in artificial intelligence registered in the city between 2003 and 2019.In addition, its reputation as a talent hub–hosting 370,000 students and five of the world’s top 500 universities in electric and electronic engineering–contributed to it ranking top in the Innovation and Attractiveness category. London also led in the Start-up Environment category. Figures from Dun&Bradstreet show the city boasts more than 70,000 companies in software and IT services, 5,000 in communications and almost 4,000 in research and development.

According to research by TNW, access to capital is the main strength of its start-up ecosystem, with the average Series A funding round raising more than $11m.

As a global financial centre, London offers start-ups access to a wide range of financing opportunities, from venture capital funds and angel investors to crowdfunding platforms and banks. Between 2015 and 2019, London attracted the highest amount of jobs from start-up companies (defined by this study as companies established from 2014 onwards) out of all 76 cities analysed.

Data was collected for 76 locations, under five categories: Economic Potential, Innovation and Attractiveness, FDI Performance, Cost Effectiveness and Start-up Environment.

Locations scored up to a maximum of 10 points for each data point, which were weighted by importance to the FDI decision making process in order to compile the subcategory rankings. In addition, surveys were collected under a sixth category, FDI Strategy, for which there were 50 submissions.