Will Brexit help Edinburgh climb back up international entrepreneurial league table? – John McLellan

Two years ago Edinburgh set out its goal to become the data capital of Europe on the back of data-driven innovation at the universities and the Codebase start-up incubator.

Edinburgh is currently fifth highest placed UK town or city on Startupblink's international league table

Amidst the pandemic, it’s hard to gauge progress, but the latest annual report from Startupblink, a Swiss-Israeli research network which promotes new businesses through its cities start-up ecosystem measurements, might give clues.

Their system is not about how many sparkies have set up on their own, but covers more than just data-driven innovation and is a good indication of how Edinburgh’s entrepreneurial network is faring, especially for that seemingly ever more distant time when we emerge from Covid’s grip.

League tables are important for attracting investment and fortunately the UK is second in the world behind the USA and London is the only non-American city in the top five. Edinburgh is 5th in the UK behind Bristol, Manchester and, surprisingly, Brighton, but has slipped seven places to 133rd globally.

Being fifth in the UK indicates there is a long way to go before becoming the European capital of anything, and with places like Tallin (66th) Copenhagen (67th) and Vilnius (75th) some will argue the UK holds back Edinburgh. However, Barcelona (27th), ahead of Madrid (35th), doesn’t appear disadvantaged.

Intriguingly, the authors believe Brexit might attract entrepreneurs keen to avoid ever-tightening EU regulations and they point to “regionally disconnected” countries like Canada, Australia and Israel as evidence that international unions are not essential for success.

Business culture is key and the sudden resignation of Scottish Enterprise chief Steve Dunlop suggests all is not well in Scotland.

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