Europe’s Leading Start-Up Hubs 2025
As a representative of an organisation that offers incubator and/or accelerator programme(s) within Europe, we welcome you.
By completing this application form, your organisation will be considered for the inaugural ranking of Europe’s Leading Start-up Hubs, to be published in The Financial Times and Sifted in February 2025.
Application will take approximately 10-15 minutes. The deadline for completing application is August 16th, 2024.
Participation is free of charge and involves two stages.
- Stage 1 is here. In this application, we ask you to provide general information about your organisation, the programme(s) you offer and your track-record.
- Then, in stage 2, you will receive a specific survey link that you can share with your alumni, allowing them to evaluate your programme(s). Expect to be contacted about this soon after application.
The information provided here by you and the evaluations of your alumni will be used to determine your organisation’s place in the ranking. On top of that, we will invite people active in business building to name start-up hubs they know, and to share their opinion of them.
It is as easy as this
- Register on Statista by August 16th, 2024
- Invite your alumni to participate in the survey by September 14th, 2024
- Enjoy and benefit from your hub’s success!
Who is eligible to participate?
To be eligible to participate, your hub must:
- Have a physical location in Europe1
- Offer at least one incubation or acceleration programme
- Have been in operation since at least 2020
- Be in contact with most of the alumni that took part in (one of) your programme(s) in the last 5 years (2018 – 2023) (for stage 2: alumni survey)2.
1 In fact, your start-up hub must be based in one of the following countries: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.
2 For those founded in 2019 or 2020, since the beginning.
Why should my hub participate?
New business opportunities: An inclusion in the list of Europe's Leading Start-up Hubs is a visible and public acknowledgement of your hub's performance that extends far beyond your specific industry and country. It will also generate attention for your hub on the part of potential partners, entrepreneurs, and investors around the world.
Employer branding: Being identified as a major player and key hub for founders and start-ups usually generates demand for new employees. Being featured in the high-profile ranking of Europe's Leading Start-up Hubs will not only increase awareness of you as an employer, it also gives potential employees an understanding of your hub's future potential.
Effective media coverage: The ranking will be covered in a special report, a supplement within a weekday edition of the FT newspaper and on FT.com. While the full ranking will be published online, FT reporters will focus on particularly interesting companies, sectors and trends in the articles of a special report that will appear in both print and on FT.com.
Reputation: All hubs that make it into the list may use the award logo for marketing purposes.1
1 The use of the label and the word-and-image logo “Europe's Leading Start-up Hubs“ for marketing purposes is subject to a one-off payment of a licence fee. Inclusion in the ranking, however, is completely free of charge.
How do I register?
Online registration
Please register with Statista by August 16th, 2024. You can find the form here.
Invitation of your alumni
After completion of this questionnaire, you will receive a link to a second questionnaire to share with the alumni of the candidate hub programme to give their opinion and evaluate the programme they took part in. Based on these evaluations, Statista, the Financial Times and its colleagues at Sifted will compile a list of Europe's Leading Start-up Hubs 2025.
Contact details
Should you have any additional questions or would otherwise like to contact us, please email startup-hubs-eu@statista.com.
FAQs:
- Do I have to pay to register?
No.
- Do I have to pay to be included in the ranking?
Not at all. If included in the ranking, your hub is free to celebrate its success via a press release, social media, or a hub website. Only hubs that want to use the official seal featuring the FT and Statista logos with the title Europe's Leading Start-up Hubs 2025 have to pay a licensing fee, in a one-off payment. The seal will be available after publication of the ranking.
- Do I have to purchase the Europe's Leading Start-up Hubs 2025 license in order to point out or make reference to my place in the rankings?
No. All those who apply and make it into the list are free to publicize this fact. The official seal Europe's Leading Start-up Hubs 2025, which is available for a license fee, is merely an additional option for those who want to advertise and promote their achievement in a more visually striking manner.
- Is the creation of Start-up Hubs' FT ranking commissioned and paid for by hubs?
No, this project has two revenue sources: revenues from license fees, as outlined above, and advertisements in an FT special report where the ranking will be published alongside FT articles on the start-up scene's growth trends and profiles. The special report, to appear as part of the FT in print and online, is an independent piece of journalism written and commissioned by FT journalists, drawing on the data collected for the ranking.
- Who is eligible to participate?
To be eligible to participate, your hub must:
- Have a physical location in Europe1
- Offer at least one incubation or acceleration programme
- Have been in operation since at least 2020
- Be in contact with most of the alumni that took part in (one of) your programme(s) in the last 5 years (2018 – 2023) (for stage 2: alumni survey)2.
1Eligible to participate are all companies from these countries: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.
2For those founded in 2019 or 2020, since the beginning.
- When is the registration deadline?
Registration through the online form can be completed between June 3rd 2024 and August 16th 2024.
- When is the deadline for the hub's alumni to participate in the survey?
The hub's alumni can participate in the survey until September 14th, 2024.
- When will Start-up hubs' FT ranking be published?
The ranking will be published in February 2025.
- Which information concerning individual hubs will be published by The Financial Times and Sifted?
The following information will be released about the top hubs: the hub name, the founding date of the hub, the URL of the hub website, as well as the location of the hub.
- How will I find out whether or not my hub has made it into the ranking?