INDEX
2009 results : a rise in satisfaction ratings
The study: keys to reading
The ECER-Banque Populaire Ranking flows from the analysis of compared information on:
- the importance that each
surveyed entrepreneur attaches to the listed criteria: promotion of
business creation, pre-creation support, post-creation support, funding
diversity and accessibility,environment;
- and their perception, expectations and level of satisfaction
regarding these same criteria. For each city, the study produces a
satisfaction score and an importance score on the five themes, on a
scale of 0-100.
The study : main trends
Overall ranking covering the five themes
2009 European tour of entrepreneurs' favourite cities
Main trends
European entrepreneurs are increasingly satisfied
This
is the first finding of the second ECER-Banque Populaire Ranking. This
rise in satisfaction signals that Europe is making progress towards a
more entrepreneurial society. The entrepreneur is still the source of
wealth creation and redistribution, and sometimes also an innovation
driver and jobs provider.
For these reasons, a society that
helps and protects its entrepreneurs is a mature society. Having lagged
behind, relatively speaking, in its promotion of entrepreneurship,
Europe is now catching up year by year, and sometimes displaying
remarkable local performances.This is particularly true of the
Scandinavian countries, notably Helsinki, which this year earned the
top spot in the ECER-Banque Populaire Ranking. In general, the northern
countries (Finland, Sweden, Germany, Austria…) seem to better satisfy
their entrepreneurs than do the southern countries (Greece, Italy,
etc.), even though the north-south divide is less pronounced this year
than in the previous ranking.
Helsinki: top marks in 2009
Finland is generally ranked by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
survey in the middle band of European countries. Yet over the past few
years, it has consistently amazed entrepreneurship academics.
In this respect, Finnish professor Antti Paasio chaired the European
Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship for two years
(2002-2004); and in June 2007 the city of Turku staged the annual world
congress of the International Council for Small Business, which
gathered more than 700 researchers in entrepreneurship and SME
management.
Thanks to this favourable climate for the spirit of enterprise, the
city of Helsinki stands out in the ranking. There are several
explanations. First, the existence of several institutions dedicated to
entrepreneurship, such as the Helsinki School of Creative
Entrepreneurship. With its original educational offering, this school
plays a pivotal role in entrepreneurship promotion and training in the
Helsinki area. It is meshed in multiple economic and social networks
locally, and in the past few years has built many partnerships with
local-development agencies in the area. Indeed, the city of Helsinki
seems to be sustaining heavy investment in entrepreneurship, as
reflected by the recent Helsinki Metropolitan Entrepreneurship Academy
(HMEA) programme, which began in January 2009. In addition, Finland has
for several years been developing numerous research programmes to
foster entrepreneurship.
German cities figure prominently
The GEM consortium (Acs, Bosma and Sternberg, 2008) demonstrated that the German cities of
Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt achieve entrepreneurial performance well above the country's
average. The ECER-Banque Populaire Ranking confirms the strong position of German cities in Europe.