Startup Ecosystems Worldwide

Rainer Seider, Stephanie Arrowsmith, Rey Buckman A startup ecosystem is formed by entrepreneurs, startups in their various stages and numerous types of organizations such as universities, investors, accelerators, co-working spaces, legal and financial service providers and government agencies. Through the complex interaction of these players a startup ecosystem has the capacity to enable entrepreneurs to development new ideas and bring innovation to the market. Startup ecosystems their composition and maturity level are an essential component for the success rate of startups and entrepreneurs on a larger scale. A good understanding of their respective state, strengths and weaknesses enables more specifically targeted policies, enhances investment decisions and improves the impact of development cooperation. Moderated by Jan Lachenmayer (Director Startup Meter at enpact), a discussion will start with an interview about international partnerships and funding structures with:  Dr. Rainer Seider, Head of the Unit Development Cooperation at Berlin's Ministry for Economic Affairs and initiator of Startup AsiaBerlin (SUAB) a platform to connect ecosystems in Asia with Berlin and Rey Buckmann, manager of the Airbus BizLab Hamburg and manager of the Africa4Future initative. In the second half of the session the panel will present findings and discuss research on startup ecosystems in respective world regions - Bosun Tijan will present an overview of the startup ecosystem in West Africa and the work of CCHub, one of Africa's oldest accelerators in shaping and promoting the scene in Nigeria and beyond. Jan Lachenmayer’s Startup Meter team have developed a framework measuring the conditions of startups based on 80 indicators, incorporated in the Startup-Friendliness-Index (SFI). He will put forward the overall findings on measuring startup ecosystems, and in particular, the region of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Stephanie Arrowsmith will share learnings and insights from Australian Government program Frontier Innovators, that aims to support ecosystems and entrepreneurs in the Asia Pacific. Through this program, they received over 700 applications from enterprises across 31 countries. The audience is invited to enter with questions and remarks.