Startup Barometer 2016: Rising Attractiveness of Graz as a Business Location

© Universalmuseum Joanneum

The Ideentriebwerk Graz, the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Graz and Up to Eleven have implemented an annual study since 2014 called the “Startup Barometer”.

Each year the Graz startup community is asked to express their opinion about Graz as a business location. Once again there was a perceptible improvement in the way the people surveyed view the city.

iTranslate, Sunnybag, Timeular are three well-known examples of top startups which selected the Styrian capital city to locate their business. Nevertheless, despite the large number of well-known and successful young companies in Graz, the city has not appeared yet in international rankings and studies. Many people consider this to be wrong. And at least from the perspective of company founders, the city on the Mur River is becoming increasingly attractive from year to year.

Almost one third of the founders are women

Not only has the perception of the city improved, but 32% of the respondents taking part in the study were women, considerably more than the prior-year figure of 23%. In comparison, the European Startup Monitor (ESM) study recently concluded that only 7% of company founders throughout Austria are women, and the rate is actually declining.