The lockdown is over and safety measures are softening pretty much everywhere across Europe. If you’ve had enough “work from home” glory but want to avoid the risk of signing up for a long-term office rent, a good solution (especially for freelancers and small startup teams) are coworking spaces.
Coworkings are already implementing ‘new normal’ safety measures, like more spaced-out desks, temperature checks, daily disinfection of common areas, and more. In addition, coworkings offer something that you just can’t get from working at home – making new spontaneous and incidental connections. We recently interviewed David Dattoli, CEO and founder of Talent Garden, a huge European network of 4500+ people in 28 locations over 8 countries, who told us that he believes coworkings will only continue to grow for this reason.
So without further ado, here are a selection of our top 10 coworking lists for many cool startup hubs across Europe.
Spain
The Spanish startup ecosystem is scaling-up steadily, with more and more succesful startups coming from hubs like Madrid, Barcelona and Malaga, offering entrepreneurs both a good quality of life and a number of support programmes.
France
France is home to Europe’s largest coworking and startup hub, StationF, in Paris. In addition, there are many startup coworkings fueled by the country’s ambition to be the European entrepreneurial capital.
The Netherlands
Known for its open culture, driven work ethic and the fastest broadband speed in Europe, the Netherlands is a haven for startups.
Germany
Berlin is well-known as a forward-thinking tech hub, with coworkings situated in repurposed factories, manufacturing warehouses and old hospitals. But the capital is not the only place to start up – cities like Munich and Hamburg have strong economies and active entrepreneurial scenes.
Italy
Italy was hard-hit by the pandemic, but the startup community is getting back on its feet. We’re currently researching the state of recovery in South Italy, and interviewing startup players from the area, so keep an eye out for that.
Luxembourg
Luxembourg is one of Europe’s smallest countries, known for its beautiful forests and castles, and its high standard of living. It’s startup ecosystem is also growing richer, with one of the highest investment levels in startups per GDP in Europe.
The UK
Although the UK is technically outside of the EU, it’s still geographically in Europe, and from our recent survey the EU-Startups readers voted to keep reporting on the startup scene there. London is the obvious hub for startup activity, but there are many other cities with exciting entrepreneurial innovation, like Edinburgh.
Ireland
The birthplace of Web Summit, Ireland is a hotbed of tech innovation. Despite a rainy climate, Ireland offers a great quality of lfe for tech entrepreneurs, as cities is surrounded by green hills, beautiful countryside and coastal views, not to mention their great nightlife
Poland
In the last 5 years, the number of startups in Poland has doubled, with most being centered in the areas of Warsaw, Wrocław, Kraków, Lublin and Tri-City.
Slovakia
Slovakia, the small country in Eastern Europe, might have been overlooked by investors in the tech industry in the past, but you will be surprised about the exciting startups that have been founded there.
Austria
In Austria, technology and science research is incentivized not only by the Austrian government and universities, but also within the private sector.
Sweden
Stockholm is now known as Europe’s “unicorn factory” – with more unicorns per capita than any city in the world next to Silicon Valley.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is known for its solid infrastructure, a highly educated and skilled workforce, and relatively low living costs.
Switzerland
Aside from its beautiful mountains and lakes, Switzerland is home to a thriving startup scene, and was ranked as the most innovative country in the world in 2017.
Greece
Greece is well known for its royal blue skies, white-painted hill-top towns, crystal waters, traditional gastronomy and rich history, but that’s not all it has to offer.
Portugal
Portugal offers great quality of life, is considered a gem for food lovers and is one of the safest countries in the world according to the Global Peace Index.
Finland
Finland is strong n the gaming, electronics, software, cleantech, biotech and health industries.
Denmark
Denmark is known for its high quality of life. It’s consistently ranked the world’s happiest country, with twice as many bicycles as cars.
The Baltic States
Lithuania’s startup visa initiative, Estonia’s e-residency system and Latvia’s Techchill are just some of the initiatives that position the region as a space to watch.
Belgium
Belgium may not produce as many startups or raise as much money as its German and French neighbours, but the country is the heart of the EU and has a tremendous impact on tech and various funding initiatives.
Croatia
Since joining the EU in 2013, the country’s startup scene has begun to take off with innovation in several sectors including travel, media, foodtech, and robotics.