Morocco ranked seventh in the MENA region and 79 globally in the Startup Blink Centers Index for the year 2022, achieving 0.594 points on the general index of classification.
At the Arab level, the UAE ranked first, and 27 globally, followed by Bahrain 64, Egypt 65, Jordan 66, Saudi Arabia 72, Lebanon 77, Morocco 79
The report ranks countries according to a set of criteria, including the number of startups, co-working spaces and accelerators, how attractive the country is to start-ups and unicorns, as well as some general indicators related to infrastructure, business environment, volume of business activity, and supporting policies.
The report confirmed that the Middle East and Africa region has a total of 57 startup ecosystems represented in the top 1,000 global cities in the ranking, down from 74 in 2021. Across the region, there are 22, and the region’s startup ecosystems ranked first in the list of the best startup ecosystems in the region. 100 companies, just as in 2021.
The United States topped the world rankings, with a score of 195.370 points, followed by the United Kingdom in second place with 52,555 points, while Germany ranked sixth, and China ranked tenth.
The “Big 4” Startup countries remain the same as in 2021: the U.S., U.K., Israel and Canada. Year by year, these countries demonstrated a constant level of stability and innovation and established strong startup economies. The U.S. remains the world leader across multiple industries and startup metrics, and maintains a total score that is 4x that of the second ranked country (the U.K.). The U.K. has solidified its position and substantially increased its gap from the third ranked country, Israel.
Israel was a whisker away from overthrowing the U.K. in 2021, and is now not only far from it, but also has seen the national ecosystem of Canada, ranked fourth, narrowing gaps from it.
Canada, in a successful year, has also created a substantial gap among all ecosystems ranked below it, bringing it back to the “Big 4” club of countries that have managed to create a gap from other countries.
One of the most surprising decreases in the country ranking is China, losing three spots to now be ranked 10th globally. This has been a year of friction between Chinese founders and the state, which, among other elements, created the first negative index momentum of the Chinese ecosystem in the past years. As a result, Singapore, which is becoming a stronger regional hub every year, ranks seventh after a jump of three spots and is now the top-ranked country in Asia.
StartupBlink, a global startup ecosystem map and research center, has launched the Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2022. Since 2017, the index offers policymakers and startup ecosystem stakeholders insights into their startup economy, unveiling trends and momentum. The index is also used as a tool by founders and investors trying to discover the best ecosystems.
