SNS Report 2024: Europe is progressing in building startup-friendly ecosystems
The Startup Nations Standard Report 2024 reveals a 61% implementation rate of startup-friendly policies across Europe, highlighting progress in critical areas, namely in access to finance and attracting and retaining talent.
Stockholm, February 21, 2025 - Europe Startup Nations Alliance (ESNA) has released the Startup Nations Standards (SNS) Report 2024 at Tech Arena Stockholm, offering a comprehensive benchmark for assessing progress across 24 European countries in creating environments favourable to startups.
The report evaluates the implementation of the eight Startup Nations Standards, revealing an average of 61% implementation rate. The report highlights progress in access to finance and talent attraction, crucial drivers of Europe’s startup competitiveness.
Structured around eight core Standards of Excellence, the report assesses how each nation performs against these standards, highlighting key strengths and areas for improvement in: 1. Fast Startup Creation, Smooth Market Entry; 2. Attracting and Retaining Talent; 3. Stock Options; 4. Innovation in Regulation; 5. Innovation in Procurement; 6. Access to Finance; 7. Social inclusion, Diversity and protecting democratic Values; 8. Digital First.
Key highlights from the 2024 report include:
Access to Finance and funding opportunities are enhanced with an average of 72% implementation rate across the surveyed countries, with seven countries performing at 100% implementation rate. It is the best- performing standard with the steepest progression.
Attracting and Retaining Talent stands among the best-performing standards with its 64% implementation level and three countries achieving full implementation (100%). Nine countries have a programme in place to encourage the return of EU tech nationals who emigrated outside of the continent.
Fast Startup Creation, Smooth Market Entry. Europe has been simplifying and accelerating the process of setting up a business reaching a 70% implementation rate. Documents emitted by a foreign entity are accepted in 19 of the surveyed countries. As per the business setup, it can be carried out within one day and for less than €100 in four countries.
Digital-first is gaining traction across Europe, with 20 countries offering a variety of administrative processes online and 19 implementing national digitalization strategies, reaching an average implementation level of 70%.
The 2024 edition of the report provides comprehensive data on the challenges and successes faced by 24 European countries. It provides a detailed analysis of how each country is adopting best practices, creating an environment for entrepreneurs, and scaling their startup ecosystems.
´The SNS Report is an essential tool for policymakers, governments and entrepreneurs to assess how conducive their countries' ecosystems are to fostering innovation and scaling businesses', says Arthur Jordão, Executive Director at ESNA.
´As Europe continues to face rapid changes in technology, regulation and the global economic landscape, this report provides valuable insights into the areas where governments can improve to make Europe a global leader in fostering a vibrant startup culture'.
Download the 2024 SNS Report: www.esnalliance.eu/en/standards
View the interactive Scoreboard for country-specific insights, key data, and tools to visualize each country’s performance: https://scoreboard.esnalliance.eu/