The biggest tragedy of economies and start-up ecosystems is they can lose their most ambitious and talented people to more attractive locations. Many global tech hubs are successful mostly due to foreign entrepreneurs selecting them as their preferred base. Look no further for evidence of this than the world’s top three ecosystems — San Francisco, London and New York.

To be able to attract tech migrants, an ecosystem primarily relies on two levers: creating favourable business conditions and promoting themselves internationally as a global start-up hub. The more successful an ecosystem is, the easier this becomes due to the flywheel of current success. Think of San Francisco. It is not necessarily doing that well on those two elements, but still manages to attract talent due to the current gravity created by decades of tech successes. 

There are three pillars of making life easier for entrepreneurs: offering favourable business conditions, simplifying company registration and creating a framework that allows foreign talent and entrepreneurs to stay legally in a country. We have many inspiring examples of these around the world.

First, creating favourable business conditions can include a mixture of funding options, tax benefits, networking opportunities, quality of life and technology infrastructure. Even if a country’s business environment is not currently appealing, regional governments can still tactically influence the relocation of companies and talent. Catalonia in Spain, for instance, shows how a good quality of life, combined with networking options and strong tech infrastructure, can attract international talent. One example is the relocation of massive public companies such as US-based online marketing giant Semrush. With the help of the local Catalonian government, they decided to choose Barcelona as one of their largest hubs in Europe. 

Second, simplified processes for setting up a foreign company enhance a location’s appeal to tech migrants. These include reduced paperwork and supportive resources that make it easier for foreign founders to establish a business. For instance, Singapore recently announced the ‘Stage One’ initiative, set to launch in the first quarter of 2025, which will support global start-ups in establishing their base in Singapore and help them integrate with the local ecosystem.  

Estonia’s E-Residency programme is also highly successful in this regard, allowing entrepreneurs to establish businesses entirely online. Similarly, Saudi Arabia is launching various programmes to attract global talent. One example is the country’s Relocate Initiative, which offers incentives to global tech start-ups like funding, grants for relocation expenses and support for office space costs.

Lastly, creating initiatives that make it easier for entrepreneurs and talent to stay in the country helps an ecosystem to attract tech migrants. This can vary from digital nomad visas to start-up visas. In Africa, Cabo Verde’s Remote Working Program allows for an initial stay of six months, with the option to renew for an additional six months. Similarly, the Taiwan Gold Card allows professionals to leave and re-enter Taiwan multiple times in a period of up to three years. 

Japan also has innovative initiatives in this direction. The city of Fukuoka is a National Strategic Zone for Foreign Entrepreneurs; they can receive both visa and support to financial aids, including subsidies for renting office and residential spaces, as well as corporate tax cuts of up to 20% for start-ups in their first five years. Canada is also trying to leverage the difficulty of entrepreneurs to get a work visa in the US with a few interesting relocation options.  

Countries that are open to business can also benefit from geopolitical trends and events. While creating favourable business conditions is helpful, talent can also migrate to neighbouring countries when the business environment nearby becomes unattractive. For example, Poland has attracted tech talent from Belarus and Ukraine in recent years by offering tech visas and residency options.

In short, attracting tech migrants to a tech ecosystem does not have big costs, but the impact can be massive. Therefore, governments should play a proactive role in courting the world’s tech migrants by improving their business environment, simplifying business registration processes and making long-term residency easier. 

Eli David Rokah is the CEO of StartupBlink, a global start-up ecosystem map and research centre that tracks and advises on the development of the global innovation economy. Additional research for this column was undertaken by Sengul Enginsoy, a marketing manager at StartupBlink.

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This article first appeared in the December 2024/January 2025 print edition of fDi Intelligence