Austin, Texas has topped a new ranking of the best cities for tech companies, which put smaller players such as Tel Aviv and Stockholm in the top five, ahead of London in sixth.
The ranking, produced by Savills, identified 12 global centres at the forefront of technology. Although major cities such as San Francisco (2nd) and New York (4th) featured prominently, the stand-out winners were small cities.
The research aims to understand the drivers that make cities good for tech, comparing them on their access to human capital, vibrancy, access to venture capital and the quality of their coffee.
Savills found that while big global centres performed well on business environment criteria – New York, Singapore and London ranked highly owing to their good regulatory environment – access to venture capital and investors as well as excellent links to other key global cities are key.
Asian cities performed best when looking at the tech environment, with the exception of the Swedish capital Stockholm.
Taking into consideration IT skills, tech regulation and infrastructure, Hong Kong, Stockholm and Singapore rank highest – Singapore has the fastest broadband speed at 100 Mbps.
Smaller cities such as Austin, San Francisco, Dublin and Berlin ranked highly in providing affordable accommodation near the city centre, being less polluted and well supplied with restaurants.
Smaller cities also came out well on commuting – the average tech cities employee has a 31-minute commute – and bike accessibility.
Paul Tostevin, associate director of Savills world research, said: “Austin’s South by South West festival brings together film, music and tech, whilst Dublin’s Web Summit is Europe’s largest tech conference. These vibrant mixed-use communities are at the centre of the new tech industry spirit.”
Savills research also claims that for small tech companies, finding the right space in the right location was more important than cost.
Combining office and residential costs, the firm found Mumbai the most affordable tech city.
Jon Hutt, head of corporate real estate at Savills UK, said: “Location decisions are predicated on far more than simply the cost of property and in today’s world it is fundamental that companies look closely at how they retain their existing talent pool, attract new talent and keep themselves ahead, in what is an increasingly competitive employment market.”
