Melbourne world’s third-most entrepreneurial city, Sydney 6th

An international study has named Melbourne the third most entrepreneurial city of 27 OECD cities surveyed. About 11.7% of Melbourne’s population are entrepreneurs aged between 18-64, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor based at the London Bus

It feels like our cities are abuzz with entrepreneurs, and now there is proof.

An international study has named Melbourne the third most entrepreneurial city of 27 OECD cities surveyed. About 11.7% of Melbourne’s population are entrepreneurs aged between 18-64, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor based at the London Business School.

Auckland topped the list at 13.5, followed by Vancouver at 11.8. Los Angeles and New York came fourth and fifth, just beating Sydney at sixth with 11.2%.

The least entrepreneurial city was Tokyo with just 1.8% of the population entrepreneurs, followed by Milan (3.3%), Paris (4.2%) and Rotterdam (4.7%). The data is based on a study of 2000 people in each country.

The study makes some big claims about the affect of culture on entrepreneurship. For example, it says that Toyko and Hong Kong show by far the lowest self confidence when it comes to starting a new business. The strong representation of east Asian cities in pessimistic entrepreneurial perceptions may partly reflect the importance of modesty within these cultures.

And the most entrepreneurial cities are all Anglo Saxon, with European cities lower. “All the Anglo Saxon countries are characterised by a high surplus of in-migration, individualism, and a “more or less” passive role of government. All these factors support entrepreneurship, the study says.

More proof? Montreal, situated in the French part of Canada, has significantly lower early-stage entrepreneurial activity than Vancouver and Toronto.

But while Melbourne scored well, are the city’s entrepreneurs high-aspiration types linked to new product creation, job growth expectations, the creative classes and technology sector?

It appears not. Sydney beat Melbourne hands down on job growth oriented criteria (17 to 14) on the sectors linked to the creative classes criteria (58 to 47) and use of latest technology (15 to eight).

See the full report here.