5 Countries Where You Can Overwinter and Keep the Startup Going

What are the country’s features?

Whoever has been to Spain, knows that this is one of the best places on the planet for wintering and spending the most breathtaking holiday. And it is quite possible to combine the holidays with work! Barcelona is not only a city that never sleeps but also the fifth largest startup hub in Europe, the venue for Mobile World Congress (MWC), the most anticipated event on the market for mobile technologies, WebSummit ALPHA and other events.

The Madrid Technology Hub is actively developing. Huge Fintech companies and small creative startups are based there. The Spanish startup ecosystem already has about 15 business incubators and accelerators in the field of information technology.

The Spanish business incubator Demium Startups, which has been successfully operating in five cities in Spain for 5 years, recently came to Belarus and Ukraine, offering effective tools for starting a business in 6 months, and in the future — international networking.

And for a relaxed wintering, there are islands, for example, Mallorca and Lloret De Mar, where you can hang out in the most famous places for youth recreation.

Mobile and Internet infrastructure

4 main mobile operators in Spain and many smaller ones provide full coverage of the country. The situation With the Internet is somewhat worse in Spain. There are analogues of the Internet cafe Locutorio in large cities. Most cafes and restaurants have Wi-Fi, but it’s safer to use the mobile Internet. At the same time, Barcelona is the largest in Spain and one of the largest free Wi-Fi Internet sites in Europe; you can find a map with hotspots online.

Before going to Spain, take care of your home and your health, first study the line of rates for property insurance and health insurance when going abroad.

Your travel time is too valuable to spend on dealing with issues in a foreign country. Take care of everything in advance.

What are the country’s features?

Despite the small territory, Georgia has several climatic zones: the mountains are gradually replaced by valleys, the valleys are approaching the sea. Spring begins earlier, and autumn is unusually beautiful and lingers for a long time, turning into a mild winter.

The Georgian government encourages the development of innovative entrepreneurship. Under the auspices of the Ministry of Economy of Georgia, an Agency for Innovations and Technologies was created, which is responsible for promoting the innovation activities of people and companies, supporting their participation in the digital economy. There are several IT hubs in the country.

The first Center for the development of high technology and innovation (Technology Park) was established in Tbilisi in 2016. Incubators, educational centers and laboratories, coworkings and offices of world corporations and large companies, and a recreational zone are collected in one space.

And its own Tbilisi Silicon Valley has become home to more than 60 global technology leaders.

What else?

The cost of rental housing is comparable to Minsk. Almost everywhere you can meet locals who can speak in English. Georgia’s hospitality in terms of tourism and entertainment is known throughout the world.

Mobile and Internet infrastructure

Tbilisi has a municipal WiFi network Tbilisi Loves You. In addition, it’s not easy to find a public place in Tbilisi without free Internet. At the same time, mobile communication is inexpensive, and you can always buy a SIM card from one of the local network operators.

Before going to Georgia, take care of your home and your health, first study the line of rates for property insurance and health insurance when going abroad.

Your travel time is too valuable to spend on dealing with issues in a foreign country. Take care of everything in advance.

What are the country’s features?

Israel is a great example of how a small country can become a startup paradise.

Startup Nation

It was in Israel that Microsoft, Intel and Apple opened their first foreign R&D centers, and then other IT giants followed their example: Google, Facebook, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, Dell, SAP, etc. Following the R&D centers of Western corporations, Israel has got its own successful companies and a huge startup industry. The most famous startups born in Israel are Gett, Waze, Viber, Wix, MyHeritage, SimilarWeb, MindSpace. And today, Israel leads the world in terms of the number of startups per capita; it’s even ahead of the United States.

The country has a national program "Technological greenhouses" — a network of incubators, in which startup entrepreneurs with high-tech projects receive funding, the necessary infrastructure and administrative assistance. After 2 years, successful projects leave the incubator in the form of a commercial enterprise and with private investment. Israel’s business ecosystem attracts businessmen from all over the world.

It’s worth noting that the infrastructure isn’t concentrated in one or two cities but is developed everywhere. There are more than 300 accelerators and incubators in Israel.

Along with the most favorable conditions for business development, Israel has the most favorable climatic conditions. Winter air warms up to comfortable 17-20°C.

Mobile and Internet infrastructure

The quality of mobile communication in Israel is excellent, with good coverage. WiFi and the Internet are practically everywhere in large shopping centers, cafes, airports, train stations and even public beaches. In the major cities of Israel, thereare many free WiFi hotspots.

Before going to Israel, take care of your home and your health, first study the line of rates for property insurance and health insurance when going abroad.

Your travel time is too valuable to spend on dealing with issues in a foreign country. Take care of everything in advance.

What are the country’s features?

Bucharest is among the 16 largest European IT hubs and ranked fourth in Eastern Europe. It’s home for over 1000 active startups, and their number is growing along with the number of acceleration programs and the volume of investments.

In addition to Bucharest, there are regional IT hubs in Romania: the cities of Cluj-Napoca (Transylvanian Silicon Valley), Timis, Constanta, Ilfiv. At the same time, startup investors are confident in the potential of smaller cities with adequate infrastructure, educational institutions and qualified personnel.

More than 40 conferences and 1,000 meetups devoted to startup industry, 51 co-working space (the most famous are TechHub, ClujCowork, thatdevspace, Commons, ClujHub, thinkspace, Hub onezero, Demisol, Hub 1317, Cowork Timisoara, ImpactHUB), over 800,000 developers.

Quite recently the IT sector was represented mainly by outsourcing companies, but now IT specialists are increasingly switching to developing their own technology products. The most famous accelerators are Techcelerator, Spherik Accelerator, Innovation Labs, Risky Business, Privacy Accelerator, Startarium, MVP Academy, TBNR, TechAngels, OrangeFAB and others.

One of the main advantages of Romania in the IT sphere is the developed professional communities of IT specialists like Cluj Startups, Cluj Hub, Fresh Blood. Heath, Tech’n Trade, Startup Grind Cluj-Napoca, Startup Grind Bucharest, Silicon Forest, Dev Talks, The Romanian Association For User Experience Design and many others.

Mobile and Internet infrastructure

Romania consistently occupies a leading position in the quality of high-speed Internet, which covers more than 85% of its territory.

Before going to Romania, take care of your home and your health, first study the line of rates for property insurance and health insurance when going abroad.

Your travel time is too valuable to spend on dealing with issues in a foreign country. Take care of everything in advance.

What are the country’s features?

Mecca of unhackneyed resorts, in which you can escape from the Belarusian winter. Here you will find a calm sea, a civilized society without crime (despite the exactly opposite stereotypes 5 years ago) and a developed tourist service.

The government has set itself a goal — to include Colombia among the most innovative economies of Latin America, and is successfully moving towards this goal. Colombians have made their country a popular startup hub. Recently, not a single startup from Latin America has entered the top 3 most prestigious US accelerators, which are Y Combinator, 500 Startups, and Techstars. And now dozens of Latin American startups, mostly from Colombia, are storming American accelerators. And Rappi, UBits, Ropeo, Hogaru and Tributi have already joined Y Combinator.

The startup ecosystem is not limited to Bogota. The second city of the country Medellin successfully competes with the capital. More than 150 startups are based here; Cali and Barranquilla, located off the Pacific and the Caribbean coast, respectively, successfully develop their infrastructure in order to compete on a par with Bogota and Medellin.

Colombia is now ranked 34th among 202 countries of the world in terms of the startup ecosystem. There are more than 220 of them here, the most popular of which are LifeMiles, 1doc3, Fitpal, Civico, Viajala, Destino Bogotá, Fluz Fluz and others.

Mobile and Internet infrastructure

You can find high-speed broadband satellite Internet and many hotspots everywhere in Colombia. The choice of mobile operators is also wide; you can buy a local SIM card and vouchers to replenish your account at kiosks, mobile phone shops and grocery stores.

Before going to Colombia, take care of your home and your health, first study the line of rates for property insurance and health insurance when going abroad.

Your travel time is too valuable to spend on dealing with issues in a foreign country. Take care of everything in advance.