Start-ups have created nearly 50,000 jobs in Belgium

Belgian start-ups provide employment for approximately 49,000 people, according to a survey by start-up expert Omar Mohout and startups.be. Mohout, professor at the Antwerp School of Management and advisor at technology research centre Sirris, concluded from a survey of 1,400 start-ups (40% of the Belgian start-up market) that these innovative companies were responsible for the creation of about 49,000 jobs in Belgium.

For the study, Mohout closely examined the Belgian start-up landscape for several years, working together with the website startups.be. The research revealed several striking conclusions, writes De Standaard, such as the start-up climate in Brussels is healthier than in Flanders, especially West Flanders which has relatively few start-up companies compared to Brussels or Wallonia. Brussels comes out on top in Belgium with 29% of the country's start-ups, while it has only 11% of all businesses.

A general lack of access to capital in Belgium means that start-ups have a hard time getting off the ground, according to the study.