📊 Global Tech Ecosystem Index 2025: Key Takeaways for France, Ireland, and Europe

On 21 May 2025, Dealroom.co released its annual Global Tech Ecosystem Index, providing one of the most comprehensive benchmarks of innovation ecosystems worldwide. This year’s edition analyses 288 hubs across 69 countries, using robust indicators such as VC investment, startup valuations, unicorn creation, patent activity, academic linkages, and growth momentum.

More than just a ranking, the Index is a strategic tool for policymakers, investors, and ecosystem builders to evaluate regional strengths and development potential in the global innovation landscape.

🧭 Three lenses to capture ecosystem performance

The methodology is structured around three complementary lenses:

• Global Champions (Scale Lens): Top-performing ecosystems in absolute terms — total investment, valuation, unicorns, and maturity of support structures.
• Density Leaders (Per Capita Lens): High-output ecosystems relative to population size — often highlighting smaller but very productive innovation hubs.
• Rising Stars (Growth Lens): The most dynamic ecosystems based on growth in enterprise value and unicorn creation, adjusted for economic context (GDP per capita, cost of living).

This structure allows for a more nuanced reading of innovation across countries and cities at different stages of maturity.

🇫🇷 France: Paris leads in Europe, deep tech hubs gain visibility

Paris ranks #4 globally among the “Global Champions,” behind only the Bay Area, New York, and Boston — and ahead of London (#6). France’s capital confirms its position as Europe’s top innovation hub, thanks to:

• A strong concentration of AI and deep tech startups;
• Well-developed support structures (Station F, government funding, academic clusters);
• A proactive national innovation strategy under France 2030.

The report highlights the global visibility gained through the AI Action Summit held in early 2025, which helped position France as a reference point in the discussion on trustworthy and scalable AI.

Beyond Paris, Grenoble and Toulouse are also recognized as top global deep tech hubs, with specializations in microelectronics, photonics, space, and aerospace — underscoring France’s capacity to translate research excellence into industrial innovation.

🇮🇪 Ireland: A dense and evolving innovation ecosystem

While Ireland does not yet rank among the top 20 in absolute terms, Dublin stands out as a high-density tech hub with promising growth potential.

The country benefits from:

• The presence of European headquarters of major global tech companies (e.g. Google, Microsoft, Intel, Meta);
• Strengths in software, fintech, cybersecurity, and medtech;
• A growing startup support ecosystem (Dogpatch Labs, NovaUCD, Scale Ireland).

Ireland’s talent pipeline, university-industry collaborations, and regulatory stability are key assets. Sectors such as applied AI, semiconductors, and quantum technologies are flagged as areas of future differentiation — particularly in alignment with European strategic priorities like the Chips Act and Horizon Europe.

🤖 AI attracts a third of global VC investment

The report’s headline figure: 33% of global VC investment in 2024 went to AI startups, up from just 7% in 2014. While overall tech investment dropped by 63% from its peak, AI funding continues to grow.

In this landscape, Paris ranks #3 globally for AI, just behind the Bay Area and Boston, and ahead of New York and Cambridge. This validates recent public and private efforts to develop France’s AI ecosystem across research, regulation, and deployment.

🧪 Deep Tech: A resilient and strategic pillar for Europe

Deep tech — including quantum, synthetic biology, advanced materials, space tech, and semiconductors — now accounts for one-third of global VC funding. Unlike other tech segments, deep tech has shown resilience, with only a 13% drop in funding from its 2021 peak (compared to a 62% drop in the rest of tech).

Europe is well-represented in this segment, with standout ecosystems in:

• Paris, Grenoble, and Toulouse (France),
• Munich (Germany),
• Cambridge (UK),
• Zurich (Switzerland),
• Stockholm (Sweden).

These ecosystems benefit from a combination of strong public R&D investment, applied industrial partnerships, and increasingly mature startup pipelines. The Index echoes the findings of the 2025 European Deep Tech Report, which emphasized the importance of long-term strategic investment and international collaboration.

📍 A strategic benchmark for ecosystem development

The Global Tech Ecosystem Index offers practical insights to:

• Benchmark cities and regions within a global context;
• Identify sectoral strengths and opportunities for improvement;
• Inform innovation policy, regional development, and international positioning.

For both France and Ireland, the report provides a useful lens to track progress, inform policy, and foster partnerships in strategic sectors like AI, deep tech, and the green/digital transitions.

🔗 Explore the full report and data dashboard: dealroom.co/tech-ecosystem-index-2025

💬 If you’re based in France or Ireland and interested in exploring collaboration opportunities in AI, deep tech or innovation strategy — particularly in a European framework — feel free to reach out.