NovaUCD, the hub of innovation and start-up activities at University College Dublin since 2003, has been named as one of Europe's Leading Start-Up Hubs by the Financial Times for the third year in a row.
The Europe’s Leading Start-Up Hubs 2026 special report ranks the top centres across Europe offering incubator and/or accelerator programmes to founders who want to build or grow a company.
The 2026 Report, the third annual report, showcases the top 180 start-up hubs located in 25 countries across Europe, with NovaUCD ranked in the Top 150.
NovaUCD is the only university-based hub in Ireland included in the rankings and is one of only three start-up hubs in Ireland to be included in this year's ranking.
In addition to NovaUCD (ranked 130th), Catalyst (Belfast, ranked 76th), and Furthr (ranked 98th) are the only other start-up hubs in Ireland included in this year's rankings.
UnternehmerTUM, the start-up lab of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in Germany, is again ranked in first place.
Since 2003, UCD has supported over 650 companies and early-stage ventures, through the services and supports provided across the University by NovaUCD, and through business support programmes, including dedicated accelerator programmes, such as the AI Ecosystem Accelerator programme and the UCD VentureLaunch programme, run and managed by NovaUCD.
NovaUCD is also partnering with IADT Media Cube to deliver an Enterprise Ireland funded New Frontiers Programme and is a member of the ESA BIC Ireland consortium.
Liam Cronin, Director of Innovation at UCD, said the competition to feature in this prestigious ranking has become tougher each year.
"The publication of this ranking is timely as it follows on from last month’s announcement that Equal1, a quantum semiconductor company and a member of the NovaUCD ecosystem, had closed a $60m funding round, the largest single investment round in a UCD spin-out to date," he said.
"We welcome the recognition and look forward to continuing to support and scale the next generation of entrepreneurs, start-ups and established companies with global ambitions and reach following in the footsteps of Equal1," he added.
