Sydney
Overall Score: 49.7 out of 100 | Overall Rank: 9 out of 55

Momentum Rank

29

Sydney55 City medianOverall Cityscore
60
Technology 40Markets
200Culture

TalentCapitalBasic Facts• Population: 5.36 million• Gross Metro Production (GMP): $347.2 billion(2022)• Top Sectors by Employment:
1) Health Care and Social Assistance2) Professional, Scientific and TechnicalServices
3) Retail Trade

Overall Rank

9Operating Environment

10Markets

24Size

24

Cost

37

Access18

Notable Strengths:
While famed for its vibrant culture, beaches, and iconic
landmarks, Sydney is Australia’s global gateway and has
the country's largest economy. Its strength in key
industries makes it an attractive regional headquarters for
600 multinational companies, including Amazon, Google,
LinkedIn, and Microsoft. Sydney is also the heart of thecountry’s financial industry, housing the Australian Stock
Exchange and the Futures Exchange, as well as theheadquarters of 60 out of 64 banks in Australia. 1 The cityprides itself on having Oceania’s largest startup
ecosystem, valued at $68 billion with 60% of Australian
fintech startups based in the city itself. 2Policy29Talent

6

Women's Skill & Experience

15

Access to Qualified Personnel

5Capital

9Number/Value

18

Gender Proportion

7

Women's Capital Base

15

Enabling Environment

9

The New South Wales (NSW) state government invests
heavily in programs geared towards strengthening theworkforce, and these programs are sustained by Sydney’srenowned universities and technical colleges. Therefore, it
is no surprise that Sydney ranks 6th in the Talent pillar.
Two of the city’s six universities feature in the top 50 of the2023 QS World University Rankings, one of which ranks inthe top 5 in terms of having the most employablegraduates. The city’s access to qualified workers isdemonstrated by top 10 rankings in terms of the proportionof the population with a tertiary education (7th) as well as
the share of the labor force within the city who are IT

Culture8

Access to Mentors & Role Models

11

Attitudes & Expectations

23

Policy11Technology

14

Connected

13

Cost

39

Policy30

Equality18

1 Business Events Australia. (2022). Sydney Industry Sectors.
2 Startup Genome. (2022). The Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2022. Startup Genome.

professionals (8th) and in professional services (6th). Having a skilled talent pool is critical for all entrepreneurs,
having a skilled female talent pool is also an important factor for fostering women entrepreneurship.
Sydney also ranks highly in the Culture pillar, securing 8th place. The city scored strongly in terms of (i) female
mayors in the last three terms, (ii) the number of national level networking, advocacy or supplier developmentgroups for women entrepreneurs/businesswomen, and (iii) the number of city level organizations specifically for
women entrepreneurs/businesswomen all which helps provide role models for women that can help them dream big.
The city is home to Sydney Startup Hub, the largest startup powerhouse in the Southern Hemisphere, a $35 million
initiative by the NSW government. 3 It functions as an innovation hub where individuals can network, collaborate, andattract investors. The hub’s team recognizes the many barriers’ women entrepreneurs face, hence the launch of theFemale Founder program, delivered by Tech Ready Women. Additionally, to support women who are business
operators or are looking to start a micro/small business, the state government runs the Women in Business initiative.
Besides providing training on business, communication, and financial skills, the subsidized online program offers
participants the opportunity to network with leading female entrepreneurs, access to local events, and resources andservices for all business stages.
Supportive policies relating to fair pay, nondiscrimination based on gender in hiring, and parental leave contributes
to the city achieving 11th place in the Policy sub-pillar for fostering a culture that is inclusive. The sub-pillar’s ranking
is reinforced by the representation of women in parliament and city councils, which is the result of the NSW
government’s campaign to improve women’s representation, including a partnership with Women for Election
Australia to prepare aspiring candidates.
Sydney achieves a top 10 ranking in the Capital pillar, securing 9th place. The city stands out in the gender
proportion sub-pillar (7th), attaining 6th place in terms of the proportion of funding given to businesses with at least
25% female executives and 4th place in the estimated earned income indicator (which is a proxy for how muchcommand women have over economic resources).
Areas for Improvement:
In terms of technology, the city does well in the Connected sub-pillar (13th), owing to good mobile broadband
accessibility and speeds, but lags in fixed broadband internet speeds, with Sydney ranking 47th and 45th in terms of
median fixed download and upload speeds respectively. Additionally, despite NSW state being home to Australia’s
largest ICT sector and nearly two-thirds of the country’s technology startups, Sydney unexpectedly ranks near thebottom in the baseline cybersecurity score indicator (50th).4 In 2021, the Australian Department of Home Affairs
published a discussion paper, as part of an open consultation on options for regulatory reforms, highlighting
weaknesses in Australian cybersecurity regulations and incentives; the paper suggested that the current framework
has limitations on effectively addressing cybersecurity threats because privacy, consumer, and corporation laws
were not originally intended to address the issue. 5 Recent cyberattacks on major Australian companies has
prompted the government to introduce a bill to amend privacy laws to include heavier penalties for serious orrepeated breaches of privacy. Separately, cost also remains a hurdle, with the city placing 42nd in the sub-pillar,demonstrated by comparatively high average internet and mobile tariff costs.
Sydney ranks 24th in Markets on the back of middling ranks across its four sub-pillars. The city excels in terms ofreducing procedural and time barriers to starting a business and enabling access to accelerators. However, cost is
still a barrier; Sydney ranks in the bottom 20 in the Cost sub-pillar (36th), primarily due to relatively high living andrental costs.
Other areas where there are opportunities to advance include pay transparency policies (42nd), which falls behind on
accountability aspects, and the availability of technology training organizations for women. Despite the broad
3 Investment NSW. (2022). Sydney Startup Hub. Retrieved from Investment NSW
4 NSW Department of Customer Service. (2022, July 19). Bridging the innovation gap for small and medium businesses in NSW.
5 Cyber, Digital and Technology Policy Division Department of Home Affairs. (2021). Strengthening Australia's cyber security

regulations and incentives - A call for views.

advances compared to the previous index, there is also room for improvement in the representation of womenparticularly at major business associations and in executive/founder roles at investment companies. Women owners
are also underrepresented in businesses that are in higher funding rounds in Sydney, i.e., later stage businesses(those that are growing and scaling). Reaching scale is critically important to unlock the growth potential of women
entrepreneurs as engines of growth for the city. Although Sydney propelled into the top 10 in the WE Cities Index
2022, its momentum has been just lower than the median putting it at cruising altitude. However, Sydney has many
strengths that it can leverage to propel itself even higher. It’s top 10 ranking shows that it has great potential to be
the best place for women entrepreneurs.