Having followed the startup ecosystem in Iceland closely over the past few years I have gotten a good overview of the changes that have occured. When I first started following it, it was almost non existing but during the past 5 years it has grown and has now become a very active society of entrepreneurs. A good example of how active the ecosystem has become is the Startup Iceland conference that just finished last week. The man behind the conference Bala Kamallakharan was able to get some of the biggest names in the international startup scene to come all the way to Iceland to talk at the conference. Even the president of Iceland came to talk at the conference and share with us his thought of the possibilities of Icelandic entrpreneurs and Icelandic innovation.
Here is the President of Iceland speaking at Startup Iceland.
We still have a very long way to go and the ecosystem here still has very many flaws. We are working together on fixing those flaws but I think Iceland has the most important ingredient and that is young entrepreneurs that are hungry to create and willing to put everything on the line to see their ideas become a reality. Iceland is a country full of harsh and extreme conditions and for hundreds of years Icelanders have stubbornly stayed here and farmed their lands and continued to survive. In the past 100 years we have evolved from some of our countrymen living in caves and in houses with dirt floors to a thriving modern society. I believe that the tenacity and stubbornness that once kept Icelanders alive can now be used to build up a thriving startup ecosystem in Iceland. I for one will pick up my digital scythe and take part in the farming of the startup ecosystem .
