It has been a tough year for the tech industry. Inflation and higher interest rates have heightened focus on profitability by founders and their venture capital (VC) investors. VC-backed exits plummeted to their lowest level for several years, and thousands of layoffs were announced at household tech names as they unwound over hiring in the pandemic.

But it is not all doom and gloom. Aside from pandemic-era excesses and blowups of once heralded companies like WeWork, tech entrepreneurship is still a viable route for ambitious, smart graduates to make an impact on the world. They can positively benefit the locations in which they are based by creating jobs and boosting innovation.

Our Rising Ecosystems series was launched in 2021 to track the emergence of start-up communities outside the world’s largest tech hubs. The heady days of near-zero rates and record VC funding are behind us, but there were still several notable stories this year that show the power of tech entrepreneurship.

Take, for example, Salt Lake City. An influx of tech talent, companies and investors to Utah’s tech community in ‘Silicon Slopes’ has built on decades of success. The western US state is expected to have the largest growth in its tech workforce anywhere in the country between 2023 and 2030, according to a CompTIA report. While there are growing pains from so many new residents, the state’s cheaper cost of living and family-oriented lifestyle put it in a good position to attract more companies and become one of the US’s pre-eminent hubs for innovation. 

Economic development agencies also continued to look to start-ups as a means to compliment and reinvent legacy industries. The northern Italian region of Piedmont has signed international partnerships with start-up hubs to future-proof its economy and encourage innovation. In a location that has felt the pains of a declining manufacturing and automotive industry, entrepreneurship is proving to be an alternative means to maintain its global competitiveness.

Even as overall VC funding has fallen, institutions have banded together to back the companies of the future. A partnership between eight UK universities in the UK’s Midlands region aims to reduce the funding gap for spin-outs there and the Golden Triangle of London, Oxford and Cambridge. Start-ups spinning out from university research are seen as critical to creating new economic opportunities.

Tech start-ups in developing countries with significant macroeconomic issues also offer an alternative means to attract foreign exchange reserves. Tech firms are managing to flourish in Pakistan, despite a decline in VC funding and acute challenges like security issues and severe flood risks. Investors and entrepreneurs in the country believe that demographics and a rapidly digitalising economy provide an untapped potential for business growth.

Algeria’s nascent start-up ecosystem has received significant government support in an economy that has, for years, been closed to the world. Entrepreneurs told me its pool of technical talent offers a great chance to build globally competitive companies.

At the same time, an influx of tech entrepreneurs does not always automatically translate into local impact, as shown by Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, one of the world’s most popular places for digital nomads. Despite a vibrant community of expat entrepreneurs, there has been only limited positive spillover to the local community.

Beyond the headlines of falling tech valuations and funding there are reasons to still believe in the power of entrepreneurship. In a world becoming more geopolitically fractious and digital, we must not forget the potential of tech start-ups to drive bottom-up economic development. 

The full Rising Ecosystem series on emerging start-up communities can be found here. Do you have a lead for a fledgling tech ecosystem we should write about? Please email alex.irwinhunt@ft.com.