Barcelona is one of the twelve main technological cities in Europe, along with Dublin, Manchester, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Copenhagen, Berlin, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich, and Madrid. This is according to the study Tech Cities: the global intersection of talent and real estate, prepared by the international real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield, which has identified a total of 115 cities worldwide that stand out for their technological aspect. The report is based on different parameters, including the presence of digital talent and companies in the tech sector, the office space available for these companies, and equipment related to the digital world, among other variables.
According to experts from Cushman & Wakefield, Barcelona is among the main technological cities for having close to 41,000 jobs related to the technological sector, one of the most important factors that companies take into account when choosing a location to set up their headquarters or development center. This job offer is, however, still very far from the talent pool available in London, with 372,237 jobs in the technological field, or in cities like Paris (252,783) or Madrid (100,228 people). Capitals such as Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, and Frankfurt also have more tech employees, but Barcelona is ahead of Copenhagen (32,287) and Dublin (34,623).
Another factor that positions Barcelona on this exclusive European list is, according to Cushman & Wakefield, the presence of offices of some of the main international technology companies, such as NTT, Webhelp, Apple, Criteo, SAP, Cisco, VMWare, T-Systems, Microsoft, or Google.
The consultancy warns of the strong competition for talent in the Catalan capital and highlights that it has an important challenge ahead in this regard: "The percentage of employees in the sector compared to the positions offered is 0.7, unlike other cities like Paris, where there are more possibilities to hire talent with a ratio of 2.2 due to the more than 250,000 employees, or London, with an employee pool exceeding 370,000." In Madrid, this indicator is 1.7. In fact, Barcelona's 0.7 is the worst ratio of the twelve European cities analyzed.
On the contrary, Barcelona, points out Cushman & Wakefield, has managed to position itself as the first global hub in EMEA that has attracted the most foreign investment, increasing investment by up to 269% during the 2018-2021 period, compared to the previous 2014-2017. "The results triple the figures of Amsterdam, London or Paris," assures the consultancy.
According to the report, the Catalan capital is one of the favorite locations for large technology companies because it has an ideal environment for their employees to live and work, with costs below the European average, especially those related to the real estate sector, and with other variables such as climate, architecture, or gastronomy. In addition, the study also concludes that the city "has a wide variety of districts prepared to host large companies in the sector." Of these, 22@ stands out, where most of these companies are located, but it points to other submarkets such as Sant Cugat or Baix Llobregat.
The study also recalls that Barcelona is the second favorite destination in Europe to establish a startup, only behind Berlin.