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he digital talent gap between supply and demand grows year after year in Barcelona. This is the main conclusion of the Digital Talent Overview 2019 report prepared by Barcelona Digital Talent, a public-private partnership promoted by Mobile World Capital Barcelona, the Technological Circle of Catalonia, Barcelona Tech City, 22 @ Network, Foment del Treball, Generalitat de Catalunya and Ajuntament de Barcelona, with the support of the GSMA, and that aims to turn Barcelona into the capital of digital talent.
According to the study, 1 out of 10 job offers (11.4%) in Barcelona are already digital, which is 40% more than the previous year. In contrast, the offer has only increased by 7.5%. In total numbers, it is estimated that for each job offer of digital talent, there are only 17 candidates, a figure much lower than the 37 in the case of offers of non-technological profile. There is, therefore, the need to reduce the existing digital talent gap in order to respond to the demands of the Barcelona market.
The report raises different lines of action to reverse this situation, from the promotion of social awareness to promote digital skills and professional retraining to the attraction of international talent. It also includes measures such as adapting training programs according to market needs and using Big Data to know in real time the state of digital talent and market needs at all times.
The presentation of the report was realized by the president of the Foment del Treball, Josep Sánchez Llibre, the director of Digital Talent at MWCapital, Jordi Arrufí, and the main agents of the Barcelonian ecosystem involved in the management and hiring of talent. During the event, a positive assessment was made of the success of the first action carried out by Barcelona Digital Talent, held within the framework of 4 Years From Now (4YFN), and which aimed to bring digital talent and companies together. During the three days of the event, a speed dating was held, with the collaboration of Social You, where 450 interviews took place with more than 15 companies such as SEAT, EPSON, Vueling, Infojobs or CaixaBank, among others. The talent was facilitated by more than 10 training centers, such as UPC, UPF, IronHack, Codeworks or IT Academy, of the Barcelona City Council.
BARCELONA: TALENT ATTRACTION POLE OF THE DIGITAL SECTOR
30% of ICT professionals are from outside of Barcelona, which shows that the Catalan capital is still a city with a high capacity to attract digital talent. Madrid and London are the cities with the most talent export in Barcelona. On the other hand, at the level of technologies, Big Data is the one that proportionally more talent imports in Barcelona, with 58.7%, followed by cybersecurity with 42.67%.
DATA AND SCIENTIST ANALYSTS, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING, AND MANAGING DIRECTORS, THE MOST DEMANDED PROFESSIONS IN 4 YEARS
The Digital Talent Overview 2019 study published that in the next four years is expected a boom in new technologies that will increase the demand for professions as specialists in data and scientist analysis, software and apps programmers and professionals of e-commerce and social networks. In contrast, it is expected that jobs may be obsolete, those related to the automation of processes and linked to data entry, compatibility and payroll, secretariat, audit and cashiers, among others.
The study shows that currently, in Barcelona, the most demanded positions of consolidated technologies are those related to web development and mobile applications and user experience. In this sense, classic profiles such as Java developer, SAP developer or .NET developer are still in high demand.
On the other hand, emerging technologies require very specific profiles related to artificial intelligence, closely followed by the Internet of Things (IOT) and 3D printing, which is the one that needs more workers.
900,000 VACANCIES IN EUROPE
The talent gap is not only present in Barcelona. In Europe you also need digital professionals, specifically it is estimated that some 900,000 will be needed, by 2020. In recent years, the demand for professionals with digital skills in Europe has increased by 36.1%, much higher than the 3,2% increase in the rest of professions.
On the other hand, throughout Europe it is a pending issue to incorporate women in the digital sector. The training of women in ICT higher education courses only represents 17% of the total. While in Spain women with higher ICT studies do not reach 13%, in the case of Barcelona,the figure exceeds the European average and of the total 67,720 existing digital professionals: 22% are women.
Barcelona Digital Talent
Barcelona Digital Talent is a public-private partnership that works to ensure alignment between the needs of companies and digital talent initiatives, develop new digital skills and position Barcelona as a digital talent capital worldwide.
It is promoted by Mobile World Capital Barcelona, Cercle Tecnològic de Catalunya, Barcelona Tech City, 22 @ Network, Foment del Treball Nacional, Generalitat de Catalunya and Ajuntament de Barcelona.
