Digital talent steps on the accelerator in Barcelona

More than 135,000 professionals, 6.5% of total employment in Barcelona, and growth close to 5% compared to last year. These figures illustrate the expansion of digital talent in Barcelona, which in 2025 incorporated 6,200 new ICT professionals.

And not only that: for the first time, more than a thousand job offers aimed at artificial intelligence specialists have been exceeded, as stated in the Digital Talent Overview 2026 report, prepared by Mobile World Capital Barcelona. New profiles have also emerged strongly, such as semiconductor experts —who grew by 97%—, New Space (67%), blockchain (57%), and quantum computing (49%).

All of this reflects the dynamism of the technological sector in the city, with a multitude of companies and also projects of international scope, such as the AI Factory at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and within a project of European dimension, and the commitment to semiconductors and quantum technologies to make Catalonia a benchmark in these fields.

With all these projects underway and with a dynamic technological and entrepreneurial ecosystem, the city has seen the number of professionals in the digital field increase at a speed that significantly exceeds the average of the Barcelona labor market: it is growing 3.6 times faster than the overall in the city, which increased by 1.34% last year —compared to 4.8% in the ICT sector—, as highlighted by the director of the Digital Talent area of MWCapital, Jordi Arrufí.

Thus, Barcelona continues to strengthen its position as one of Europe's main digital hubs, with the consolidation of an increasingly mature ecosystem, while also specialized and competitive. In this context of maturation, companies also prioritize more specialized and experienced profiles.

This preference for expert profiles has a consequence: junior profiles are less in demand, also due to the rise of AI, capable of automating more mechanical tasks until now usually performed by novice professionals. So much so that job offers aimed at people with little experience have fallen by 36% in the last two years. On the other hand, the demand for senior professionals has grown by 15%, and mid-level profiles have seen job offers increase by 21%.

However, the ICT system in Catalonia continues to strengthen its talent base: during the 2024-2025 academic year, technology degrees exceeded 22,700 enrolled students, 27% more than five years ago. In addition, ICT master's degrees consolidate their growth, having surpassed 7,000 students, in this path of advanced specialization demanded by the market.

This demand continues, one more year, reflecting the high tension in the digital talent market. Barcelona registers 14.9 digital professionals per job offer, while, in the city's economic sectors as a whole, the ratio is 62.3 professionals per offer. The sector with the greatest talent shortage continues to be cybersecurity, with 3.53 available professionals per offer, in an ecosystem that continues to have difficulties covering specialized technological profiles. According to the report, the three positions that have generated the most job opportunities in 2025 have been web developers —with more than 9,500 offers—, app developers —with 2,400— and cloud computing, with 2,300.

A third women

This sustained growth is also joined by a progressive increase in the presence of women in the sector. The presence of women in the digital field represents 33.4% of the total ICT professionals in Barcelona, above the European average, which stands at 30%. The advance has been especially significant in recent years: since 2018, female representation has increased almost 12 percentage points, going from 31.5% to 33.4% in the last year alone. Even so, the report warns that parity is still far off and that a 2% gender pay gap persists. Among the disciplines with the highest female presence are digital marketing, sustainable computing, UX/UI, and quantum computing, areas that also reflect the growing diversification of Barcelona's technological ecosystem.

AI as transversal

The report also incorporates a new barometer on artificial intelligence that confirms that it is already part of the daily life of software development. Adoption is practically widespread: 72.6% of professionals use AI tools daily and more than 70% already have corporate access to this type of solution, structurally integrated into companies.

Thus, with an increasingly specialized ecosystem, sustained demand for talent, and the consolidation of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and quantum computing, Barcelona continues to strengthen its position as one of the main European digital hubs and as one of the technological capitals with the greatest capacity for attraction and transformation in Southern Europe.