CBRE, the world's leading national real estate consultant, has carried out in-depth research into the Europe, Middle East and Africa region (EMEA) to determine the cities with the highest number of employees in the high-tech industry).
With a set of spectacular indicators, Bucharest has ranked among the cities with the most professionals working in the high-tech industry, currently accounting for over 70,000 employees.
The Capital is ranked as the most active centers in this respect, alongside London, Dublin, Madrid or Budapest. Also, since 2008, the capital of Romania has registered one of the most important growth in Europe of the number of employees in this sector: 66%!
Bucharest currently has a coefficient of the number of high technology professionals per city that is over twice the average in the European Union. The study included over 250 cities, out of which 40 high-tech centers were highlighted.
These were included in four categories based on the number of employees, industry subcategories and rhythm of growth.
The high technology industry has been divided into ten sub-categories: software, IT services, telecom, hardware, online services, e-commerce, digital services (digital marketing and advertising and media focusing on the digital element), gaming and computer games (gaming), fintech services and cyber security services.
At Bucharest's level, most high-tech workers work in software (36%), followed by hardware (21%), telecoms (20%), IT services (11%) and cyber security (8%).
The high technology sector in Bucharest is dominated by large international companies, as a result of consolidating its status as a major provider of workforce in this field. Among the major employers in the capital are major software, telecom and IT services companies, with major players such as Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, Luxoft, Endava, Vodafone, Ericsson or Hewlett Packard.
As a proportion of the age, the high-tech industry in Bucharest is dominated by the generation of the millennia (25-34 years), in contrast to other cities that belong to the most important cities in the labor force sector in this sector and where the balance is tilted to the more experienced professionals.
This gap is caused by the extraordinary growth that the high technology industry has recorded in Romania in the last decade. For example, over the past five years, CBRE Romania has provided consultancy and representation for major names in this industry, amounting to more than 163,000 m2, of which 50,000 m2 were built only in 2017 and 2018.
The findings of the study found that 40 cities can be classified as poles where the high-tech industry workforce is concentrated and which represent markets of interest to major companies in the field.They were categorized into four categories, depending on several factors, including the number of employees per inhabitant and the growth rate. Thus, the most active poles are the capital cities or business centers - where over 70,000 professionals work, including London, Madrid, Dublin, Paris, Budapest and Bucharest.
The second category includes important poles, meaning cities with between 50,000 and 70,000 employees, such as Zurich, Prague, Rotterdam or Vienna.The third group is represented by the normal size centers with between 20,000 and 50,000 employees, including Oslo, Hamburg, Geneva and Brussels. Cities that have seen an increase in the number of high-tech workers by more than 10% since 2010 and for which growth is forecast to continue, and in the next five years, are entering the fourth category, which includes names like Florence, Krakow, Leeds or Porto.
"We believe that this comprehensive study, carried out with the concerted effort of hundreds of CBRE employees across the EMEA area, will be real help for many high-tech companies and real estate developers alike. It is extremely important to know which are the most important markets in this industry and to know their economic, social and labor market specifics. For Romania, the results of the study are excellent news, which reconfirms our privileged status as regards the growth of the high technology industry and the workforce in the IT sector and related fields, "said Razvan Iorgu, Managing Director of CBRE Romania.
