For the seventh consecutive year, Barcelona has been the third favorite city in Europe for entrepreneurs when founding a startup. According to the Startup heatmap Europe report, the city is only surpassed by London and Berlin. Behind them are Amsterdam, Paris and Munich, while Madrid occupies the 11th position, with a decrease of one point compared to the previous year.
The reasons that explain Barcelona’s positioning are known. The study highlights some: the global connectivity offered by its infrastructure, the solidity of the university system, the presence of international talent and the quality-price ratio in the cost of living.
“We have managed to stay at the top of the ranking thanks to the public-private effort that began more than 20 years ago. This ranking makes it clear that having a digital ecosystem is not only about investment and infrastructure, but also about a network of local talent that feeds it,” comments Miquel Martí, general director of the Tech Barcelona association, which brings together more than a thousand related companies. to the ecosystem. The manager believes that the Catalan capital needs to continue thinking big, attracting projects such as the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and internationally renowned venture capital funds. “Technology helps improve people’s lives, and it is necessary for all institutions to keep this in mind, to bet decisively on it,” says Martí.
This year, the report has included the city of Malaga in the ranking, where it occupies position number 19 out of 20. Does it pose a threat? “Competition is good. The Andalusian city is doing things well by capturing the headquarters of large technology multinationals, such as Google and IBM, but it is still green in the local startup fabric.”
In the case of Madrid, the projection of its ecosystem is explained by the strong commitment of private companies and public administrations. “There is a lot of ambition to build infrastructure for entrepreneurs and also a lot of available capital,” says Martí. Although Barcelona has an advantage for years, it is a matter of time before Madrid steps on its heels.
“Competition between cities is good and helps each ecosystem to differentiate itself from the other. In the United States there are up to 20 different hubs and no authority is considering collaborating to join forces,” considers the general director of Tech Barcelona.
The report also shows that Barcelona is the first favorite city in southern Europe for entrepreneurs.
According to data recently published by Acció, the Generalitat’s agency for business competitiveness, in 2023 the Catalan ecosystem – made up mainly of companies from Barcelona – will already exceed 2,100 emerging companies.
According to calculations by this organization, the turnover of these digital companies – which have been in existence for up to ten years – is 2,112 million euros annually. The data is from 2022 and reflects a growth of 14% compared to the previous year. Regarding employment, Acció assures that the ecosystem is made up of 20,600 workers, including salaried and self-employed professionals. The figure represents an increase of 8% if the data from 2021 to 2022 are compared.
To continue promoting the growth of the digital ecosystem, the Startup heatmap Europe report points out that it would be desirable for Barcelona to improve access to venture capital funds, the connections of local startups with the industrial fabric of the territory and the ease of doing business. Bureaucracy is often seen as the main enemy of entrepreneurs, who consider it a brake on innovation.
