Barcelona is the best city in southern Europe to live and work, thanks to its attractive entrepreneurial ecosystem, an excellent postgraduate education system and an attractive lifestyle, according to the City Talent Index prepared by the technology consultancy NTT Data in collaboration with Barcelona Global and which measures the capacity of cities to attract and retain talent.
The Catalan capital is the first Spanish city in this ranking that continues to lead London, followed by Paris and Zurich, and although it appears as the best in southern Europe, in the general classification, it must go down to position number 12, out of a total of 32 European cities, to find it. The cities analyzed are in the top 50 regarding the level of regional GDP and population. The report evaluates the metropolis based on 50 indicators from organizations such as the OECD, Eurostat, the World Bank and Unicef.
Barcelona stands out for its entrepreneurial ecosystem and for the possibilities of carrying out postgraduate studies in the city in some of the most internationally recognized business schools, something that on many occasions, according to Barcelona Global, encourages students in these courses to start your own business. In this sense, Barcelona occupies the third position, behind London and Madrid.
According to Xavier Rovira, managing partner of NTT Data Barcelona, "Barcelona's ecosystem is especially dynamic, which means that everything related to innovation has a plus for growth in this city."
If there is one aspect in which Barcelona is at the top, it is in lifestyle, an indicator in which it occupies the first position with a differential of more than twenty points with respect to London. According to this report, Barcelona is characterized by promoting quality of life with a good cultural offer, high tourist interest, top-level public services for citizens, a powerful transport system and an environmental environment that invites you to enjoy it.
Barcelona has, however, pending challenges to continue climbing positions. Among them are the need to improve the business fabric by promoting and attracting large initiatives and projects; the transformation of the city into a benchmark in sustainability and the improvement of the regulatory and fiscal framework, with the consolidation of the startup law.
According to Mercè Conesa, general director of Barcelona Global, "talent attracts talent" and therefore Barcelona "must focus on providing local talent with tools to maximize their opportunities and to develop their professional career in the city" at the same time that "we attract international profiles that can help improve the competitiveness of companies".
