“Our PepsiCo hub in Barcelona is a fundamental engine and pillar of the company's digital transformation strategy at a global level”
Gaston Besanson, VP and Global Head of Data Science at PepsiCo
Top International Tech Hubs in Catalonia
The digital sector is booming in Catalonia, with Barcelona being the world’s best tech non-capital city. International tech companies will join a network of more than 23,450 companies related to the ICT and digital sectors.
Barcelona, a great pole of attraction of tech hubs.
Catalonia is home to 203 global technology development centers that generate an economic impact of €4.109 billion. In recent years, investments have continued to grow, leading to the establishment of 12 new international tech hubs in 2025.
International tech hubs in Catalonia employ 46,080 people, an increase of 10% over the previous year.
Catalonia Trade & Investment has played a key role in supporting the establishment of these tech hubs in Barcelona-Catalonia. In fact, our agency has assisted 80% of the 203 centers in landing in Catalonia. This is a sign of the government's commitment to attracting new international digital hubs, which means generating more and better knowledge in Catalonia and connecting it to the local business network.
Barcelona is consolidating its position as one of the leading options for hosting technology hubs, competing directly with capitals such as Berlin, London, and Amsterdam. Regarding the origin of the hubs based in Catalonia, the United States remains the leading country of origin, accounting for 23% of the centers, followed by Germany (20%) and France (13%).
Among the key factors for installing these hubs in Catalonia are the ability to attract highly qualified talent, the parent company's previous presence, and the quality of life.
The professional profiles most in demand among international technology hubs located in Cataloniaare software engineers, IT consultants, and cybersecurity analysts. In fact, 82% of the hubs established in Catalonia work with mature technologies that are ready for commercialization. API and back-end development, systems architecture, and application development continue to lead the technological specialization of the hubs.
Top International tech hubs in Catalonia.
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OMRON
Omron has based its European product automation center in Catalonia and offers support throughout Europe. It is the company's fourth center after Japan, the US, and China.
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MICROSOFT
Microsoft's R&D hub in Barcelona focuses on AI, advanced software engineering, machine learning, and deep learning. Its UX team creates user-friendly products like Bing, Edge, Windows, and Azure.
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NESTLÉ
Nestlé, the world's largest food company, leads its global digital revolution from Barcelona, with 600+ employees of around 50 nationalities specializing in web design, mobile applications, and digital services.
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PEPSICO
Barcelona's Pepsico Global Digital hub focuses on global digitalization programs, employing skilled professionals such as data scientists, machine learning engineers, data engineers, and service designers.
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AMAZON
Amazon's R&D center for machine learning and artificial intelligence in Catalonia employs over 100 professionals, mainly software engineers, scientists, and data analysts.
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OCADO
Ocado has based its development center specializing in e-commerce in Catalonia, where over 200 professionals from many nationalities work in digital tasks such as Software Engineering, Product, Data Science, and UX.
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LIDL
Catalonia is home to LIDL’s European e-commerce center of excellence, its European digital e-commerce hub, and its customer relationship management department. With a workforce of 250 people, it serves 30 European countries.
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BAYER
With more than 800 people and 47 nationalities, Bayer's Catalan Global Shared Service Center and Center of Excellence coordinates its global Supply Chain Management activities for 11 EMEA countries and works on sustainability and carbon reduction in all supply chain-related activities.
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HP
Home to HP’s global 3D printing and large format printing center, 2,300 professionals from 60 nationalities work in the world’s largest laboratory dedicated to research, development, and innovation in 3D plastics and metal printing.
Discover the top international tech hubs’ locations.
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