London ranked first in European tech innovation by CBRE
London is the top European destination for tech-based industries, according to CBRE's inaugural Understanding European Technology Clusters report. Paris, Berlin, Munich and Madrid make up the remainder of the top five in the European tech city rankings. CBRE looked at factors including employment, propensity to generate start-ups, and growth and demand credentials to formulate the list. Budapest, Bucharest and Istanbul were named as emerging European tech cities in the report. 

London has been ranked as the leading destination in Europe for technology-based industries, according to CBRE’s inaugural report Understanding European Technology Clusters. Launched today, the report analyses the characteristics of tech clusters and explores future opportunities among high-performing, and emerging, tech cities.

Out of 35 cities across Europe, London is ranked in first place in CBRE’s index; followed by Paris in second, Berlin in third place and Munich and Madrid completing the top five. The report also identifies the fastest-growing, emerging European tech cities of the future as Budapest, Bucharest and Istanbul.

This ranking of European Tech Cities was developed based on employment, growth and demand credentials, propensity to generate start-ups and new patents and attractiveness for technology students and graduates.

Rank City 1 London 2 Paris 3 Berlin 4 Munich 5 Madrid 6 Dublin 7 Budapest 8 Bucharest 9 Istanbul 10 Tel Aviv

The key findings from the report include:

The rate of employment growth in the tech sector over the past five years has far exceeded the rate of growth across office-based employment as a whole.

Take-up by technology-based industries for this year to the end of September has totalled 2m sq. ft., making it the most active business group in Central London so far this year.

Rising occupational costs and the growing shortage of suitable office stock in London’s West End has resulted in tech occupiers increasingly favouring the City of London (City), Midtown and Southbank. This has fuelled the growth of new technology locations such as King’s Cross and Farringdon, while Silicon Roundabout is now firmly established as a leading European market for tech start-ups and SMEs.