European Digital City Index 2016: Utrecht ranks highly on access to skilled talent
The Europea Digital Ciy Index 2016 (EDCi) describes how well different European cities support digital entrepreneurship. It provides information about the local ecosystems.The Index is comprised of a number of composite indicators, clustered into ten ‘themes’. These themes summarise the environment of a given city, as it relates to digital entrepreneurship. The indicators examine key factors such as the availability of sufficient and appropriate finance, the skillset of the workforce in the area and the quality of the supporting infrastructure and networks.
The Index includes all capital cities in the EU28. Additionally, it includes thirty-two non-capital cities in the EU that are important hubs of digital entrepreneurship, determined by analysing two sets of factors: concentration and excellence of ICT sector and extent and quality of digital entrepreneurship. If a non-capital city scored highly on both these measures, it was considered for inclusion. The index includes 60 cities, take note of what the say about digital entrepreneurship in Utrecht.
Utrecht ranks 25th of 60 for scale-ups and 27th of 60 for startups. Utrecht ranks highly on access to skilled talent, placing in the top 10 for access to graduates and in the top 15 for English language skills. High-level education is easily accessible to anyone. This attracts and fosters both national and international talent, and creates a vibrant and open environment to innovation.
Since Roman times the Utrecht Region has been a hub for new developments and learning: a laboratory for new ideas and centre of excellence in the heart of the Netherlands. With its prestigious universities and research centres, Utrecht is among one of the world leaders in regenerative medicine and 3D-bioprinting, stem cells and organoids, cancer research and cure, early life and medical nutrition, serious and applied gaming, and smart sustainable cities. As a consequence, many new businesses have developed in the field of green tech, smart cities, gaming, science and health.
See for more background information: European Digital City Index 2016