The results show that some cities and countries in Eastern Europe are overtaking old EU-countries in terms of brain business jobs. Hungary occupies the 15th place in the country ranking of brain business jobs, with 50.6 such jobs per a1000 working age population, surpassing several of the old EU countries.

In the ranking of this report Hungary is fairly well rounded, doing slightly better in creative professions, IT and the tech sector, and least well in advanced services. Hungary’s capital region Budapest is the 12th in comparison with other capital regions in Europe.

Surprisingly, the geography of brain business jobs in Europe no longer follows a simple division between North and South, West and East. Many countries in Eastern and Central Europe outpace their Southern European fellow EU-members in brain business job intensity.

The brain jobs of the former planned economies of Eastern and Central Europe tend to be strongly focused on the capital regions. The Slovakian capital region of Bratislava has the highest share of brain business jobs in all of Europe, despite the fact that Slovakia as a nation has a mediocre concentration of brain business jobs – it ranks 18th amongst 28 European countries.

“The analysis reveals a totally new landscape. Several Eastern European regions have outflanked southern Europe in creating brain business jobs.” says Nima Sanandaji. “There is a clear pattern. Brain business jobs are mobil and will quickly migrate to regions that provide favorable conditions.

That is where economic growth will take off.” adds Stefan Fölster. This is the perhaps the most extensive analysis of knowledge-intensive clusters in Europe for now, meaning crucial information for investors and business managers.

The unique methodology adopted for this analysis looks specifically at the main activity of businesses rather than the specialization of professions across industries.

Therefore our report perfectly captures clusters of knowledge-intensive industries, what we call “Brain Businesses”.

Source: European Centre for Entrepreneurship and Policy Reform