Berlin is constantly developing into the center of artificial intelligence. More and more companies dealing with AI are settling in the capital. This was the result of a recent study by LinkedIn, the world's largest professional digital network. Berlin is not only a startup-up hub, but also one of the most important technology and AI locations in Germany: of 45,000 AI professionals in Germany, 18 percent can be found in the capital region. This was the result of a LinkedIn evaluation in cooperation with the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Businesses as well as the Business Development Berlin and the Technology Foundation.
Nearly 50 percent of 727,000 LinkedIn members in the capital have digital subject and application skills, according to the study. Three percent (around 8,000 members) said they were AI professionals, and more than a third were even trained in Berlin. Berlin is just behind Munich in terms of the number of AI professionals. About 20 percent of Berlin-Brandenburg AI professionals are employed in science and education. That is a big plus, because that would compensate for the shortage of skilled workers in the future.
47 percent of respondents indicated a form of digital literacy - as many as in Munich. While Berlin leads the field with application expertise of 42 percent, Munich is just 35 percent ahead of Berlin in terms of expertise. After Berlin and Munich, Hamburg (42 percent), Frankfurt (41 percent) and Stuttgart (39 percent) are the cities with the largest share of digitally trained specialists. However, there is still an imbalance in the gender distribution: So far, women account for only 37 percent of employees with digital skills. In the field of AI it is even only 16 percent.
Demand for tech talents is growing
The demand for digital skills has also risen by 20 percent in the capital. While in 2016 52 percent of all members who had changed jobs had digital skills, by 2018 it was already 62 percent. According to the Investitionsbank Berlin, every 7th Berlin job has been created in the digital economy over the past ten years.
Also, the share of professionals in the area of artificial intelligence is expected to improve again in the next few years, because the second largest industry, in which AI professionals work, is the field of education and research with 20 percent behind software and services (50 percent). Two growth industries that rely on innovation and future technologies and already integrate and further develop AI as solutions in various applications.
The top 5 companies employing AI professionals and showing the highest growth potential are Zalando, N26, Wayfair, Auto1 and Delivery Hero. In terms of job titles, the job titles dominate the development: among the top ten are Software Engineer, Data Scientist, Data Engineer, Backend Developer, CTO, Machine Learning Engineer and Full Stack Engineer.
Berlin is also leading in AI qualifications
Berlin is also becoming more and more attractive for young AI professionals: 38 percent of specialists in the field of artificial intelligence were trained here in the region, obviously future and life perspectives. In addition to the universities, private institutes such as the Hasso Plattner Institute and the CODE University are also providing new AI talent. He no longer comes only from computer science, so the University of the Arts is also in the listing of the study again. The results also show that AI is an international area: 37% of AI professionals have graduated overseas. Here the US is ahead, followed by India, Russia and the United Kingdom. The remaining 24 percent are spread over German locations.
AI generated around € 0.5 billion in 2017, which the Technology Foundation estimates will increase to around € 2 billion by 2025. Eighty percent of AI companies operate in the B2B sector.
The results of the evaluation are based on an analysis of the LinkedIn database from March 2019. The study looks at LinkedIn members in the Capital Region. The focus of the study is on members with digital literacy, i. Members who have indicated on their profile at least one skill that has been defined as digital literacy.
You can find the full study here: Download LinkedIn-Studie