By own experience, the London digital company ClearPeople tells us the reasons why Alicante is an ideal place for British companies to establish themselves:
Digital excellence boosted by our fantastic Alicante experience
If you, like us at ClearPeople, are a tech company that is heavily invested into the digital economy and you are looking to expand your business outside of the United Kingdom then Alicante should be on your shortlist of options. The city in the Valencian community has offered a lot to our company since we formally established our branch in 2014. And without a doubt the decision to establish our development headquarter outside of the UK in Alicante has been a vital positive competitive factor.
About ClearPeople
ClearPeople is a Consultagency™ – a hybrid breed of business offering technical consulting with digital agency services. We employ a team of over 60 «bright, expert and human» digital Consultagents in London and Alicante, specialising in delivering digital strategy and technical solutions.
Founded in 2003 by Katya Linossi and Gabriel Karawani, we are experts in helping to bridge the gap between business, marketing and information technology, bringing these sometimes disparate and traditionally unconnected worlds together.
We work with our clients to create beautifully designed digital experiences that optimise customer and employee engagement by connecting people, processes, systems and information in a mobile-first, cloud-first world. We call this the Digital Workspace.
Why Alicante
Alicante is a well-known location for tourists but is also popular among IT companies. There are several reasons why Alicante is a great place to establish your company.
- Good infrastructure: From the city centre, the Alicante-Elche Airport can be reached within 15 minutes. In 2016 they hit a record with 12 million passengers, mostly arriving from the United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands and Germany. Alicante train station has connections to other big cities. It will take you only 2 hours to get to Madrid. Other popular destinations are Murcia, Valencia and Barcelona.
- Attracting local talent: There is a lot of local talent available in Alicante. The University of Alicante is a big university with more than 32,000 students. Another nearby university is University Miguel Hérnandez in Elche. Other important universities in the province are University of Valencia, University of Murcia and the Technical University of Cartagena.
- Retaining talent: Alicante is very popular among native Spaniards and tourists because of its’ Mediterranean climate, beautiful beaches, long history, gastronomy, entertainment and much more. Compared to other big cities like Madrid and Barcelona, Alicante is far less expensive to live in. House prices are lower as well. In 2017 there were more than 325,000 expats living in Alicante. More than 20% of these expats are from the UK. In addition the area boasts with lots of good options for English education and a large proportion of educated young people have a good grasp of English.
- Salaries: Although there is a lot of high skilled talent available in Alicante, salaries are lower compared to other Spanish cities.
- Finding an office. Just like housing costs, office costs aren’t very high either. The average rent is around 8-12€ psm for an independent office. Depending on your needs, there are also business centres that offer a co-working space.
ClearPeople in Alicante
With humble beginnings from a small flat in West London in 2003, ClearPeople has grown to a team of over 60 digital experts who specialise in transforming its client’s businesses through digital. ClearPeople opened a satellite office just outside of Alicante, Spain in 2005. It announced the opening of its first official international office in Alicante, Spain in early 2014.
Currently ClearPeople has a team of 25 employees in Alicante and is expecting to see the team grow even more in the next few years.
