Munich and Bavarian media companies are in need for digital technology experts according to a new survey by the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich in which over 100 executives of the largest Bavarian media companies were polled. The City’s lively start-up scene continuously absorbs more and more worldwide talent and, according to The German Start-Up Monitor, will continue to do so in the future, even though Berlin is the country’s start-up capital. Germany’s businesses, start-ups, SME’s and large corporations alike, are in constant and worldwide search for talent. But how attractive is the country, and especially Munich, for expats?

The latest annual Mercer Quality of Living Ranking places the Bavarian capital amongst the top 5 best places for expats worldwide. Munich sits at 4 behind only Vienna (Austria), Zurich (Switzerland) and Auckland (New Zeland). For comparison, London, the best ranked UK city, is ranked at 40, while there are six more German cities amongst the Top 30 of the ranking (Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Nuremberg). Various other surveys have also shown that Germany as a whole is one of the most attractive countries for expats.

Quality of life, safety, stability, healthcare and education rank high as reasons for the attractiveness of the country, but expats in Germany also have obstacles to overcome. This reflects in the relatively poor performance of Germany in the category "experience" in an HSBC survey (InterNations). The results of the survey have shown that only 5 per cent of expats in Germany find it easy to make friends here, also Germans are perceived as not being very friendly to foreigners. Many also find the language to be difficult to learn. Cultural and linguistic barriers are; of course, lower in the United States and Australia for instance. Those challenges have to be accepted to fully enjoy the high quality of life in Germany.