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Brussels holds a quarter of Belgium’s ICT jobs, next door to the EU

  • ~2,000 ICT companies, ~30,000 jobs — a quarter of Belgian ICT employment
  • A third of Belgian tech startups founded here
  • The European Commission, Parliament and Council, all in the city
  • A genuinely bilingual market — French and Dutch, side by side
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The concentration

Brussels hosts around 2,000 ICT companies, and ICT jobs there make up roughly a quarter — about 30,000 — of all Belgian ICT employment, with a third of Belgian tech startups founded in the city. That density sits inside the same city as the European Commission, Parliament and Council, giving Brussels-based firms direct proximity to EU digital-policy and research-funding programmes that firms elsewhere have to travel for.

A city with two economies

A genuinely bilingual, internationally staffed market — Brussels runs in French and Dutch simultaneously, with English widely used in the EU-institutional and corporate layer, unusual even by Belgian standards. The local business economy split reflects the city’s dual identity: an EU-policy and corporate-headquarters layer that procures formally and internationally, and neighbourhood-level Brussels business that is more traditionally Belgian — cautious, relationship-driven, unhurried.

How Brussels businesses buy digital work

Formal and multilingual in the EU-adjacent layer; more conventional and price-conscious in the neighbourhood economy. Assume nothing about which language a Brussels business prefers without checking — the city genuinely runs on both. Offer French and Dutch, not just one. If you’re targeting the EU-adjacent layer specifically, English and a formal register work; if you’re targeting neighbourhood Brussels, treat it like any other careful, relationship-first Belgian city.

EU-policy and corporate-headquarters work

Formal, international procurement — English and a formal register work here.

Neighbourhood trades and services

Cautious and relationship-driven. French and Dutch both, checked, not assumed.

Shops, cafés and hospitality

A genuinely international resident and visitor population.

The full piece

Brussels: a quarter of Belgium’s ICT jobs, and the EU’s own back yard

Digital market analysis•1 min read

The concentration

Brussels hosts around 2,000 ICT companies, and ICT jobs there make up roughly a quarter — about 30,000 — of all Belgian ICT employment, with a third of Belgian tech startups founded in the city.

That density sits inside the same city as the European Commission, Parliament and Council, giving Brussels-based firms direct proximity to EU digital-policy and research-funding programmes that firms elsewhere have to travel for.

What that means locally

A genuinely bilingual, internationally staffed market — Brussels runs in French and Dutch simultaneously, with English widely used in the EU-institutional and corporate layer, which is unusual even by Belgian standards.

The local business economy split reflects the city's dual identity: an EU-policy and corporate-headquarters layer that procures formally and internationally, and neighbourhood-level Brussels business that is more traditionally Belgian — cautious, relationship-driven, unhurried.

The buyer

Formal and multilingual in the EU-adjacent layer; more conventional and price-conscious in the neighbourhood economy. Assume nothing about which language a Brussels business prefers without checking — the city genuinely runs on both.

The practical read

Offer French and Dutch, not just one. If you're targeting the EU-adjacent layer specifically, English and a formal register work; if you're targeting neighbourhood Brussels, treat it like any other careful, relationship-first Belgian city.

Sources

Caveats and sourcing

  • Verifiable — the ICT company count, employment share and startup-founding share, as reported by the Brussels regional economic development agency.
  • Characterising claims — the description of the bilingual market split and buyer behaviour is interpretation.

How well do you know Brussels’s digital economy?

Brussels quiz · 1 of 5

Roughly what share of Belgian ICT employment sits in Brussels?

Why FastSites works here

For neighbourhood Brussels businesses, a clear published price in the right language beats a drawn-out project — no need to compete with the EU-adjacent layer’s formal procurement pace.

Built mobile-first, with genuine French and Dutch options. Tell us which side of Brussels you serve — the pitch, and the language, are different for each.

More from the Belgium series

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