The Tech Skills Index* reveals that:
European demand from companies for AI projects grew by 230%, while the number of AI expert freelancers only rose by 31%, between 2023 and 2024. Demand is still growing much faster than the supply provided by freelancers.
– Boost of European technological actors to face tech control stakes (especially in cloud and cybersecurity). Companies increasingly prioritise sovereign solutions, with demand for European cloud providers like Scaleway more than doubling (+100%).
GenAI, Data, and Low-Code: The Tech trinity is on the rise all over Europe
Demand for GenAI, Data, and no-code solutions is skyrocketing: they’re the fastest-growing skills. European demand from companies for AI skills all over Europe surged, especially demand for LLM skills, which was multiplied by 5, with a 413% surge for OpenAI skills.
The rise of AI is also fuelling the resurgence of low-code/no-code tools. These tools are critical in making AI accessible across organisations, and the report notes a 40% growth in demand for low-code projects in 2024. Thus, low-code platforms like n8n (+126%) and Make (+118%), and mobile app builder Flutterflow (+274%) are experiencing substantial demand growth. This isn’t an evolution, it’s a skills shockwave. GenAI and low-code tools are the fastest-moving currencies in tech, and freelancers are already trading in them.
Freelancers are more AI-ready than companies
Freelancers are three steps ahead when it comes to tech trends. They are anticipating the huge demand in AI skills and tools, training to match future requests, while most companies are still solidifying their tech foundations (cloud, cybersecurity, data) to better scale. Our Tech Skills Index uncovers an impressive gap: 30% of the top growing skills do not overlap between supply and demand. Freelancers focus on AI and low-code tools, while demand is more distributed between cloud, cybersecurity, data platform, and AI.
Cybersecurity is table stakes, Tech sovereignty is the game changer
Cybersecurity is no longer an add-on but a fundamental requirement. Cybersecurity-related projects grew by 35% in 2024, focusing on audit, compliance, and risk governance. Companies now recognise that security must be integrated into the very fabric of their tech initiatives. Security isn’t a separate layer anymore; it’s embedded into the tech architecture of the products themselves and enables innovation to happen responsibly.
This emphasis on responsibility also fuels one of the most consequential shifts we’ve observed this year: the growing adoption of sovereign solutions. Companies increasingly prioritise sovereign solutions, with demand for European cloud providers like Scaleway more than doubling (+100%). This reflects a desire for alignment with European regulations, data control, and transparency. Open-source tools, like Metabase (+35%) and open LLMs like Mistral (+8x), are also experiencing rapid growth.
“AI and a desire for more control are shaping European tech”, says Claire Lebarz, CTO at Malt. “Architectural choices and tech investments made today will determine companies’ resilience to growing economic, environmental, political, and technological uncertainties. Yet, companies don’t seem as ready as freelancers to embrace the AI revolution, and green tech is a blind spot.”
Maxime Marsal, Fullstack developer, specialised in AI and automation, confirms, “With AI, it’s a new revolution every day. Companies are struggling to keep up — their needs evolve more slowly than the tech itself. For freelancers, it’s a whole new era: you no longer need to be a coding expert to build something. Just describe what you want, the AI writes the code, and you tweak it live. That’s what insiders call vibe coding — and this is only the beginning.”
*Report from Malt
