Bucharest, Timisioara, Belgrade, Zagreb, Osijek, Sofia, Madrid, Barcelona, are fairly livable, yet they all boast a decent tech scene.
I can provide intel on Bucharest, Timisoara, Belgrade, Zagreb and Osijek.
I can provide intel on Bucharest, Timisoara, Belgrade, Zagreb and Osijek.
Intel had R&D people in Barcelona some time ago (some parts of the Itanium were designed there).
Also in Spain, Telefonica had a R&D office in Valladolid where they developed their Video and CDN. There is some support staff there, too.
In Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca (Romania) there is a lot if tech outsourcing jobs for the EU market. Think maintainance and development.
In France there us a town called Sophia Antipolis where Lucent (now Alcatel) and HP did software development for telco products (call managers, etc). The did support from there as well.
Most tech scene in Romania is outsourcing and there is some R&D for major players.
Romanians are by and large friendliest Eastern Europeans.
Timisoara is a nice second tier city. Many low cost flights across Europe and Middle East. Many places are also reachable overland (I'm closer to Timisoara than I'm to Zagreb, my country's capital). Food is brilliant. So are the coffee and the wine. Dating scene is also great. Music scene is amazing as well. If you go entrepreneurial, or just wanna outsource, the talent pool is exceptional.