“It’s the best time to be part of the Madrid economy”

Organized by Invest in Madrid, foreign investment attraction agency of the Community of Madrid (Department of Economy, Finance and Employment), this new forum will validate the Madrid region as a reference destination, with a great potential and great attractiveness for foreign investments. A proposal to municipalities of a unique opportunity to capture the attention of foreign capital and promote investments in their localities. Interventions and discussion tables around sectors of interest such as aerospace and defense; automotive, mobility and logistics; data centers and digitalization, AI, pharmaceutical industry and biotechnologies, microelectronics and semiconductors, video games and audiovisual sector, etc.

“Madrid, a valuable investment”, was the theme of the first day, inaugurated by the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who highlighted how the region receives investments from 110 countries, with the mission “to multiply investments and, therefore, opportunities for projects that benefit the greatest number of people, the better “This is the best time to be part of the Madrid economy.”

free market

“The Community of Madrid (he added) has dynamic and liberal municipalities, with strong and guarantor institutions, with successful management, with the most attractive tax system in Spain. An environment in which we take ownership of the company’s objectives, we put ourselves in their shoes. Objective of a community which, as the president underlined: “attracts 8 billion euros of foreign investment, or two euros out of three invested in Spain”, and which will soon bring Díaz Ayuso to South Korea. “Our work (he concluded) is recognized by international credibility indices, and we continue our journey, with initiatives such as the Catalog of Strategic Projects and, in the case of these conferences, with the presentation of the first Foreign Investment Footprint Report.

The danger of hyperregulation and “confiscatory taxation” were among the messages conveyed during the day, in which Rocío García Alcántara, mayor of Alcobendas, highlighted what has been achieved by the management of his municipal corporation. Antonio Garamendi stressed, for his part, that investment “is the magic word we need for our society to function better, and for this, trust, legal certainty, institutional stability, etc. are essential.” Aspects that Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission, also highlighted during his speech “to generate economic growth and social well-being”.

(Rocío García Alcántara, Antonio Garamendi and Margaritis Schinas)

Results

The “Dialogue: competitiveness, talent and growth” table brought together Rocío Albert, Minister of Economy, Finance and Employment of the Community of Madrid and Albert Triola, General Director of Oracle Spain; while “The strengths of the Community of Madrid to attract foreign investment” brought together Suzana Curic, national manager of Amazon Web Services Iberia; Íñigo Martos, CEO of Deutsche Bank Spain; Emilio Herrera, president of KIA Spain; Cristina Henríquez de Luna, President and Managing Director of GSK Spain and Jaime Uscola, Head of International Business and Corporate Products of Santander.

“The importance of public-private collaboration in the economic and social development of Madrid: the person and the business, at the center”, with Fátima Báñez, president of the CEOE Foundation; Juan Pedro Moreno, president of WPP Spain and of the Advisory Council on Digital Transformation of the Community of Madrid; Pablo Campos, resident of Oliver Wyman Spain and Portugal; Nuria Vilanova, president of Ceapi and Daniel Martínez, executive vice president of Ifema, were the last table of the morning, closed by Miguel Garrido, president of CEIM; Ángel Asensio, president of the Chamber of Madrid and Miguel Ángel García, advisor to the Presidency, Justice and Local Administration of the Community of Madrid.

(Miguel Garrido, Ángel Asensio and Miguel Ángel García)

In the afternoon session (“The best Madrid in history engages in R&D&i and entrepreneurship”), Leganés took over from its mayor, Miguel Ángel Recuenco, followed by Ana Acebron (UC3M and Parque Científico -Leganés Tecnológico) and Jorge Rodrigo, Minister of Housing, Transport and Infrastructure of the Community of Madrid.

(Miguel Ángel Recuenco, Ana Acebron and Irene Correas)

Irene Correas, General Director of Self-Employed and Entrepreneurship of the Community of Madrid, had time to speak, to give way at the table “Talent and employment as main assets of the Community of Madrid”, with Inmaculada Peiró , general director of Agremia and president of the CEIM Talents Commission; Pedro de Bernardo, general director of Logista for the Iberian Peninsula and Poland; Edurne del Arco, director of the AECIM Talent Space; Valle Alañón, director of the National Reference Center for Electromechanical Machines of Leganés and Ana Ramírez de Molina, Vice Minister of Universities, Research and Sciences of the Community of Madrid.

“Madrid, a leading innovative ecosystem in strategic sectors” (Borja Marinas, CEO of Patio; Miguel Ángel Salinero, CFO of Sandoz Iberia; Roberto Mariscal, Director of Innovation of Iberdrola Spain; Fermín Albadalejo, President of Ceaje and José María García, Vice President -Counsellor for Housing, Transport and Infrastructure), preceded the institutional closure of Emilio Viciana, Minister of Education, Science and Universities of the Community of Madrid. Viciana highlighted the development vectors claimed during the conference, such as talent, innovation and technology.