Barcelona continues to position itself in the international and European context as an advanced, innovative and competitive city with good reputationwhich adds to its traditional assets of high quality of life, culture, talent, health and tourist attraction, the growing potential to attract investments and talents, particularly in the field of technology companies and the economy digital. It is not for nothing that it is ranked the eighth most attractive city in the world for visitors and entrepreneurs and third in Europe, according to the World’s Best Cities 2024 ranking, where it stands out for its human capital and education, its local and international connections and its openness. , tolerance and trust.
Few cities have an international airport, connected port directly by rail with the rest of Europe, a high-speed train, a modern exhibition center, a free trade zone and a multimodal logistics zone, as well as a labor market with critical mass and skilled human capital to fuel the 21st century economy. After leading the industrial revolution in southern Europe, it is today at the forefront of the digital revolution and industry 4.0. This is why it is home to more than 140 technology centers of global companies that employ 26,407 highly qualified people, also because of the availability of talent and its competitive costs. And it is a world-leading center for life sciences and health and an ambitious destination for entrepreneurs and startups.
World events
Its function as a venue for international events such as the Mobile World Congress-4YFN or ISE of the audiovisual sector make Barcelona the capital of business tourism and also of technology and business schools, with two of the ten best in the world. In 2022, Barcelona reached first place in the world in number of delegates and fourth in congresses organized, according to the International Association of Congresses and Conventions, so that for 21 years the city has been among the first 5 in the ranking of the organization. row.
International reception desk
Cutting-edge research infrastructures, such as the ALBA Synchrotron, the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park, the Institute of Photonic Sciences and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, also have a research and innovation ecosystem that positions the city as one of the main European scientific capitals. The cooperation between research, talents, public institutions and private actors makes Barcelona the ideal place to transform knowledge into business. It also capitalizes on events such as Primavera Sound, Formula 1, Copa América de Vela or the Sonar festival, in addition to the Grec and Cruïlla festival. It now hosts the European art biennial Manifesta and will be the starting point of the Tour de France in 2026, the year in which it will also host the International Architecture Congress.
Barcelona has a combination of attributes that make it unique and attractive, not only for living and visiting, but also as a place to work, learn, invest and start a business. To facilitate this, Barcelona City Hall has an international reception team, which helps those who come to the city to develop their professional career, start a business, do research, study or simply work. It also provides the necessary resources on the Barcelona International Welcome website.
The Barcelona International Welcome Desk offers personalized and free customer service assistance to talents who wish to reside or who have just moved. A problem solver practices. Among their services, they publicize the law on entrepreneurs, residence and work permit procedures, identification documents and offer practical information on housing, health, education or mobility. Certain priority procedures are also carried out and advice is given on key points upon arrival.
Main exports
The Barcelona region continues to lead the ranking of Spanish exports, with almost a fifth (18.9%) of total foreign sales and 47,392 exporting companies, representing a quarter (25.0 %) of the state total. It should be noted that 59.2% of Barcelona’s exports are high and medium-high technological leveland represent 25.4% of the Spanish total.
The city maintains an important industrial sector and the province – with 19.8% of gross value added or GVA coming from industry – concentrates more than half (72.4%) of this employment in the autonomous community, where the chemical and pharmaceutical clustersautomotive, food, paper and graphic arts, waste treatment. It also stands out in the development of Industry 4.0 based on elements such as the promotion of big data, the number of companies and organizations participating in initiatives related to 3D printing.
More women in ICT
More than half of jobs in Barcelona (56.7%) correspond to knowledge-intensive activities, and the city is the central core of this segment of the Catalan economy, since it concentrates 43.1% of jobs of intensive work knowledge of the Principality, while the weight of Barcelona in the Catalan employed population is 34.9%.
In 2022, the province of Barcelona had more than 534,000 jobs in activities potentially linked to Industry 4.0, after the creation of almost 100,000 new jobs in these sectors since 2010, a figure that represents a cumulative increase of 22, 1%. And in the last five years, Barcelona has doubled the number of working women in the technology sector, while it is one of the European cities with the greatest weight of women in ICT, with 28.7%, a value higher than the European average, located at 27.8%.
The city of Barcelona has proposed moving forward in the transition towards an economic model based on sustainability, both in its environmental dimensions as economic and social. With this objective, it prioritizes the promotion of seven strategic sectors which constitute the backbone of municipal policy and the transformation of the productive model: commerce and catering, health, economy of remedies, science and innovation, tourism economy, technology and digital , creative industries. , the agri-food sector and the blue economy, and, as a cross-cutting element of all these sectors, the social and solidarity economy.
The BioRegion is growing
The health and organic sector is strategic and benefits from a clear projection with the BioRegion or life sciences ecosystem, which brings together more than 1,350 companies and 91 research entities which represent 8.7% of the gross domestic product. (GDP) and 7% of community employment. Investments by foreign companies in the BioRegionBetween 2018 and 2022 they represented a total of 689 million euros of direct investments, and in 2022 it is worth highlighting above all the increase in investments in health startups and expansions and the increase in technology companies deep. Barcelona has also started work that will allow the construction of the Citadel of Knowledge, a scientific, cultural and urban planning initiative promoted by Barcelona City Hall K.
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