Catalonia has always been a country of entrepreneurs. Despite having lost political weight, it still has the operational centers where innovation and development take place. Fintech investment projects are one of the biggest attractions for investors and a potential that we must not let escape. But by themselves, they will not make a difference. We need more.
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The data is clear. Barcelona has become the fourth preferred city in Europe to settle in, after London, Paris, and Berlin, according to Savills Aguirre Newman, which has created a Fintech Occupation in Europe index. What does Barcelona have that attracts talent and investment? Undoubtedly, an avant-garde tradition that knew how to get ahead since the 19th century and be a motor of change. Capital, ideas, and a geostrategic location that positioned it as a global trade hub. Again, now, it is in the eye of the storm. It has a new opportunity in its hands to become the financial center, now with the help of fintechs.
According to Pitchbook data, Barcelona has attracted more than 182 million euros in fintech capital in the last five years, and industries like Blockchain, according to the Generalitat de Catalunya, will generate more than 60 million euros in the next 5 years. Barcelona has already captured more than 2.7 billion in the last 4 years (Dealroom) in startup capital investment.
The city and its metropolitan area have specialized in biotechnology, e-commerce, and information and communication technologies (ICT). Furthermore, the pandemic has accelerated the digitalization of financial services across Europe, and Barcelona can become a knowledge hub for new technologies. In fact, experts predict that fintechs will be one of the sectors that will emerge strengthened from the pandemic.
The main attributes that make it possible, according to the aforementioned Savills Aguirre Newman report, are an innovation environment with top-level universities; moderate salary and office prices (representing 65% of operating costs); quality of life with affordable housing prices; and prepared professionals with language diversity. I add that, in addition, it has good universities and research centers that reinforce innovation. And a strong industrial sector that is committed to innovation to remain competitive: robotics, artificial intelligence, analytics, and big data, for example.
Without humanism, there is no future
We can award ourselves medals with this data. To say, furthermore, that we have the Mobile World Congress, the 4YFN, the Smart City Congress, or that we will have the Integrated Systems Europe which will arrive in 2021 (if the pandemic allows it). But we need something more. Barcelona must not hesitate: it is essential to unite innovation with social commitment.
There are and have been various initiatives in this regard. From the attempt by the ---at that time--- Secretary of State for the Digital Agenda, José María Lassalle, to create a forum similar to Davos during the MWC that would discuss the impact of technologies on people, to various initiatives proposed by the City Council to debate the future and implications of the sector, such as the Ciutat Oberta thought biennials.
Undoubtedly, one of the key moments for the promotion of this idea was the presentation of the document Barcelona, global capital of technological humanism, by José María Lassalle and political consultant Antoni Gutiérrez-Rubí, during a series of conferences sponsored by the Círculo de Economía.
The novelty of this conference was the commitment to Barcelona as a techno-ethical fintech hub, that is, technological humanism also in fintech. The city has a tradition of peace, social justice, equality, and ecology, which define it, and these values must be added to this technological revolution, integrating the most emerging and promising trends to rethink the world and the new reality. As Lasalle said, stop thinking about "Smart cities" to think about "Smart citizens" and "address the issue in a more inclusive and participatory way, where public policies play a central role in deactivating the negative externalities of technology."
I fully agree with this idea and advocate for continuing to debate, but building. Without centering the debate on the person, the future can be more dystopian than utopian. A mistake no one wants to make, especially because it is the future in which we will have to live.