Barcelona has spent years promoting the city to attract international investments and welcoming them once they decide to settle in the Catalan capital. Now, however, the city is taking a step forward: it will not only accompany foreign companies that have already decided to locate in Barcelona or are considering it, but will proactively seek out companies that they detect are looking for new locations.
Thus, Barcelona activates its radar to take another step in attracting international companies to the city. "We are starting to actively look at how the market is moving and where there might be operations from companies considering a possible relocation or new location," explained the manager of Economic Promotion of the Barcelona City Council, Miquel Rodríguez: "Now, we raise our hand and tell them we want them to come."
The city is focusing on ten economic sectors that it has set as priorities for the coming years, ranging from science, health, and technology to commerce and restoration, including creative industries, the care economy, the blue economy, the visitor economy, and the social and solidarity economy. "In these areas, we will go looking for companies," guarantees Rodríguez.
The Catalan capital will do so through the consortium Barcelona Investment Office, formed by the City Council, the Generalitat, the Diputación, the Metropolitan Area (AMB), the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Fira de Barcelona, the Port de Barcelona, the Consorcio de la Zona Franca, and Barcelona Global. By bringing these actors together, the public-private instrument will act as a "space for collaboration, meeting, and coordination in which to share projects and strategies."
Barcelona takes this step forward at a key moment when geopolitical movements marked by the decisions of the Donald Trump administration are stirring up the international landscape, something that can generate opportunities. Barcelona aspires to seize them, and is already preparing to do so: "This year we will have a presence in the biomedical field of the US market to remind them that Barcelona is there."
Precisely biomedicine is a sector in which the city is excelling internationally and in which the city wants to emphasize, along with other areas such as digital and semiconductors. In fact, from confidentiality and outside the public sphere, some operations are moving, especially linked to the biomedical sector, but also to digital, cybersecurity, and quantum, in which "there could be news soon."
Barcelona has redoubled its commitment to attracting international companies after the City Council captured and supported investments in the city worth nearly 650 million euros last year. This investment materialized through 32 projects, 39% more than the previous year, and after municipal teams worked with 156 projects on the possibility of locating in Barcelona.
In total, these thirty companies that located in Barcelona in 2024 through municipal services have generated 1,235 jobs in the Catalan capital, in sectors ranging from information and communication technologies (28% of the total) to health and life sciences (6%), also including industry (22%), transport and logistics (13%) and creative and cultural production (13%).
A four-legged mechanism
To facilitate the landing of these new investments, the Catalan capital deploys a four-legged mechanism that begins with promotion. "As a city, we promote ourselves at fairs and congresses and organize events so that people know Barcelona as a place to invest and develop professionally. It is something in which Barcelona was a pioneer many years ago," highlights Rodríguez. This presence at fairs and congresses is joined by the organization of business missions to key markets. Each year, the city promotes itself in about 200 of these trips, in which companies from Barcelona and its surroundings make themselves known and explore opportunities abroad.
Another leg of the talent attraction machinery works in reverse: Barcelona does not approach the international, but rather the international approaches Barcelona. When a company reveals its interest in settling in the city, the Investment Attraction Office is set in motion, deploying all the charm of the Catalan capital: "We showcase the virtues of the city and the support policies for receiving companies," emphasizes Rodríguez. Among other operations, the office was "very active" in AstraZeneca's commitment to Barcelona to locate its global hub, in a project where the city competed with 14 other cities.
And the city's talent and investment attraction system doesn't end here: once a company has decided to establish itself in Barcelona, it's the turn of the accompaniment and landing service launched by the City Council to facilitate the process for the international company from both an urban planning and business perspective. And there's still one more element: in addition to helping the company establish itself, the well-oiled municipal mechanism brings into play the Barcelona International Welcome Desk, to welcome the international workers the company brings with it and help them in their arrival in the city in a personalized way, whether by putting documentation in order, finding a school for their children, or regularizing their pets' vaccinations.
But companies don't always bring their workers, or not all of them, and that is also of particular interest to the city. "Ultimately, all the discourse and work of attracting companies seeks to create jobs for the citizens of Barcelona, in more competitive sectors and with higher salaries," which is why the City Council also accompanies companies in attracting local talent, with "very tailored" selection processes. Barcelona Activa also enters the equation here, closing the circle of attracting investments and talent to generate employment and boost Barcelona's economy, which continues to position itself internationally and is now not only hunting for opportunities, but generating them.