Catalan companies that have gone international through Catalonia Trade & Investment’s offices abroad grow by 13%

• Catalonia Trade & Investment’s network of 40 offices around the world has supported 740 companies with international innovation projects and that aimed to access new markets to export their products or services.
• In addition, the Technical Office on Internationalization Barriers has answered 860 inquiries of Catalan companies that have found difficulties to their internationalization during this year, some of which are linked to COVID-19.

Catalonia Trade & Investment’s network of 40 offices abroad has supported the internationalization of 740 Catalan companies during the first half of the year, that is, 13% more than the previous year. Therefore, Catalonia Trade & Investment’s offices have supported 1,220 international innovation projects or exports of products and services to new markets.

According to the Minister for Business and Knowledge, Ramon Tremosa, “the foreign sector will be one of the engines for the recovery of Catalan companies: we now need to evaluate where business opportunities can be found, prioritize markets based on the international evolution of the pandemic, maintaining market shares and strengthening diversification, also in terms of suppliers”.

"As the Government we want to guarantee Catalan companies are in contact with international customers, importers and distributors, a role that Catalonia Trade & Investment’s offices around the world have assumed in the context of COVID-19", Tremosa highlights.

The offices that have received the most requests are those located in London, Miami, Paris, Berlin and Copenhagen. As for sectors, the companies that have carried out more projects through Catalonia Trade & Investment’s offices during the first semester are in the fields of ICT and digital transformation, food and gourmet products, health and medical equipment and chemistry and plastics.

The main projects during the first half of the year focused on the search of new partners and foreign suppliers in the field of technology to carry out R&D and innovation projects, export Catalan companies’ technology or participate in innovative public procurement processes, for instance.

The second most requested service by Catalan companies is the search for commercialization channels to enter new markets, based on the characteristics of the company’s product, and finding the most suitable business partners abroad. Also relevant are the projects articulated through the Supplier Search Service, a service that connects foreign companies in need of suppliers with Catalan companies offering specific products or services.

Other than the projects supported by the network of 40 offices around the world, during the first six months of the year Catalonia Trade & Investment’s Technical Office on Internationalization Barriers, launched two years ago, has attended 860 inquiries from Catalan companies that have encountered obstacles when going abroad, 3% more than in the first half of last year. This Office supports any SME by offering them specific information, tools and support services to overcome any difficulties when becoming international, such as helping them get a specific certificate, solving problems at customs or offering local assistance to overcome a logistical difficulty. This year, some of these inquiries were linked to problems arising from the situation caused by COVID-19.