Catalonia is positioned as a pioneer smart city ecosystem within the framework of the Brexit & Global Expansion Summit in London

•    Within the framework of Brexit & Global Expansion Summit, over 120 experts and 1,000 companies, start-ups, government representatives and foreign investment agencies debated up to Wednesday the effects Brexit could have on multinationals’ expansion plans.

•    Specifically, future challenges were analysed in the fields of innovation, smart cities, digitalisation, outsourcing and alternative financing.

Barcelona, October 18, 2016.- The Catalan Government participated from Monday to Wednesday in the first world congress dedicated to Brexit in London, called Brexit & Global Expansion Summit. The event saw the participation of over 120 experts and 1,000 companies, start-ups, government representatives and international investment agencies who all debated the effect Brexit could have on the expansion and investment plans of companies around the world.

Furthermore, the office of ACCIÓ in London met with some 50 agencies, UK companies and EU multinationals, who have investment projects in southern Europe. The objective was to have them consider Catalonia within their international expansion plans. In fact, Catalonia is considered by the Financial Times as the best investment region in southern Europe for 2016 and 2017.

During the congress, experts and professional analysed the future challenges post Brexit in the fields of innovation, smart cities, digitalisation, outsourcing and alternative financing. ACCIÓ participated in a panel centred on the international business opportunities generated by smart cities, where it presented Catalonia’s offer in this sector, both on a social level in terms of improving quality of life of citizens, and in the industrial ambit, pointing out the ecosystem of specialised companies in the field that have been created in Catalonia over recent years. The presence of the Government of Catalonia in the Brexit & Global Expansion Summit was accompanied by the Catalan Government London delegation.

These actions are part of a strategy drawn up by the Government—through ACCIÓ—and the Barcelona City Council to position Catalonia and Barcelona as a destination for foreign investment from multinational companies with headquarters in the UK or with expansion projects in that country.

Catalonia, leader in attraction of foreign investment

The participation of the Government in this congress coincides with the publication of the study prepared by ACCIÓ which calculates foreign investment attracted by Catalonia over the last five and half years (January 2011, June 2016) at 14,532 million euros. This volume comes from 601 investment projects by multinational companies which have created 38,385 direct jobs in Catalonia. The main investing countries are the USA, Germany, France and the UK, while in sectorial terms these investments have largely been aimed at ICT and logistics.

According to the report Catalonia has attracted 31% of the foreign investment volume which the Spanish state has received over this period, while only representing 16% of the population for the whole state. Furthermore, it has been behind 37% of the number of foreign investment projects and 34% of the employment created by these projects.