Barcelona has Europe’s best strategy for attracting foreign investment

fDi Intelligence released its report on European Cities and Regions of the Future 2023, one of the most prestigious international rankings used by multinationals looking into future business investment projects. The report states that for the second year in a row, Barcelona is the best city in promoting and attracting foreign investment, ahead of capital cities such as Dublin, Berlin and Munich.

The report’s panel of experts in investment promotion looked at 60 large European cities. They highlighted Barcelona’s many attributes to lead the ranking, including “technology and sustainability playing a central role in Barcelona City Council’s foreign investment strategy”. The report underlines that “the city is advancing on both fronts”, citing the “growing tech ecosystem of major projects in the city” as an example.

Committing to cutting-edge technology and energy transition

The magazine underscores the decision by US multinational Intel to partner with the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre to create a microchip design laboratory. The investment will provide 300 new highly qualified jobs in the city’s IT ecosystem, and 400 million euro in direct investment over the coming years.

The report also acknowledges the city’s efforts to speed up its energy transition. The Barcelona Sustainable Energy Mechanism (MES Barcelona) encourages private investment in solar panels and renewable energies. Along similar lines, Hidrogenera, the first ecological hydrogen plant for public use in Spain was opened to fuel the city’s buses.

Recognising efforts to attract talent

Within the framework of the city’s economic promotion strategy, fDi Intelligence particularly values the Plaça de Barcelona campaign: an interactive virtual reality installation explaining the city to the world. It will show Barcelona’s many strengths to the public and economic, media, cultural and scientific stakeholders, with a view to attracting new projects, investment and international talent.

The city is home to the Barcelona International Welcome Desk, a pioneering service in Spain, now celebrating its first anniversary, which helps investors, researchers and overseas talent in arriving and setting up in the city. The initiative is complemented by the Workation programme from Turisme de Barcelona, an innovative project highlighted in the report that supports digital nomads working remotely in the city.

Barcelona is in the top ten of two more tables in the report. Firstly, it is in 8^th place for connectivity, ahead of Paris and Oslo. Secondly, it sits in 10^th place in the general ranking that includes areas such as economic potential, human capital, quality of life, the city’s appeal for large multinationals and profitability.