Barcelona is a magnet for talent

27 Nov Barcelona is a magnet for talent

Mateu Hernández, CEO of Barcelona Global, shares how they are helping create the right atmosphere to make the world’s best and brightest professionals feel right at home

In 2020 you stated that Barcelona had become an expert city in diagnostics but reprehensible in execution. Does is still apply and have you got any further news about pending projects?

Barcelona impressed the world with its grand transformation from an old industrial southern European city in the eighties to a service, entrepreneurial, academic and visitors’ destination through a massive plan of reforms and improvements based mainly on its city hardware, or big urban projects. Now it is time to shift a bit from hardware improvements to a software update where talent is the center of the strategy. Covid has shown us the urgent need to open the city to talented people and shape Barcelona into one of the best cities in the world catering to them, especially in the context of a completely digital approach to life and work, and the ability to work from virtually anywhere. Barcelona needs to convey the message to the world that it is a wonderful city from which to work, start a business or invest.

To fulfill this opportunity, we need various elements. One is an accessible approach to taxation for the new reality of digital nomads. Spain needs to do its homework in this regard, much like Greece, Portugal or others have already done.

Where do you stand on the ongoing debate of the nature and future of tourism in Barcelona?

Barcelona is at least the fourth biggest urban destination for tourism in Europe after Rome, Paris and London which is quite unique. When people are visiting Rome, for example, it is like traveling through a time machine back through history to the Baroque or Renaissance periods. However, when people come to Barcelona, they are visiting a city of the present because of its modern-day lifestyle. The city boasts of a high quality of life, museums open to everyone, amazing culture, music, festivals, and gastronomy. When people visit Barcelona they want to come back and not just for a visit, but to settle down. This is a tremendous opportunity for Barcelona as an engine for the city of talent, and that is how we see it at Barcelona Global. Tourism has the potential to be a magnet for talent. It is the best form of promoting a city that exists, particularly if the kind of tourism you are attracting are high skilled researchers, people interested in working, creating, investing, or to be entrepreneurs from here. And, from what we have observed this is exactly what they want to do. A visit is an invitation to stay.

How would you assess the fact that at such a critical time in this post-COVID era there is no strong government managing the city and the political parties are focused more on the electoral campaign?

Unfortunately, virtually everywhere in the Western world political campaigns are constantly running even when elections are still many months away. The current government still has many things to do, so I would say that we are not in the midst of the electoral campaign just yet. Therefore, it is business as usual in local politics in Barcelona. There is a strong government there and a live coalition. A budget was approved with a strong majority a year ago, which is great news and needs to be fully executed.

Regarding the political situation as a whole, it is true that this is a global affliction, in that, almost everywhere there are major concerns in the political space, from Brexit, for instance, up to what is going on in France, in the states or in many other places. Unfortunately, these are not easy times for politics in the West. That is why civic leadership platforms like Barcelona Global have a clear mission to point out what is needed to get the city performing at its best.

Could you give our readers us an insight into your top activities and the work you are doing at Barcelona Global?

Barcelona Global is a private, independent and non-profit association composed of 215 of the city’s leading companies, research centers, entrepreneurs, business schools, universities and cultural institutions, and more than 870 professionals aiming to make Barcelona one of the world’s top cities for talent and economic activity. We develop strategic proposals for the future of Barcelona, promote specific projects together with our partners, and mobilize them to get to know the city and each other to better support and promote Barcelona as a global talent hub.

For instance, in terms of startups and scaleups, we have data showing that Barcelona is a hotspot in Europe in entrepreneurship after London, Paris and extremely close to Berlin in terms of investments. Our commitment is how to make it even bigger. We are not satisfied with that position in the ranking. We want it to grow into a fully mature ecosystem.

There are a number of ways to accomplish this, the first being taxation. We have identified some minor issues that the Spanish government needs to change in order to make Barcelona,  Valencia, or any province in Spain for that matter, more attractive for growing startups by providing tax breaks for talented people coming to Spain to work, create, or invest. If we do make these changes, Spain with Barcelona as its champion in the south of Europe will truly boom in terms of entrepreneurship and especially in terms of unicorns. We already have two big unicorns in Barcelona, Glovo and Wallabox, but we need more. The DNA is there and those small adjustments on taxation will make it a reality. We have the office space, the connections, and just about everything is ready to scale up Barcelona.

Is there any headway being made on these changes in legislation?

We are working with the Spanish government on a new startups law for Spain that addresses some of the issues that the startup system needs. There is still room for improvement, but we are working closely with them in order to make that happen. These small improvements are just what we need to make a big change for Spain and especially for Barcelona.

Hosting the GSM World Congress and projects like the 5G Southern European hub can certainly help the city towards the transition and leadership that would like to be seen. What are the risks and opportunities here?

The biggest risk would be to not take advantage of the opportunity. Barcelona is not a capital city. Whatever we have has been produced by our own means. Barcelonian entrepreneurs, industry captains, and civil society are behind everything you see in the city. Barcelona relies on itself and it comes down to really talented people. We are a city that can indeed attract talented people from all around the globe. This talent is of course highly mobile, deciding wherever they want to live. Barcelona has the time frame, the climate, the airport with its connections, and an industrial DNA. It is the south of the north and the north of the south, so it is well positioned, has a port, an airport, a logistical sector, great business schools, and great universities to become the ideal home for the best and the brightest. When this happens, vibrant economic activity will follow.

PepsiCo’s recent announcement to position its global digital hub in Barcelona is a testament to our capacity to attract talent as we have in the past with Nestle, Zurich, Roche, Sanofi, and many other large companies found in important digital hubs in the city. And now through a new initiative we launched, called Barcelona & Partners, we are going to systematically identify big investments to attract to Barcelona. This is a major project built through private leadership and commitment and public enrollment.

Are there are any particular emerging sectors that you expect to be more dynamic than others?

Barcelona is now becoming one of the world’s capitals for digital games. King, for instance, is based in Barcelona and has their second headquarters in Barcelona as well, as do Socpely or Social Point, among others. Like them, there are many other companies producing and preparing games for mobile, a growing sector here, together with ecommerce which already has a strong tradition. Glovo would be the best example, but we also have Wallapop, TravelPerk, and eDreams. There is a thriving emerging industry in both of those sectors. Let’s not forget about Smart Mobility either. Barcelona is the home of the Volkswagen-Seat factory which includes all its added value from R&D to building cars. You can expect that to really take off. Last but not least, the arrival of the next generation European funds to Spain will certainly flesh out the digital and green sectors that are so strong in Barcelona.

Why would someone invest in Barcelona as a city of the future?

Firstly because it is a city on a human scale, so it is a dense city. Being dense in the 21^st century means being environmentally friendly, which is vital. It is extremely well connected, in fact, it has the second best connected European airport after London. You can fly wherever you want in the world from Barcelona. It is a city with a superior quality of life and it is a city with an industrial DNA behind it. This means that you are going to find highly skilled labor as well as a city of creators. It is no coincidence that you have Gaudi, Picasso, Miró, Ferran Adriá and other immensely creative minds born and raised in Barcelona. That is why Barcelona is quite interesting together with a strong logistical sector which is essential. Having a large port, airport, logistical areas as well as important international groups based in the Barcelona area as I mentioned, Nestle, Seat, not to mention the Catalan multinationals like Puig, Mango or Grifols, based in Barcelona, gives us a strong advantage.

Would you like to share a final message?

I would only add that the life sciences sector is also incredibly strong in Barcelona. There are quite important companies from Barcelona working in Pharma together with large hospitals such as the Vall d’Hebron Clinic together with an emerging entrepreneurial sector, Grifols and clinical trials in this post-COVID era.