good news
autumn / winter 2004 -05 nº 32
barcelona
investments
barcelona
in the world
barcelona
companies
barcelona
fashion
barcelona
universities
barcelona
trade fairs
barcelona
bioregion
barcelona
22@
barcelona
takes off
summar
3
barcelona moves forward
The consolidation of Barcelona and its surrounding area as one of the main areas in Europe for inward foreign investment is manifest in the latest figures from the survey commissioned by the City Council and the Generalitat Government. In the four years from 1999 to 2004, Barcelona has reaped the benefits of the effort put in by the different authorities. 97% of the foreign companies installed in the Barcelona area are satisfied with the city. This percentage is 13 points higher than the degree of satisfaction manifest in 1999.
Such acknowledgement is also backed up by acknowledged sources of prestige such as the British FDI
(Foreign Direct Investment) magazine, a publication geared to investors from the United States, Europe and Asia. This magazine, which belongs to the Financial Times group, considers Barcelona to be the best city in Europe in which to invest (ahead of cities like Paris and London). It meanwhile particularly acknowledges the city’s international promotion strategy and defines it clearly as the European city with the greatest future prospects and the best quality of life. There is, however, no room for complacency as Barcelona could be more competitive and even more human. That is how it should be.
As well as making the improvements that foreign investors want (a more modern, complete communications network, for example), we at the Barcelona City Council Department of Economic Promotion want to merit the trust of new business sectors. We are therefore extending both public policies to accompany foreign companies and the local business fabric.
We want to carry on working as we have been to date, with a view to the future while incorporating top innovation into the city. One of the main lines of action is therefore in the technology and health sciences sector. The aim here is to encourage information exchange among companies, universities and professionals associated with the biotechnology sector and to turn Barcelona into the driving force for biomedical research in Catalonia.
The letter introducing Barcelona and the Barcelona area as the nerve centre of Catalonia’s bioregion can be summed up in one fact: Barcelona produces 90% of all the country’s biotechnology.
barcelona investments
Employer opinions have enhanced Barcelona’s position as a world centre for business and a magnet for foreign investment, a position acknowledged by some prestigious publications. By way of an example, FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), the British magazine specialised in international investment, which belongs to the Financial Times group, shows Barcelona’s appeal in considering it the best city in Europe for investing and setting up new companies. It also places Barcelona in first position for quality of life among cities in Europe.
Other studies also leave very favourable impressions of Barcelona. These include the Paris Chamber of Commerce study, which considers the Barcelona area to be the second best region for foreign investment and second only to London. The European Investment Monitor 2003by consultants Ernst & Young backs up the results of the French study and notes that Barcelona has attracted 82 international investment projects .
Barcelona also has the distinction of being the European city that has made most progress in recent years, and that which best promotes itself abroad, followed by London, Paris, Madrid and Dublin, according to the European Cities Monitor study, issued each year by UK consultants Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker. This study also considers Barcelona to be Europe’s fifth best city in which to do business, Europe’s sixth most attractive capital to set up a head office and the third area in Europe in which companies establish their offices. There is a notable presence of French and German companies, most of which are satisfied with having come to Barcelona.
barcelona investments
The “Foreign investment in the Barcelona area” survey, produced by Barcelona City Council and the Generalitat Government, shows how the impression made by Barcelona has improved in recent years.
According to this survey, which was performed in September 2004, 97% of the companies consulted are satisfied in having chosen Barcelona as a place to establish themselves. Furthermore, 51% of the employers who answered believe that the Barcelona area is a future site for setting up new businesses and services, particularly for commercial marketing and shared services. Likewise, 79% of foreign companies define the city as cosmopolitan and 75% as creative and innovative.
country of origin of foreign companies
evolution of the degree of satisfaction
of foreign companies with their decision
to set up in the barcelona area
“97% of foreign companies are satisfied or very satisfied with their decision to set up business in the Barcelona area”
Other countries 16%
United Kingdom 4%
Denmark 4%
29% Germany
12% United States
18% France Japan 5%
Netherlands 6%
Italy 6%
16%
84%
6%
94%
3%
97%
dissatisfied
satisfied 100%
75%
50%
25%
0%
barcelona investments
Barcelona, a city to live in
For the fourth year running, Barcelona is top of the list of European cities with the highest quality of life. The magazine FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), which belongs to the Financial Times group, awarded it first prize for the European city with the best quality of life.
This excellent outcome will enhance Barcelona’s capacity to attract professionals who do high added value work. It also reflects everyday aspects of the city such as a good network of hospitals and schools, attractive architecture, a pleasant climate, enjoyment of the sea and the mountains, cultural activities and festivals, etc.
The popularity of these awards is testament to the integrity and transparent nature of the judging process that fDi undertakes in assessing each entry. As a consequence this brings enormous credibility to the award and its prestige across the globe.
CONGRATULATIONS ON BEHALF OF THE TEAM AT fDI AND THE FINANCIAL TIMES GROUP.
OVERALL WINNERS
European Region of the Future 2004/2005 SCOTLAND
European City of the Future 2004/2005 BARCELONA
CATEGORY CITY REGIONS
Central Europe Vienna Hungary Eastern Europe Vilnius Krasnodar Krai Northern Europe Copenhagen Scotland Southern Europe Athens Canary Islands
Western Europe Barcelona Saxony
Best Economic Potential Düsseldorf North Rhine-Westphalia and Krasnodar Krai
Most Cost Effective Manisa Imereti Best Human Resources Moscow Zurich Best IT& Liverpool North Holland Telecommunications Infrastructure
Best Quality Of Life Barcelona Greater Zurich and Stara Zagora Best Transport System Barcelona West Holland
barcelona in the world
barcelona in the world
The second deputy mayor and chairman of the Committee for Economic Promotion, Employment and Knowledge of Barcelona City Council, Jordi Portabella, travelled to Quebec last October in order to promote the city of Barcelona, strengthen relations bet-ween Barcelona and the Quebec’s capital, Montreal, and prompt exchanges in strategic sectors.
On his trip to promote the city, Portabella met the deputy chair-man of TransatTours, Gilles Lamontagne, to encourage the esta-blishment of an intercontinental flight between Montreal and Barcelona.
This initiative is part of an agreement among Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat Government and the Chamber of Commerce to establish intercontinental air links between Barcelona and the world’s main cities. With a view to the next five years, a recent study on the development of direct new air routes from Barcelona identified potential demand for connections with specific markets in North America and Asia. The study’s conclu-sions included Montreal as a commercially viable destination. The deputy mayor also took part in two seminars entitled "Doing Business in Barcelona", in which he explained the business opportunities in Barcelona to the Quebec business community. Jordi Portabella mentioned the possibility of business with
cut-barcelona and quebec prompt exchanges in
strategic sectors
ting edge sectors in Canada such as the biotechnology, aerospa-ce, food and agriculture and environment sectors. Barcelona City Council’s second deputy mayor also held work meetings with the city council of Montreal. He met Vice-president of Life Sciences, Montreal International, Michel Leblanc, in order to import the model of this biotechnology cluster to Catalonia.
The biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors are expanding quickly in Quebec. Quebec’s political leaders state that the bio-region surrounding Montreal currently employs 38,000 people. They calculate that in the coming eight years, 16,000 direct and 80,000 indirect jobs could be created, i.e. that for each direct job, 5 indirect jobs will be created.
In order to project Barcelona to the full internationally, the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and Barcelona City Council organised a new business bridge in mid-December. This was another public-private collaboration initiative geared to encouraging companies from the Barcelona area to open up new markets and to promote Barcelona as a centre for international business and investment.
This, the third business bridge, turned out to be a very useful tool both to sound out the economic opportunities offered by New York and also to analyse the competitive factors and keys to success of this dense urban area with 18 million inhabitants. The commercial mission, led by the chairman of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Miquel Valls, and second deputy mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Portabella, included different business sectors such as fashion, new technologies and food and drink.
The companies that travelled to New York included representatives of fashion (Mireia Ruiz, Xavier Barris, Glòria Estelles and The Avant), footwear and leather bag companies (Muxart), the jewellery firm Concep Gual and the technology companies Oasys Soft and Polymita Technologies SL. One of the most important features of the business bridge was the exhibition room. This included a show of
fashion and design staged in a downtown hotel by participating companies. It was attended by the New York market’s main players, including designers, distributors, retailers and the public authorities.
barcelona bioregion
barcelona bioregion
Nexus II, on the North Campus of the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), opened in 2002.
The building will be constructed beside the emblematic columns by the sculptor Andreu Alfaro.
To date, the university has done research and development in its departments and has only had one off-campus building for this purpose. This is the Masia Can Fatjó, on the Vallès Technology Park, which is home to the so called spin-off technology-based companies associated with the university.
UB: science campus in southern Europe
The forthcoming aims of the University of Barcelona (UB) inclu-de first the restructuring of the Pedralbes campus to make it the largest science and technology park both in Spain and in sou-thern Europe, and thereafter the completion of work on the School of Geography and History in the “Casa de la Caritat”. The reorganisation of the UB’s university areas is part of the multiyear infrastructure plan for the coming two or three years. The UB is to be involved in the European Space for Higher Education project, which will lead to the convergence of European qualifications by 2010. A pilot trial with 12 qualifi-cations will therefore be run during the academic year.
The UAB campus is to accommodate a building
specifically for R+D
The Zona Franca Consortium and the Autonomous University of Barcelona have sig-ned a collaboration agreement to develop a research and development centre, which will start operating in 2007, on the Bellaterra campus. The building, known as Eureka, will house the research units of the university and biotechnology and biomedicine companies and will have an area of 5,000 m2. The start of work is planned for 2005.
The Zona Franca Consortium is to invest seven and a half million euros in this project and will manage the Eureka centre for thirty years to recover the investment. The last building of these cha-racteristics developed by the Zona Franca Consortium was the Institutions and private companies jointly presented what is known as the Bioregion of Catalonia, an initiative intended to co-ordinate the work of the authorities, universities and companies in biomedicine and biotechnology.
The act of presentation was held at the Palace of the Generalitat Government and was attended by different members of the government of Catalonia, headed by chief minister, Josep Bargalló. Barcelona City Council was represented by second deputy mayor, Jordi Portabella. The meeting also featured talks by different agents taking part in the project, such as the director general of the Barcelona Science Park, Màrius Rubiralta, the director general of the Catalan Research Foundation, Enric Banda, the director general of the Novartis Foundation for Health, Innovation and Society, Joan Artells, and the director of CIRIT, Marta Aymerich.
It was thus manifest that Catalunya, headed by Barcelona, is firmly committed to the future and has set about creating what other advanced countries have shown to be a definitive driving force for their economic development strategies: the Bioregion
of Catalonia. Initiatives of this kind in Sweden, Finland and Quebec have shown that such concentrations of knowledge in the areas surrounding a large city have become the main systems of industrial innovation. Barcelona produces 90% of all Catalonia’s total biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry has a great tradition in the city.
barcelona bioregion
barcelona bioregion
The Catalan pharmaceutical company Reig Jofré, based in Sant Joan Despí, wishes to strengthen its position in the pharmaceutical sector with the purchase of the sales network and most of the pharmaceutical specialities, registrations and brands of Antibióticos Farma.
In 2001, Antibióticos Farma transferred much of its industrial activity to Reig Jofré. After having been purchased in 2004, however, this Catalan pharmaceutical company is to take on the commercialisation of the drugs that it was already manufacturing in one of its two Toledo factories. These were bought from the SmithKline Beecham group in the year 2000.
Reig Jofré is to take on sixty workers and increase its workforce to 450 people. The purchase will involve including the Ardine brand specialities Ulcometion and Anaclosil (for treating colds) in its drug portfolio. These will be added to the company’s own medicaments that include the disinfectant Phonal, the hearing drug Otocerum and the antibiotics Britapen and Britamox.
According to company sources, this purchase will both prompt large synergies in commercialising new products and also encourage the sales of its own medicaments, which yield a greater margin.
The group, which includes the laboratories Medea, Ramón Sala and Orravánina as well as Reig Jofré, envisages a turnover of 50 million euros in 2005. The company is currently seeking a financial partner and is willing to sell 30% of its shares. Reig Jofré wishes to invest 25 million euros in the coming 5 years and will launch new drugs in paediatrics and gynaecology in 2007.
reig jofré purchases the antibióticos farma sales
network and brand
The chemical and pharmaceutical group Esteve is to assign 260 million euros to the research and development of new production processes for the manufacture of active principles. This figure represents 11% of its turnover. Over the last five years investment in this area has amounted to 150 million euros. 300 people currently work in research and development and one of the products they have developed most successfully is the anti-ulcer drug produced at Esteve’s Celrà plant (in the Gironès region). Laboratoris Esteve, a family-owned company founded by Doctor Antoni Esteve Subirana in 1929, has an overall workforce of nearly 2,400 people. One of the most significant companies in the holding is Esteve Química, which has a pilot plant and a research centre in Barcelona and two production plants at Celrà on an area of 45,000 m2.
Esteve Química, one of the main suppliers of the international pharmaceutical market, has factories in Europe, Mexico and China and distributes its products in 35 countries.
barcelona companies
barcelona companies
The US multinational Gore, manufacturer of Gore-Tex© fabrics, electronic and industrial products and medical material, has chosen Barcelona to establish a customer service centre to manage its turnover and order processes for all Europe.
The group has begun operating through the medical material division in Germany. It plans to continue expanding in the other countries in continental Europe by establishing other business divisions there. The company currently only has commercial presence in Spain and has 35 workers on the Sant Joan Despí site. The establishment of the new centre will mean the workforce will grow to well beyond one hundred.
W.L.Gore & Associates, founded in 1958, is a family-owned company that specialises in developing fluoropolymer-based products and applications. It has 6,000 workers on 45 sites world-wide.
The bulk of its business comes from the textile division (that specialises in high-performance products for outdoors) through sales of the well-known Gore-Tex© brand. The multinational The German automobile consortium Volkswagen (VW) has confirmed that 10% of the production of the Seat Ibiza that was being done in Bratislava (Slovakia) is to return to the Martorell plant (Baix Llobregat) in June 2005, according to the Spanish subsidiary’s official website.
This change is mainly a response to greater flexibility by Martorell in the latest labour agreement. All in all it shows what can be achieved when trade unions and company management work together for the same objective.
The return of 10% of the Ibiza model (which was being manufactured in Bratislava) will bring the production of 20,000 cars per year back to Martorell and will mean a saving of 10 million euros per year in reduced logistics costs for the Volkswagen group.
also manufactures medical implants, industrial fibres and electronic cables.
Barcelona was chosen for the establishment of the service centre ahead of nine cities in Western and Eastern Europe in a six-month selection process in which the cities of Munich and Edinburgh were also shortlisted. The reasons for finally opting for Barcelona were the cost of labour, the availability of qualified staff and flexibility to assume future growth.
Barcelona’s growing strength as a city for the headquarters of shared service centres for Europe is a phenomenon that began at the end of the nineteen nineties. The most notable examples are companies such as Bayer, Avis, Agilent and Citigroup.
gore, customer service management for europe
in barcelona
barcelona companies
barcelona companies
Cirsa, the leisure and gaming company, which manages bingo halls and casinos in seven countries in Europe and America, plans to create an overseas network of factories to assemble leisure machines.
The project was set into operation last November in Russia, after Cirsa had received several orders to supply gaming machines to gaming halls and bars in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. These machines are currently made at the Terrassa production facilities, from where they are exported to Russia and other countries. Each day up to 400 leisure machines leave this factory, which employs 150 people.
Cirsa has decided to move the last stage of the process, assembly, either to Moscow or to Saint Petersburg, a city with lower location costs. This plan will be channelled through a subsidiary company in which Cirsa will have a 50% holding. The other half will be held by a local partner. The aim is for this new network to sell 4,000 to 5,000 machines to Russia each year, an increase on the 3,000 units that are exported from Spain and upon which customs
duties of 60% must be paid. For 2005, the group plans to open a second leisure machine assembly plant, this time in the north of Brazil. The company is seeking new methods of growth in order to overcome the problems posed by the maturity of the Spanish leisure and gaming machine market, where it has a share of 23% and can only grow through operator purchases. The group manages some 52,000 gaming machines.
Cirsa earned 5,020,000 euros in 2003 and had a turnover of 926,120,000 million euros. Almost a quarter of the group’s gross operating profits were from the floating casino that Cirsa operates in Rio de la Plata, Buenos Aires.
The Catalan group, which specialises in the production of dried fruit and nuts and oils, plans to grow by 25% in the coming three years and increase turnover to over 600 million euros. The aim of this family-owned company is to multiply net profit four times and double profit over total assets. The group has completed a two year period in which it has streamlined all its business areas to gear itself to the brand business, with added value and the wholesale market. Borges has set a new head office in operation at Sant Cugat del Vallès (Vallès Occidental). All the units in the Iberian peninsula are centralised in the commercial and marketing departments of the new head office, where some 80 people work. According to company sources, the aim is thus to enhance the Borges brand as an umbrella for all products. This new period will see the launch of four new products, including vinaigrettes, which will provide greater added value.
Nevertheless, the greater part of turnover will also come from an increase of operations on the wholesale market, which accounts for half the group’s business. Customers on this market include the main food and drink multinationals Nestlé and Heinz. Furthermore, the company will continue to enhance its presence on the main international markets: Russia, the United States and France.
the borges group, 25% growth by 2007
barcelona 22@
barcelona 22@
At the end of 2005, the real estate group Medgroup will start work on a 186-room hotel in Poblenou, in the 22@ technology district. The opening of the establishment, which will be managed by the British Holiday Inn chain, is planned for 2007.
The project will involve an overall investment of some 16 million euros and the building will be constructed where the Carrer Llacuna and Carrer Pallars meet. Medgroup has been attracted to this area of Barcelona because of the 22@ district’s potential as a present and future centre of business. The development of a hotel in the Poblenou district is part of Medgroup’s plans to create a network in Spain of twenty hotel establishments for executives and provide 3,000 rooms. The real estate group has already built a hotel at Montmeló (Vallès Oriental) and has another planned at Molins de Rei (Baix Llobregat). On the whole, these are 100-room 3-star sites and are built close to industrial estates and business centres. These facilities are being built to provide prices that are competitive because of a reduction in secondary services.
Auna is to establish its new innovation centre in the
22@ district
The new development and innovation centre of Spain’s number two telecommunications operator is to be established in the company’s building in the Carrer d’Àvila, in the 22@ district.
This centre, which should be operative from the start of the year, will determine the fixed and mobile telephony convergence strategy and produce global solutions for all the group’s customers. Over 100 technicians will be employed there. Auna’s deputy chairman and CEO, Joan David Grimà, detailed the company’s intention to enhance its presence in Catalonia. Indeed, between 20 and 25% of Auna’s turnover comes from Catalonia.
Credit Suisse buys an office building at the gateway
to the 22@ district
Layetana Immobiliària has sold the office building at Avinguda Diagonal 197, which is directly next to the AGBAR Tower and at the gateway to the 22@ district. The German CS Euroreal real estate fund, managed by Credit Suisse, has purchased the complex, which has a total floor area above ground of slightly over 16,000 m2. According to forecasts, it will be finished in
the first half of 2007.
Indra centralises service in a building in the
22@ district
The consultancy and IT technologies company Indra plans to concentrate all its operations in one building in Barcelona’s 22@ district by 2007.
The Catalan real estate developer Castellví Grup will see to the building of Indra’s future facilities, which will cost 24 million euros and will be leased by the technology group for a period of 10 to 15 years. The building will have 12 floors and an area of 8,000 m2. The project, designed by architects Carles
Ferrater, Xavier Martí and Carles Rubio, will be undertaken on land close to the AGBAR tower. 600 people, who are currently employed in five different centres in Barcelona, will work there. Pompeu Fabra University is also to concentrate training, research and production in communication and audio-visual technology, in the same district, near the old “Ca l’Aranyó” textile factory.
business notes
Barcelona’s luxury hotels are the most profitable in
Europe
According to a report by Deloitte, written using data provided by Mazars, Barcelona’s luxury hotels (four- and five-star) were the most profitable in the European Union at the end of August 2004. RevPAR (daily revenue per available room) at that time amounted to 110 euros. RevPAR calculates daily revenue from a city’s hotel facilities, i.e. it divides overnight stays by the total room count.
Abertis and Aena form an alliance to buy British
airport operator TBI
The infrastructure group Abertis and the airport operator AENA have made a joint bid to buy a 100% holding in TBI, one of the UK’s main airport operators. The operation has been set at 787 million euros.
TBI manages three airports in the United Kingdom. The largest is Luton, EasyJet’s operations base, and the other two are Cardiff (Wales) and Belfast (Northern Ireland). Outside the British Isles, TBI operates the airports of Stockholm (Sweden), Orlando Sanford (United States) and three others in Bolivia. It also partially controls different facilities in Toronto (Canada) and in San José in Costa Rica.
Metrovacesa promotes two business parks
The real estate company Metrovacesa plans to invest over 139 million euros in two new business parks, one in the 22@ district and the other in the city’s metropolitan area. The new park in the 22@ district will occupy nearly 31,000 m2.
Mango invests in the Samsung plant
The textile chain Mango is to invest fourteen million euros in the purchase and adaptation of the plant of the South Korean multinational Samsung, at Palau-solità i Plegamans (Vallès Occidental), where it will establish some of its offices from September 2005 onwards. Samsung closed its plant in this town in the El Vallès region in January 2004.
Sharp doubles production in Sant Cugat del Vallès
The Japanese multinational Sharp plans to boost its Sant Cugat del Vallès plant, which specialises in the production of televisions for the European market. Sharp’s directors are satisfied with the competitiveness of the Catalan factory that produced 272,000 television sets in 2003.
First Catalan co-operative group
The first Catalan co-operative group, the Clade-Grup Empresarial Cooperatiu, has been formed and is made up of the companies Abacus, Ecotècnia, Grup Qualitat, La Fageda, La Vola and Telecsal.
Each company operates in a different sector: Abacus is a Barcelona chain that specialises in books and stationery material and is the largest of the six companies. Ecotècnia manufacturers wind-power generators for wind farms. Grup Qualitat, based in Vilanova i la Geltrú, operates in the real estate sector. La Fageda, an Olot company, makes yoghurts and desserts. La Vola, from Manlleu, provides environmental services, while Telecsal, the offices of which are in Cornellà de Llobregat, operates on the industrial electrical installation market.
Barcelona backs SMEs
To produce closer links with the small and medium-sized companies, which make up the greater part of the business fabric of Barcelona and the metropolitan area, Barcelona City Council has set up the Department of Internal Economic Promotion.
One of the main problems SMEs have is their continuity beyond the generation of their founders. In 2004, Internal Promotion organised two seminars on this problem to provide information on policies to encourage SME continuity and to run training. The seminars took place at the Picasso Museum and involved the overall participation of 400 companies. They were a complete success.
The seminars involved the collaboration of CIDEM (a department of the Ministry of Employment and Industry of the Generalitat Government of Catalonia), which took advantage of the event to provide information on new aid to plan succession in family companies. Also involved were the companies Torrent i Dedeu, advisors to family companies, and BDO Audiberia, legal and tax advisors.
In 2005, Interior Promotion of Barcelona City Council plans to stage four more seminars, the first of which will be held in the spring.
Ajuntament de Barcelona Economic Promotion C/ Avinyó, 7, 1st floor 08002 Barcelona Tel: 93 402 33 52
www.bcn.es/barcelonanegocis
further
Javier Simorra, the Barcelona-based mid- to top-range women’s fashion textile company plans to open its first shops in the United States, with an envisaged investment for the coming 3 years of 3 million euros. These establishments will be in the states of Connecticut, Texas and New Jersey. It will thereafter open from a further 10 to 12 shops by 2007. Possible new sites include the cities of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The company intends to complement this expansion with the establishment of 15 corner franchises in large shopping centres such as Neiman Marcus, Saks and Holt Renfrew (in Canada) and also with wholesale sales. Javier Simorra has been present in the United States through a multi-brand distributor in the last three seasons, a period equivalent to one and a half years. In this time it has won some 130 wholesale customers.
The company specialises in prêt-à-porter and began as a family tailor’s shop in the Carrer Canuda in Barcelona. In 1977 it became a specialist in shirt tailoring and worked exclusively and successfully in this area until 1992. Javier Simorra currently has twenty-three shops operating in Spain (7 in Barcelona and 4 in
barcelona fashion
business notes
The Generalitat Government assigns half its grants to
innovation in the automotive industry, textiles and
electronics sectors
The automotive, electronics and textiles sectors received most of the grants awarded by the Generalitat Government in 2004 for the promotion of research, development and innovation projects. According to Department of Trade and Industry data, total grants amounted to 24 million euros. There were almost 500 initiatives in R+D, 179 of which were assigned to automobile, consumer electronics and textile companies. These three sectors received 12 million euros, which accounted for half the subsidies awarded by the Government of Catalonia. The rest of the money was distributed among the Catalan economy’s so-called strategic sectors. These are aerospace, pharmaceuticals, second-generation foods and machinery adapted to renewable energy. Many of the Generalitat government subsidies were also awarded to joint R+D projects and grants from the Centre for Innovation and Business Development (CIDEM). 85% of the Catalan Government’s grants went to small and medium-sized enterprises, showing the importance of SME production in Catalonia.
Montesa Honda enlarges its Santa Perpètua centre
Motorcycle manufacturers like Montesa expect to get a boost in sales this year thanks to the effect of a highway code reform which allows car license holders to ride motorcycles up to 125cc. With the prospect of increased 125-cc motorcycle sales in 2005, the company plans to enlarge its Santa Perpètua production centre in El Vallès Oriental. It aims to double current 30,000-square-metres facilities; it has more than 96,000 square metres of land available to build on.
Honda’s commitment to this town in the Barcelona area dates back to 1986 when the Japanese company purchased the Catalan firm Montesa, which was suffering a crisis at the time.
Honda, which also has a factory in the Italian town of Atessa, intends to manufacture 50,000 motorcycles in 2005, a 25% increase on 2004.
The sector is hoping that the change in the highway code will boost motorcycle sales through to 2006. Data from ANESDOR, the Spanish association of motorcycle manufacturers and importers, suggest registration increases of 30% to 40% in 2005 and 30% for 2006.
javier simorra plans to open 15 shops in the united states
barcelona fashion
Bridalwear chain Rosa Clarà has just taken an international leap in Mexico with the opening of its first two shops. The designer, which has been operating with its own brand for ten years, is present in Mexico in the Puerta de Hierro department stores.
Its expansion plan consists in the opening of seven establishments in five years. One of these seven establishments is planned for the city of Monterrey. Furthermore, the end of 2004 saw the opening of the chain’s third sales outlet in Barcelona, on a 500-m2site,
previously occupied by the patisserie Mora and where Avinguda Diagonal, Balmes and Paris meet. The company has signed a 25-year contract with the Inmobiliaria Colonial real estate agency, which bought the building in 2001 for one million euros and has restored it.
rosa clarà expands in mexico
barcelona fashion
The designer has forty-five shops in Spain and two in Portugal, most of which are franchises. Last September, Rosa Clarà also opened new establishments in Manresa, Reus and Cordoba. At the start of 2003 it launched a new shop brand called “Aire” to speed up expansion. Turnover in 2003 amounted to 18 million euros.
Desigual is committed to having its own chain of shops because it believes that growth is difficult solely through the currently declining multi-brand segment. One interesting feature about the brand is the decoration of its shops, the white walls of which are decorated by graffiti artists, designers and passers-by at a party. The Abasic company’s fashion
brand, Desigual, has set out on an ambitious expansion project based upon opening its own shops. It aims to double the current number of establishments in 2005 from 15 to 30 shops. The Desigual brand was founded 15 years ago and is sold in 1,200 multi-brand shops. It was in 2001 (the year in which innovative marketing campaigns started to encourage development and its own shops were opened), however, that it began achieving the projection and high awareness it currently enjoys.
The company Desigual started with a workforce of approximately 150 people and was originally the initiative of Thomas Meyer. Originally from Switzerland, Meyer settled in Barcelona and started in the world of fashion by selling remarkably-designed second-hand clothes in the Carrer de Pelai. 70% of turnover currently comes from sales in multi-brand establishments and only 30% is from its own shops. Desigual does not have a manufacturing plant, but subcontracts all of its production mainly to India. The brand, which has now set about projecting itself internationally, exports 20% of its production, principally to France and to Italy.
barcelona fashion
Barcelona is to preside the Community of Ariane Cities (CVA) for the 2005 - 2006 period. Barcelona’s presidency will enhance the city’s presence on the European aerospace scene and will also fulfil Barcelona City Council’s wish to make the city an international benchmark in the aeronautics and space sector. The Community of Ariane Cities is an association of companies, local governments and institutions that was founded in 1988 to promote the economic, cultural and pedagogical development of cities involved in European space transport-related activities. It includes the cities of Bordeaux, Toulouse, Turin, Liege, Bremen and Augsburg.
Barcelona’s presidency will see the development of different initiatives geared to achieving the CVA’s main objective: to prompt co-operation and the circulation of ideas and knowledge among cities and among cities and companies, particularly in education, research and the aeronautics industry. The general assembly of the Community of Ariane Cities was held from 13 to 16 October in the city of Kourou (French Guiana), site of the base and launch pad of the Ariane rockets. During the assembly, Barcelona announced a competition
barcelona is to become european capital of space and
preside the community of ariane cities 2005-2006
called "Passion for space" aimed at 16 to 18 year-old Catalan students. The competition was intended to create awareness of the aeronautics sector among young people, given its strategic importance in the new knowledge economy.
barcelona takes off
The textile firm Samblancat, which has eleven establishments in the market in Catalonia, plans to open its first shop in Madrid in 2005 and another in Seville. The Barcelona company, which specialises in the tailoring and sale of trousers, has broadened its range of clothes and increased its turnover from 894,000 euros in 2000 to 3,000,000 euros in 2004. Locally, Samblancat competes both with large, young people’s fashion manufacturers like Levi’s and Diesel and also multi-brand chains. The target public for Samblancat’s extremely successful trousers are 15- to 25-year old women, although this age range is increasingly broad. The company has a female line for adolescents and girls and a men’s line that is beginning to enter the market.
Samblancat has a workforce of forty people and employs thirty more workers on an indirect basis.
the catalan chain samblancat expands to madrid
www.bcn.es/ciutatdelconeixement
further
barcelona takes off
Common front to attract intercontinental flights
The Generalitat Government of Catalonia, Barcelona City Council and the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, together with AENA and the airport management, have set out a common strategy to establish new international long-haul flights.
This work included the first meeting, last November, of the Air Route Development Committee. The meeting involved analysis of the different promotion initiatives that are being staged such as participation in the "Routes" air route development forum last September.
The Air Route Development Committee has undertaken studies that identify potentially viable intercontinental air routes from Barcelona. According to these studies, the direct links to Barcelona with the greatest potential are from New York, Philadelphia, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Montreal and Dubai.
Barcelona and Philadelphia with US Airways
On 17 May, the airline US Airways is to run a new daily direct flight between Barcelona and Philadelphia. Philadelphia is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the United States and its airport is one of the most important distribution hubs, from which passengers using this new route may take a direct connecting flight to over a hundred cities in the United States and twenty destinations in Canada and the Caribbean. This route will provide a new direct flight to the United States from Barcelona airport.
Barcelona-New York with Delta Airlines throughout
the year
Delta Airlines is to fly directly between New York and Barcelona throughout the year and not just from April to November, as it has to date. According to Delta Airlines directors in Spain, there is great demand in the United States for flights to Barcelona, particularly because of the cruises that leave the city. Delta Airlines will also continue to fly directly between Barcelona and Atlanta from April to November.
barcelona takes off
Barcelona and Toulouse promote exchange in strategic
sectors
Institutions and companies from Catalonia undertook a public and private business mission to Toulouse last November in order to promote exchange with companies from the Midi-Pyrénées region in the aerospace, biomedicine and biotechnology sectors. Dubbed the Barcelona-Toulouse Aerospace Bridge, the move is an initiative of the Chamber of Commerce, the Generalitat Government and Barcelona City Council.
Creation of an space park to promote aeronautics
The Barcelona area is to have an aerospace park to promote aeronautics in Catalonia. The chosen site is the “Can Alemany” industrial estate in Viladecans (Baix Llobregat), which is to become the Catalan Aerospace Park. The industrial estate is very near Barcelona airport and will thus attract companies linked to the supply of equipment for airports, general mobility, air and space navigation and the manufacturing of components for vehicles of all kinds.
barcelona universities
The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia) has signed a collaboration agreement with the Chinese state agency NEEA (China‘s educational examination board), which will provide a great boost to the university’s internationalisation strategy. The NEEA is an organisation that both runs academically acknowledged exams for 20 million students each year and provides training.
Three years after the initial contacts, the UOC and the NEEA have developed a pilot trial with 300 students. In one program, with European funding, the Open University of Catalonia has translated its entire virtual campus and teaching materials and has trained teachers to transfer technology and methodology to China.
UOC director, Xavier Aragay, stated that the internationalisation of the UOC will be undertaken in many ways: another project is the Metacampus (a type of virtual Erasmus scheme). This will provide the opportunity for subject exchange with other universities and is already operating with centres in Mexico, Argentina and in China.
the
UOC
takes a leap in china
Parallel to the university work, the UOC has three companies. These are Eureka (for teaching material), Edicions de la UOC and Gestió del Coneixement; la Caixa holds 33% of the latter, which sells its experience in distance learning.
barcelona universities
The business school IESE is to invest 25 million euros in a new campus that will enlarge its current Barcelona facilities by a further 13,000 m2. It will be called Campus
IESE II and will be located on Avinguda Pearson, where IESE is currently based. 20 million euros of the total planned investment will come from sponsoring companies. The rest will come from IESE’s own resources. The Campus IESE II complex will have a 400-person capacity auditorium, six classrooms each with a capacity for 80 people, 36 meeting rooms and a whole floor for offices and a restaurant area. It should be operative by September 2006.
IESE, which last extended its land in 1991, is the postgraduate school of the University of Navarra. It was founded in 1958 and runs business administration training programmes in Europe, Asia, America and Africa.
It was a great opportunity to learn about the region, to explain what Barcelona has to offer economically to the companies and authorities of Guangdong province and to identify business opportunities and establish co-operation links. 250 enquiries were made and 130 companies were attended at the fair. Communication initiatives were also undertaken. These included interviews with state television, CHTF, with the local/regional economic newspaper, Shenzhen Economic News, and with local radio.
Lastly, the 2004 CHTF Prize to the best foreign exhibitor and the fair’s official prize were awarded. This prize was awarded to stands of foreign delegations, local technology companies and to the region’s best new companies.
Routes
Fair, World Forum on the Development of
Air Routes
The 10th Route Development Forum (Routes-2004) was
held in Madrid from 26 to 28 September. This forum, the world’s largest, brought together most airlines and airports to promote new business opportunities, in order to establish new air connections and publicise the facilities and new prospects offered by airports world-wide.
The forum was attended by over 250 airlines, including international, regional, low-cost, emerging, cargo and charter companies. Some 450 airports from five continents were also present.
VII International Industrial, Commercial and Business
Property Fair
The Expo Real fair was held on 4, 5 and 6 October in Munich to bring together companies that provide industrial, commercial and office properties and current or potential users of these kinds of sites. At a time when the cross-border real estate business is clearly on the rise, this fair is attracting increasing international interest while exhibiting and visiting professional participants are on the rise exponentially.
The Council’s presence at this year’s fair was exploratory. Its aim was to establish contacts, to attract new future investments and to promote Barcelona’s solid, competitive range of real estate.
Barcelona City Council’s Department of Economic Promotion took part as a joint exhibitor and foreign collaborator of the city of Dortmund and used its infrastructure (80 m2 of exhibition
space). They occupied a stand on a joint basis with the Ruhr Valley metropolitan region. This 750-m2stand was the largest
exhibition space at the fair. 9 urban communities of the Rhein-Ruhr were represented.
1,300 exhibitors from 31 countries took part at Expo Real on an exhibition site of 42,000 m2. There were 17,700 visitors, a
10% increase on the previous fair.
Shenzhen international high technology fair
The Department of Economic Promotion took part at an international high-technology industry fair in Shenzhen, a city on the Chinese border with Hong Kong. The fair occupies an area of 135,000 m2 and has a total of 4,041 exhibitors
from 42 countries and 543,000 visitors, all of which make it a great showcase for the Chinese advanced technology industry.
The fair provided a great opportunity to position the Barcelona brand, to attract high added-value Asian companies to our city and to stimulate investment and international relations among local companies and China.
barcelona trade fairs
Maquitec Fair
The main companies in the industrial metallurgy sector in Spain and the rest of Europe took part at the Maquitec Fair, which was held from 19 to 23 October. Attending foreign companies were mainly from Germany, Austria, Croatia, Portugal, Turkey and Italy.
Maquitec incorporated two important new features at the 2004 fair. First, it was more international, which meant there was a high number of exhibitors and buyers from southern Europe. Secondly, it featured the new sectors of subcontracting and engineering and support services. The Department of Economic Promotion took part with its own stand that was equipped to act as a showcase for promoting the city. The aim was to attract more business and to publicise municipal services geared to helping to consolidate companies in the sector that are already established in the city.
Expoaviga International Fair of Poultry and Livestock
Technology
The 15th Expoaviga Fair, which was held from 23 to 26
November, involved the main professionals in the sectors involved in animal breeding: nutrition and health, genetics and artificial insemination, IT applications, buildings and facilities, logistics, handling and storage, and environmental protection technologies, etc. Expoaviga is an international fair with a highly technical focus.
Most foreign companies present at the fair were from France, Italy and the Low Countries.
Barcelona is to host the meetings of the EIBTM
From the end of 2004 to 2009, Barcelona will host the EIBTM, the European Incentive Business Travel Meeting, an international association of the most important congress and incentive travel companies. Barcelona is now the meeting point for the EIBTM, having beaten candidates Genoa, Lisbon, Madrid and Vienna. The quality of city’s hotels and its tourist appeal were two of the factors that led to the choice of Barcelona.
European communications employers are to meet
in Barcelona
The European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA), Europe’s communications industry employers, is to hold its annual assembly in Barcelona next April.
1.- Bioibèrica was founded in 1975. What was the initial objective?
Bioibèrica was founded in 1975 as part of a Catalan group that distributed products. The first drug it produced was heparin, an anticoagulant.
2.- Is Bioibèrica’s business focused solely on active ingredients?
This is the most important part of the business although, as time has gone by, the company has gone on to produce not only heparin, but also new active substances such as chondroitin sulphate, hyaluronic acid and glucosamine.
3.- Has the passage of time also seen a change in the areas in which Bioibèrica works?
Indeed it has. Over the years, new activities based on active ingredient production have begun. Bioibèrica currently has six divisions: Bioibèrica Farma, the Veterinary division, Plant Physiology, Nutritional Improvement, Joint Care and Sports Nutrition.
4.- What does each division do?
Joint Care (the first to be founded) specialises in active pharmaceutical and nutritional ingredients. Bioibèrica Farma produces and commercialises doctor-prescribed drugs. Plant Physiology deals with products for treating crops, Nutritional Improvement works in production animal nutrition, the Veterinary division specialises in pet foods and, lastly, Sports Nutrition is geared to sportspeople.
5.- Are your products aimed at specific illnesses?
There are three focuses or fields of therapy (joint health, plant stress and animal digestive system), in each of which Bioibèrica’s different divisions work. For example, Joint Care, the Veterinary division, Bioibèrica Farma and Sports Nutrition work in the therapeutic area of arthritis/chondroprotection (joint health), the Plant Physiology division works on plant stress (for agriculture and golf courses) and the Nutritional Improvement division works in the therapeutic area of animal digestive systems.
6.- How are the research teams organised?
Behind each strategic focus, i.e. each field of therapy, there is a specialist research team that constantly exchanges the information it obtains with the other teams. Full advantage is thus made of the results of research. This philosophy is also applied in other areas of the company such as its commercial work.
7.- How about commercial relations? What countries are customers of Bioibèrica?
As well as being physically present in Spain, we have facilities in the United States, in Poland and in China, in addition to projects in South America. Our products are exported to 50 countries, which shows our commitment to exporting, which has been a feature of the company since Bioibèrica started 30 years ago.
8.- Having come all this way, where is the company heading now?
Well, that depends on what all of us who work here are capable of doing. Bioibèrica’s directors are quite sure that the company will get to wherever we are capable of reaching. We are convinced that, more important than business strategies, a business’ progress is the result of the drive from the people who work there. Good results, however, are not enough; the team needs to feel satisfied at having achieved them, to be motivated to progress. There also needs to be a good atmosphere.
9.- How does Bioibèrica succeed in stimulating its people?
We take extremely great care in the whole process of staff recruitment because we believe that by choosing the right people our work will be successful. Recruitment is not only based on candidates’ technical skills, but also very much on their personalities. Thereafter, a positive environment needs to be created and developed. This needs to be demanding yet respectful and sincerely appreciative of people.
10.- What type of profile should a Bioibèrica worker have?
We seek competent people who feel good in the company, people who are human, who are sensitive, who are pleased about things when they go well but who are also affected when they do not turn out so well, people who are not afraid of their emotions and feelings. We undertake to create the optimum working environment and so very much encourage internal promotion. We are very much helped in this by the fact that we have young people who bring a lot of energy to the company.
Our motto is “results and people”.
director general of bioibèrica
this year, 2005, the Catalan pharmaceutical company is to celebrate its 30th anniversary by working, more than ever, according to the motto “results and people”.
interview
with josep escaich
bioibèrica is 30 years old
publisher: Economic Promotion Department
Committee of Economic Promotion, Employment and Knowledge.
director:Mario Rubert
editor and image: Isabel Carranza,
Steven Guest, Agustí Esteve
image coordinator: Margarita Cabrero
design and layout:
Dockland Comunicación, S.A.
address:
C/ Avinyó, 7, 1st floor 08002 Barcelona Tel.: 93 402 74 78 Fax: 93 402 75 97 e-mail: [email protected]
good news
autumn / winter 2004 -05 nº 32barcelona:
Economic Promotion
good news
autumn / winter 2004 -05 nº 32publisher: Economic Promotion Department
Committee of Economic Promotion, Employment and Knowledge.
director:Mario Rubert
editor and image: Isabel Carranza,
Steven Guest, Agustí Esteve
image coordinator: Margarita Cabrero
design and layout:
Dockland Comunicación, S.A.
address:
