Speed is one of the keys to modern urban, economic and business development. And Barcelona must incorporate it in the application of its strategic decisions if it does not want to lose the bandwagon of the new technological models.
Despite the evident progress made – materialized in the development of startups, the creation of unicorns and the increase in investment – the Catalan capital is still behind the main European hubs, such as Berlin, Paris or London, in terms of acquisition financial resources to invest. It even lags behind, in that aspect, compared to apparently less prominent capitals, such as Milan or Amsterdam.
How to face this reality and overcome these problems has occupied the deliberations of the so-called Harvard group, a combination of Catalan businessmen convened by IESE professor Pedro Nueno, to reflect on the state of the economy of Barcelona and Catalonia in comparative terms with other cities of the globe. And this year precisely they celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the first of their meetings. In this period they have held meetings in the most diverse places, from Shanghai to Reykjavik or Accra, passing through Sao Paolo or Dublin. This time it was in the same city where the first one took place, Harvard, Boston (USA) with a complementary debate in New York.
Barcelona glimpses a new phase of its development coinciding with the change in the political direction in the city council and with perfectly established structural changes - the decline of the traditional industry, the limits of tourism, the imperatives derived from the fight against climate change, the the need for housing policies that address inequality. Demands that will continue from now on.
New York already far exceeds Barcelona's commitment to a sustainable model and multiplies its lanes for alternative mobility, while turning road axes that the global imaginary had given over to cars, such as the iconic Broadway Avenue, into practically pedestrian areas.
The colloquium began with a speech by a special guest, an Israeli former F16 driver, Eran Orr, CEO of XRHealth, a company that develops extended reality (augmented or virtual) technologies for medical treatment. He comes from Israel, one of the meccas of global technological development, and at the same time he knows Barcelona.
His recipe is that in the face of large technology groups such as Google, Apple or Meta, which dominate the markets and the development of new advances, "who have everything, capital and access to massive technological resources, the answer is speed, this is the only competitive advantage, act quickly, take advantage of the agility that size gives”. He uses a chess metaphor, “if you play against someone who is better than you, but you have the ability to make your moves twice as fast, you will beat him”.
And it also highlights the essential and essential role of the public sector. Orr recalls that “Boston's two main technology industries are digital health and health technology. Both have had intense support from the administration to create and develop an ecosystem. They have boosted creativity to create an ecosystem. And it is the ecosystem that attracts new talent. The same thing happened in Israel, where the high-tech sector represents a third” of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), what the economy produces in a year.
José Luis Sanfeliu, president of Asabys Partners, one of the main venture capital firms based in Barcelona and specialized in financing startups in health and life sciences, defends that "Barcelona is already a consolidated hub, in which four of the nine unicorns (startups valued at more than 1,000 million dollars) that have been created in Spain and in which up to nine of the twenty possible future unicorns are located. And in some fields such as life sciences, the weight of Barcelona is of the order of 80%”.
However, Sanfeliu laments that the Catalan capital suffers from severe financial constraints. “Normally, money follows entrepreneurs, not the other way around. The ecosystem of Barcelona is not very different from that of Boston. But it is very far in the attraction capacity of other European hubs, such as Amsterdam, Milan or even Turin, not to mention Berlin or London. Why is this happening? It is not unaware of the city, because the investment does reach other areas such as tourism, hotels, or the real estate sector”.
Pedro Nueno points out that perhaps there is a relationship and interconnection problem with financial centers. The mentioned European cities, or in the case of Israel, maintain intense ties with them, especially with the United States.
Iduun Jonsdottir, CEO of IESE in New York, where part of the discussion is taking place, believes that "Spain and Barcelona are still quite unknown, despite the fact that there are large Spanish companies carrying out large projects in this country, but few beyond the involved know it."
Helena Guardans, president of Webhelp Spain, wonders if the issue “will have to do with the small size, in general, of Catalan companies”. It is possible that the traditional local corporate distancing from financial activities and the refractory attitude towards external financing explain the few links with the global financial world.
It is always difficult to guess the cause, but the obvious finding is that Barcelona, in financial terms, is an almost deserted place, with little direct representation from large investors or operators in the capital and investment markets and with a limited capacity to generate internal resources. , that is, through the investment of local businessmen or their family offices, since these are a small group and mostly with a fairly limited scope.
As is inevitable, the debate derives in the analysis of the virtues and defects of the Barcelonan reality and by extension, the Catalan one. First, the problems.
Ildefonso García Serena, publicist and CEO of GRM, summarizes his vision of the situation in the fact that "to attract talent and capital on a large scale, we are missing three "Cs". The first, that of culture: we have a lot from the past, but we lack that of the present and the future, it has been years since there have been any revitalizing proposals in areas such as museums. The c of cooperation between administrations; the balance of recent years is devastating, for political reasons, the administrations have lived in conflict and many projects have been blocked. And that of connectivity, how is it possible that the expansion of the airport is still under discussion?
The most critical balance comes from the hand of Josep María Romances, president of Closa Investment Partners, who assures that “we have been living in decline for decades in terms of GDP and per capita income. But this does not only refer to Spain or Catalonia, it affects all of Europe, displaced by the US and Asia. And leading businessmen rule out getting involved.”
Michael Goldenberg, general manager and corporate director of Value Retail, the firm that owns La Roca Village, points out that “the number of companies in cutting-edge areas in Barcelona continues to be low. But, in return, the city is already a huge showcase for emotions, as evidenced, for example, by its prominent role as a venue for major concerts and recreational activities”.
From a more specific angle, Maite Malet, an executive at Absys in New York, points out that “among other limitations in Barcelona to attract talent is the low compensation (another C), which is offered to people willing to settle in the city. Barcelona is not cheap, neither to have a social life nor to access housing and the salaries offered are low. Many people end up marching towards other cities with better proposals”.
Sanfeliu qualifies this data and affirms that “despite the fact that low wages can be a problem, in the Catalan ecosystem these are not the first motivation. Before that comes the intellectual challenge, being part of a project with ambition and global reach, living in a friendly city. It is not that the salary does not count, but it is not at the top of the priorities… if you have solved the housing issue, of course”.
Helena Guardans, president of Webhelp Spain, also misses “the complicity of civil society and administrations. And he points out that one of the areas in which it is most necessary is aid and encouragement for Catalan companies to become bigger, since the low number of these in the Catalan economic fabric can explain our limitations in playing a prominent role in today's global world. In passing, the executive takes the opportunity to make a nuanced assessment of the management of the former mayor Ada Colau, who believes that fair criticism has been made but also that her back has been turned in areas such as her policies against change climate, without that being too fair”.
Nueno takes up Orr's suggestion and proposes another c, that of running: “we always act so slowly that without solving old problems we find ourselves with new ones. Even with the issue of the airport on our backs, today we have, for example, that the port has become too small for us”.
Criticism of the lack of involvement of the administrations in the economic transformation always floats in the debate, together with their tendency to confront each other. There are some references to the absence in recent times of the Barcelona Chamber in this type of debate and participation in the revitalization of projects.
Ignacio García Nieto, CEO of the Riva y García financial group and former president of the Círculo del Liceu, makes a suggestion that seems difficult in the current situation: “Barcelona has to collaborate with Madrid. Both are cities with complementary proposals. In the world, both are part of the same platform or economic proposal. In the defense of industrial Catalonia, at the current moment of reindustrialization of Europe, this principle must be very present”.
A proposal that opens a heated controversy over which of the two capitals makes more efforts to hinder good relations. On the table, the clashes over fiscal policies, the struggle to seize significant halls or the Formula 1 circuit, to name the most regularly mentioned in the media.
Finally, the confidence that Barcelona will end up generating new and successful opportunities prevails and some of its traditional strengths are remembered. Fernando Serrate, business advisor and former head of KPMG in Catalonia, argues that “Barcelona retains a large number of potential elements and its appeal to young entrepreneurs remains intact. In Barcelona and its surroundings, international investments continue to be received in sectors with high technological potential. And local initiatives are added, such as the recent one by Caixa Research. And, in some niches such as audiovisual, there is a lot of activity”.
Ramon Benet, from Venture Partner, recalls that “Barcelona, due to its industrial past, ran the risk of ending up like other cities with the same tradition, that is, in decline. That was what happened to cities like Genoa, Marseille, Cleveland or Pittsburgh. And it avoided it thanks to the great transformation that the 92 Games brought about, which also had the significant activism of civil society”.
For her part, Guardans points out that key institutions in the economic life of the city and the metropolitan area, such as the Fira, whose council she is a part of, “work very well and are an example of quick and effective reaction. The last great example has been the capture of the great audiovisual fair, which came to the city from Amsterdam”.
For Lidan Qi, president of the Puente China España company, worldwide interest in Barcelona is important, but the involvement of public institutions must be improved. And she explains a recent personal experience: “Last March, we organized a day to develop economic exchange between the city of Shenzhen and the mayor of that Chinese city, Qin Weizhong, attended. One of the demands transmitted to him by the sixty Catalan businessmen who participated was that of a direct flight between Barcelona and their city. Well, that flight will begin to operate through Shenzhen Airlines on August 28, with two weekly frequencies. It is another proof that administrations concerned with economic matters are needed”.
Benet warns against the culture of dependence on direct public aid, “because they change the focus of the activity of companies, which turn to filling out forms and meeting requirements. The private investor, on the other hand, asks fewer questions and makes it easier to act with that speed, which is an unavoidable requirement”.
And Santiago Tarín, from Master Consulting and vice president of the Association for the Search for Excellence, provides a last “c”, “that of communication, which is neglected, thinking of reporting what is being done and what is available to the world. abroad, but also to the economic and social world of Barcelona itself”.
