Jesús García Castillo, senior lawyer in the Corporate area of Pérez-Llorca
What can we learn from New York in terms of attracting foreign investment?
New York is synonymous with opportunity and investment. Far from being just a financial center, it has established itself as one of the world's leading cities in investment in many other sectors such as technology, science or sports. Much of the success of the city's economy derives from its diversity and high cross-sector connectivity.
A clear example of this connectivity is the technology sector, which New York, like Barcelona, is clearly betting on. Manhattan has established itself as a global tech-hub, giving life to more than 25,000 start-ups, 90 unicorns and hosting technology giants such as Meta, Amazon or Google. In the words of its own directors, one of the main keys to this trend is the strong presence and development in the city of other technology-dependent sectors such as finance, insurance, legal or commercial. This economic diversity and interconnection generates opportunities and synergies while expanding and diversifying the career opportunities of its employees in other sectors, thus attracting talent to the city. In short, in New York, the tech sector (like the rest) is committed to being “connected to the network.”
How could you move to Barcelona?
Barcelona never goes out of fashion and its popularity can be felt in the streets of Manhattan. It has been recognized as the European city with the best investment attraction strategy and has established itself in recent years as one of the main tech-hubs in the region. This is very positive for the city, but we must also continue to promote investment and attract talent in other sectors such as commercial, financial, insurance or real estate to achieve a diversified and interconnected economic fabric that sustains tech growth.
To achieve this, the management of the new “Fintech Hub” project in Barcelona may be key, with the potential to help regain traction in the financial and related sectors in the city. With the same objective, a greater part of the multiple aid and incentives that the city currently offers only to projects in the digital-technological sector could be extended to these other sectors. Ensuring compliance with the hopeful measures contained in the “startup law” and expanding its scope beyond startups will also be key to improving the city's reputation for high bureaucracy and taxation.
