DECEMBER 2008ECONOMIC ACTIVITYWhen the 22@Barcelona project was first approved, the 200 ha area to which, strictly speaking , it applied, had relatively little importance to the city as a whole: given the extent of the area, the activities sited on the industrial land represented a mere 4.96% of the occupied working surface area and 1.78% of the economic activity of the city. Back then, the Poblenou District as a whole represented a mere 6.75% of the occupied working surface area and 4% of the economic activity of the city.
22@Barcelona emphasizes creativity in a number of projects that promote competitiveness and international projection of all of the firms and institutions present in the territory with a will to become the motors of the economic development of this new production centre of Barcelona. Such initiatives facilitate the establishment of areas of excellence or clusters of fields of knowledge in which Barcelona can aspire to become a world leader, through the concentration in the territory of firms, public organisations and reference science and technology centres in those sectors considered strategic: basically, the Media, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Medical Technologies, Energy or Design, the latter recently created.
The elements that contribute to this economic system are:
. The presence of
companies at the forefront of the sector.
. The support and presence of the most relevant
institutions.. The establishment of
universities,
continuing training and vocational training centres.
. The operation of
technology centres in several ambits.
. The establishment of
specific business nurseries. . The construction of
residences for professionals, students and researchers.
.
Spaces in which to display and exhibit the innovations and work of the different sectors.
. Specific
services and spaces for entrepreneurs from each of the different areas.
. The rendering of a series of different
company services: grants, access to venture or risk capital, networking, etc.
Since its start up, the 22@Barcelona project has enabled the establishment of
1,441 new firms and institutions, of which more than half work in one of the five of what the 22@Barcelona project considers priority areas: the Media, ICT, MedTech, Energy and Design. Also, there are currently
42,000 new workers, and the half of them have done university studies. 44,6% of those companies are newly created.
To download the complete
Business Census in the 22@ Barcelona District, click
here.
