Barcelona among the world’s top 15 cities regarding foreign investment, global competitiveness and scientific production

In addition, in 2012, the Catalan capital was the world’s 5th best ranked city in the area of life quality and urban prosperity, after Tokyo, Stockholm, Paris and Oslo. Barcelona was also among the international centres regarding tourist figures, being the 4th European city which receives the highest number of foreign tourists. It is also the second best city in Europe for shopping and it is among the best in Europe for doing business, after gaining competitiveness by reducing life costs. Barcelona is the 13th world city in global competitiveness, the 12th in the number of foreign investment projects and the 10th in scientific production. Furthermore, it is the only European city with 2 business schools ranked among the continent’s top ten (IESE and ESADE).

CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

May 22, 2013 12:07 AM

Barcelona (ACN).- In 2012 Barcelona was the 13th world city in global competitiveness, the 12th in the number of foreign investment projects attracted and the 10th in the number of scientific articles published, according to a report presented on Tuesday by the city’s Chamber of Commerce and the Town Hall. The ‘Observatori 2013 de Barcelona’ report compiles several previously-published rankings comparing cities using some 30 different social and economic indicators. The rankings are made by international organisations, independent consultancies and prestigious media, such as UN-Habitat, KPMG and The Financial Times. In most of the rankings, Barcelona has improved its position in 2011. For instance, the Catalan capital is ranked among the world’s top cities in essential areas such as life quality and urban prosperity, as it is considered to be the 5th best city to live in, after Tokyo, Stockholm, Paris and Oslo. Barcelona was also among the top international centres regarding tourist figures, being the 4th European city which receives the highest number of foreign tourists in 2012. It is also the second best city in Europe for shopping (after London) and it is among the best in Europe for doing business, after gaining competitiveness by reducing life costs. In fact, Barcelona was the world’s 31st most expensive city in 2007, but since then it has gradually dropped until the 85th position, according to Mercer Human Resource Consulting’s Worldwide Cost of Living Survey. Furthermore, it is the only European city with 2 business schools ranked among the continent’s top 10 (IESE, 3rd and ESADE, 8th). The report also emphasised the potential of Barcelona’s business environment created around mobile technologies, backed by the Mobile World Capital project. Barcelona and the rest of Catalonia already have 2,342 companies working on mobile technologies, which employ 39,408 workers and turn over more than €5 billion per year.


Barcelona “resists the worst moment of the economic crisis”

The President of Barcelona’s Chamber of Commerce, Miquel Valls, emphasised that the Catalan capital is “resisting the worst moments of the economic crisis” and “it is fighting almost alone against very difficult economic situation in the rest of Spain”. Valls was very satisfied with Barcelona’s performance in this context, as it was among the world’s top 10 or top 15 cities in the main business, scientific and welfare rankings.

Barcelona, the world’s 5th city with the highest number of international meetings

Valls also underlined Barcelona’s entrepreneurial capacity, since the entrepreneurial activity rate increased by 1.5% in 2012 despite the economic crisis and reached 7%, in front of the French (5.7%), the Finnish (6.3%) and the Swiss (6.6%). Valls also pointed out that the Catalan capital is ranked the 6th best city for setting up a business among European executives. In addition, Barcelona is the world’s 5th city with the largest number of international conferences and congresses.

The Catalan capital is the 4th European city with the most foreign investment

In 2012, Barcelona was the world’s 12th city which received the largest number of foreign investment projects, with 102 initiatives. After London, Moscow and Paris, it is the 4th European city in this ranking, according to KPMG’s Global Cities Investment Monitor. The UK capital tops the world’s ranking with 351 projects, followed by Hong Kong (239), Shanghai (233), Sao Paulo (223), New York (146), Beijing (133) and Moscow (129). Paris comes 10th with 108 projects, then comes Mumbai (107) and the Catalan capital (102), which is followed by Düsseldorf (94) and Bangalore (93). In the period between 2008-2012, Barcelona accumulated 399 foreign investment projects, which places it in  10th position in the world.

According to Mori’s Global Power City Index, which measures global competitiveness, Barcelona ranks 13th, after Frankfurt and Shanghai. The 2012 ranking is topped by London, New York, Paris, Tokyo and Singapore. Regarding European cities, Barcelona comes 7th. London (1st at world level), Paris (3rd), Amsterdam (7th), Berlin (8th), Vienna (10th) and Frankfurt (12th) come before Barcelona in the ranking, while Stockholm (16th), Zurich (18th), Brussels (19th), Copenhagen (20th) and Madrid (22nd) come afterwards.

Barcelona hosts two of the world’s best business schools

The Catalan capital is the only city in Europe that has 2 of its business schools ranked among the world’s top 10, according to the Financial TimesGlobal MBA Ranking. The Iese Business School is ranked the 3rd in Europe and the 7th at world level and the ESADE Business School is in the 8th position in Europe’s ranking and is the 22nd internationally. The London Business School tops Europe’s ranking although it is already ranked the 4th at world level. The Insead in Fontainebleau is the 2nd in Europe and the 6th internationally.

Moving forward towards a knowledge economy

The report also made special emphasis on the fact that Barcelona is moving forward within the knowledge economy. In 2012 it was the 4th European city with the highest number of published scientific articles and it was the 10th at world level, with 14,777 articles, according to the Science Citation Index. The world’s ranking is topped by Beijing (46,885 articles), London (34,664), Tokyo (28,693), Seoul (26,945) and Boston (26,945). In 2005, Barcelona was Europe’s 11th city and the world’s 27th. In 2011, the Catalan capital was Europe’s 5th and the world’s 13th.

In addition, with the 2011 data, Catalonia is the 5th European region with the highest number of people employed in manufacturing sectors of high or medium-high technological intensity. It is also the 6th regarding the number of people working in science and technology and the 9th in people working in intensive knowledge services.

Barcelona is the world’s 5th city regarding life quality and urban prosperity

According to the UN-Habitat’s State of World’s Cities 2012-2013 report, which took into account indicators such as security levels, the effectiveness of public services, the quality of urban  public space, the healthcare attention and quality of housing, Barcelona was ranked the 5th regarding life quality and urban prosperity. The Catalan capital is ranked after Tokyo, Stockholm, Paris and Oslo – which top the ranking – and before Toronto, Helsinki, Seoul, London and Milan.

However, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s European Cities Monitor, Barcelona is the best city in the continent to live in, according to the European executives interviewed. The Catalan capital has topped this ranking for the last 14 years.

On top of this, in The Economist’s Intelligence Unit ranking, which measures cultural and social factors making the city more dynamic, such as diversity, freedom of expression, human rights respect, cultural life, etc, Barcelona is ranked the world’s 5th best city, after Zurich, Sydney, New York and Los Angeles.