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

Barcelona (ACN).- In 2012 Barcelona was the 13^th world city in global competitiveness, the 12^th in the number of foreign investment projects attracted and the 10^th 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 5^th best city to live in, after Tokyo, Stockholm, Paris and Oslo. Barcelona was also among the top international centres regarding tourist figures, being the 4^th 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 31^st most expensive city in 2007, but since then it has gradually dropped until the 85^th 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, 3^rd and ESADE, 8^th). 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 5^th 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 6^th best city for setting up a business among European executives. In addition, Barcelona is the world’s 5^th city with the largest number of international conferences and congresses.

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

In 2012, Barcelona was the world’s 12^th city which received the largest number of foreign investment projects, with 102 initiatives. After London, Moscow and Paris, it is the 4^th 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 10^th 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  10^th position in the world.

According to Mori’s Global Power City Index, which measures global competitiveness, Barcelona ranks 13^th, after Frankfurt and Shanghai. The 2012 ranking is topped by London, New York, Paris, Tokyo and Singapore. Regarding European cities, Barcelona comes 7^th. London (1^st at world level), Paris (3^rd), Amsterdam (7^th), Berlin (8^th), Vienna (10^th) and Frankfurt (12^th) come before Barcelona in the ranking, while Stockholm (16^th), Zurich (18^th), Brussels (19^th), Copenhagen (20^th) and Madrid (22^nd) 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 Times’ Global MBA Ranking. The Iese Business School is ranked the 3^rd in Europe and the 7^th at world level and the ESADE Business School is in the 8^th position in Europe’s ranking and is the 22^nd internationally. The London Business School tops Europe’s ranking although it is already ranked the 4^th at world level. The Insead in Fontainebleau is the 2^nd in Europe and the 6^th 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 4^th European city with the highest number of published scientific articles and it was the 10^th 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 11^th city and the world’s 27^th. In 2011, the Catalan capital was Europe’s 5^th and the world’s 13^th.

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

Barcelona is the world’s 5^th 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 5^th 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 5^th best city, after Zurich, Sydney, New York and Los Angeles.