barcelonagood news summer-autum 2008 n.44

Economic Promotion

publisher: Economic Promotion Departmentmanagement: Foreign Economic Promotioneditor: Isabel Carranza, Olga Lópezimage coordinator: Margarita Cabrerodesign and layout: el estudio del armario blancoaddress: C/ Llacuna, 162-164, 1st floor - 08018 Barcelona tel.: 93 256 39 17 - fax: 93 485 34 60 - e-mail: proeconomica-ajbcn@bcn.cat

Design, a strategic sector for Barcelona and Catalonia

Barcelona goes for quality tourism

Barcelona looks to China

summary

page 4 barcelonadesign

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barcelona flying

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barcelonainfrastructures

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barcelona 22@

Deputy Major of Local Public Finance and Economic PromotionJordi William Carnes Chief Executive Officer Economic PromotionRicard Frigola Deputy Managing Director of International Economic RelationsMario Rubert

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barcelona in the world

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barcelonatourism

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barcelona fairs

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barcelona companies

Catalonia and Barcelona have been able to use design to create an image of progress and of being vanguard in the eyes of the world. The city has been the birthplace of many large design projects that have their own personality and style, one that has spread across Catalonia to become popular around the whole world. When we speak about this city and the Barcelona brand, it is to speak about design.

Barcelona has been and is today a laboratory for large design projects, and ambitious and successful ideas. Design has become a revolution that has even transformed the physical foundations of the city. One of the most recent examples is the successful integration of the city’s new skyline –with Torre Agbar leading the way- into a Barce-lona with more than 1,000 years of history.

Currently, stakeholders involved in design are working on the formation of a solid and coordinated sectorial system. Design is one of the 12 strategic sectors that the city has, adding value to the Barcelona brand. It is one of the key drivers of the economy, knowledge and innovation.

The city will be facing new challenges on the road to bringing centrality to the design sector over the forthcoming years. Being different, innovative and competitive in a global world is achieved through the application of design management with gua-rantees of success. Events like Barcelona Design Week, and projects like the future Design Museum and the Design Cluster in 22@Barcelona guarantee the hegemonic continuity of design in culture and its role as a strategic element for the country’s business community.

editorial

barcelona design

Barcelona is a synonym of design. The city has positioned itself as one of the world’s top design capitals over the last 25 years. The term “Barcelona-design” burst onto the scene in the eighties. During these years there was a boom in Barcelona design thanks to diverse phenomena.

There was a strong professional and edu-cational base and the city’s culture of de-sign was just coming to the boil, meaning that the sector could see the possibility of growth. On the home front, everything and everyone immersed themselves in the new culture of design with enthusiasm. There was a feeling of wanting to modernise so-ciety, institutions, and companies, so too in the case of furniture, graphics, and en-tertainment centres –pioneers of the new design culture – or urban spaces. From outside, Europe and the rest of the world discovered a country, Catalonia, with a ca-pital, Barcelona, that had ideas and offered new concepts to the world of design.

The situation now is different, more serene. After the initial enthusiasm, Barcelona has consolidated design as one of its strategic

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design, a strategic sector for barcelona and catalonia

sectors. The city is the operations centre for designers from more than 50 countries. Five per cent of the foreign companies found in Barcelona are carrying out design-related activities. Barcelona boasts internationally renowned professionals that help create a strong and differentiated image, while also benefiting from a knowledge and training industry represented by around 50 leading educational centres and instructions. This is the case of Foment de les Arts Decoratives (FAD), Barcelona Design Centre (BCD) and professional associations from the sector. As well, there are two new projects pending which will help promote and integrate de-sign in our culture and in Catalan business: the 22@Barcelona Design Cluster and the future Design Museum, which will streng-then the Barcelona-design association.

grand projects that marked design in barcelona

Olympic Games: The Games represented the start of a new era in the history of Barcelona. They captured the various energies of the time like those in the design and architecture fields, which had been very active during the preparation for the candidature in the eighties and which especially marked Barcelona’s design boom.

Primavera del disseny (Springtime design): This was a biannual event held from 1991 to 2001 which helped bring linkages to the design world and provided it a way to renew ideas, as well as helping to incorporate new generations of professionals on the labour market. It fed and grew its own design culture, as well as making people aware of design through a wide variety of activities.

Design Year: This was held in 2003 to celebrate the centenary of FAD (Foment de les Arts Decoratives i del Disseny). This project helped make the value of design clear for society and highlighted the term “design” as an element for social, cultural and economic progress.

Barcelona Design Week: Organised annually by BCD since 2006, this event has become a valuable meeting point for the design and business worlds, achieving international recognition. Its objectives are to promote more knowledge about design and its strategic and business value, and to promote Barcelona as a city of creativity, design and knowledge.

Design Museum: The Museum of Decorative Arts was the first of its kind in Spain and showed a permanent collection on industrial design. During an enlargement stage, its collections have been added to by those from the Textile and Clothing Museum and those of the Graphic Arts Office (Ga-binet de les Arts Gràfiques). These three together will make up the future Design Museum, which is due to open in 2011.

PRIMAVERA DEL DISSENY

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barcelona design

barcelona celebrates the 35th anniversary of its design centre

Barcelona Design Centre (BCD) has cele-brated its 35th anniversary. The Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, the President of the Governs of BCD, Miquel Valls, and the pre-sident of 22@Barcelona and Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Fiscal Policy and Econo-mic Promotion, Jordi William Carnes, pre-sided over an official commemorative lunch to mark the event. Authorities and persona-lities from the politics, business and design world were present for the so-called “D-Day of Design”.

The luncheon, which took place at the Casa Llotja de Mar, marked the start of a series of commemorative events featuring, amongst others, the publishing of a special book on the institution’s 35 years of history, Barce-lona Design Week and the Meeting Barce-lona Club of Design Managers.

design cluster 22@ barcelona

BCD is a promotional centre for design crea-ted in 1973, whose mission is to promote the role of design to companies, as a strate-gic tool for innovation and competitiveness. BCD receives support from Barcelona’s Chamber of Commerce, the Generalitat de Catalonia (autonomous regional govern-ment), Barcelona City Council, and the Mi-nistry of Tourism and Trade. Its objectives include generating synergies and bringing on creativity in general, attracting interna-tional talent and investment, strengthening relations between design and business.

As well, it aims to raise the level of competitiveness and the internationalisation of econo-mic stakeholders via the creation of knowledge transfers between design stakeholders. This way, they aim to strengthen Barcelona’s international leadership in this field.

The commemoration of the 35th anniversary of BCD coincides with the announcements of new projects that will continue the good work started by this entity three and a half decades ago. Now, via its foundation and together with 22@Barcelona and Barcelona City Council, BCD is readying itself for the start of the creation of the so-called Design Cluster.

This initiative will follow the model of clusters being developed by 22@Barcelona, helping to strategically group together the main stakeholders in business, institutions, teaching and innovation in the sector. The aim is to strengthen the Barcelona Design brand and making the city a technological and innovation centre of international standing in this sector.

Architects, designers, photographers, illus-trators, and professionals in the creative fields that have come from around the world make up, along with those that have always lived in the city, a considerable bank of talent in the design field. One of the reasons for this high density of profes-sionals is the support of and representation by their respective professional associatio-ns in the sector.

As such, FAD has more than 1,400 mem-bers distributed across different groups. A FAD (arts and crafts) has more than 100 associates; ADG FAD (graphic design and visual communication) and ARR-IN FAD (architecture and interior design) have al-

most 300 associates each; Moda FAD has 75 associates, and Orfebres FAD (contem-porary jewellery) has 65 associates.

It is worth noting that the APD (Associa-tion of Professional Designers) has 140 associates, the Official Guild of Interior Decorators of Catalonia (CODIC) has 320 members, and the Professional Guild of Graphic Design of Catalonia has around 300 members.

Other initiatives that boost and develop ta-lent are Terminal B, a virtual database of talent in Barcelona and the Directory of pro-fessionals on-line at BCD. We should also remember FAD’s incubator, a platform crea-

ted to promote creatives that are starting out professionally in the design field, and which offers investigation grants in the area of design to young creatives.

design associations and the concentration of creative talent

barcelona design

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barcelona, headquarters for studies and design companies

For foreign students, Catalonia is the ideal location to study any subject, thanks its diver-se range of education centres, and the inspiring culture of the country. As such, there are some 50 education centres giving design classes to more than 6,000 students a year.

But as well as schools, Barcelona has a consolidated business network of SMEs (small and medium sized companies). In Catalonia, there are more than 500,000 SMEs and this represents 99.79% of companies and Barcelona accounts for 77% of the total. This deep-rooted business network, both in traditional industrial sectors and new emerging ones, has the potential for growth and innovation through design. Sectors like furniture or lighting, packaging, textiles and food are just a few examples.

“i have studied in barcelona”Barcelona is well positioned internationally, above big European capitals with a cer-tain tradition in the design sector like Milan and Paris and on a par with London. This reputation means that having studied in this city becomes a differentiating factor on the CVs of future professionals.

The Pasadena Art Center College of Design has chosen Barcelona as the location for its activities in Europe.

“Barcelona” Chair: Mies van der Rohe designed this chair espe-cially for the German Pavilion in the Univer-sal Exposition of 1929. It is made of leather with a metal frame, and over time it has be-come an icon for modern design.

Copenhagen Ashtray: Created by André Ricart in 1965, it is repre-sentative of one of the traditions of Barcelona design, which connects rationalism and the modern movement.

Chupa Chups Is a sweet on a stick designed in 1958 by Enric Bernat, and which quickly became po-pular around the world. Another great name in the design world featured in its design –Salvador Dalí- who designed the brand. Even though Chupa Chups became part of the Italian Perfetti Van Melli brand in 2006, its name will always be linked to Barcelona.

Lots of objects have been designed in Bar-celona, and its colours have inspired many others. The following are examples of some of these objects, ambassadors of Catalan design in the world with a clear vocation to become universal:

Tramo de Madera Móvil (Adjustable Woo-den Shaft): TMC and TMM lights with their elegant and beautiful shapes, these are exponents of the finesse of Barcelona’s design developed du-ring the sixties. Their creator, Miguel Milà, was, together with André Ricard, Antoni de Moragas, Oriol Bohigas, Alexandre Cirici Pe-llicer, Manel Cases and Rafael Marquina, one of the people who started ADI-FAD, which would place Barcelona on the international design map for the first time.

Montesa Impala: The Montesa Impala motorbike was laun-ched in 1961 and had an immediate technical, commercial and sporting impact. This Leopold Milà design from the sixties is still fashionable and one can still see “impa-las” in the streets of Barcelona today. It has become a cult object for collectors and those nostalgic for the brand.

from barcelona... to the world

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barcelona design

five examples of corporate design centres in barcelona

Alstom Transporte set up their headquarters for Design and Styling in Santa Perpètua de la Mogoda (Barcelona) in 2007. Its role is to work on interior design projects for the whole group, developing products together with technical experts.

Danish Lego Group has had a design studio in Barcelona since 2004 and this forms part of the Concept Lab Division, which is in char-ge of the initial innovation process in game experiences.

Volvo has had its design centre in Barcelo-na since the year 2000, where a team of 10 people work.

Since 2003, HP has centralised its World Division for Product Design in the Graphic Arts Business in Sant Cugat del Vallès (Bar-celona).

Roca, a company founded in 1917, is a pio-neer regarding the creation a design depart-ment specialising in developing all shorts of bathroom products.

“design made in bcn” on its way to the idt hong kong expo 2008

A total of 15 Barcelona-based design servi-ce companies will participate in the 2008 edition of the Inno Design Hong Kong Tech Expo (IDT Expo), which this year takes place from December 10th to the 13th. This exhibition is part of the Business of Design Week, organised by Hong Kong De-sign Centre, together with the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), with the objective of giving SMEs a presentation platform in the international market for their products, services and / or business solutions.

“Design made in Barcelona”These Barcelona design service companies will be showing in the same hall created especially for the occasion under the slogan “Design made in Barcelona”, a common denominator that will help boost the city’s design sector, and the business activity of the participating companies, too.

This will all be possible thanks to Barcelona City Council’s Foreign Economic Promotion Department, the Hong Kong Trade Develo-pment Council, and BCD, Barcelona Design Centre, entities that are pooling their efforts to strengthen relations and share experien-ces with the city of Hong Kong.

The IDT Expo is divided into different bu-siness areas that include sectors like bio-technology, electronics, innovation, and design in its different guises. Mainly, this is a platform for design service and tech-nology businesses, so they can show their creativity and create opportunities to buy and sell on the global market.

Catalan businesses that are taking part in this edition come from different sectors, ranging from product to graphic design, or textile design or interior design, including others like lighting architecture, a notewor-thy new addition this year.

The promoters of this initiative are very satisfied with the feedback gained for this new edition from the seven companies that took part in the IDT Hong Kong 2007. Additionally, this year the number of com-panies has risen to 15, showing an increa-se in interest for this initiative.

Each edition of the IDT Hong Kong event has a guest region, city or country, which this year is the Netherlands. In this sense, it is worth noting that the increased par-ticipation of Barcelona-based design ser-vice companies makes our city one of the front-runners to be invited back as a guest in 2010.

The 12 Catalan design service companies taking part in the IDT Hong Kong Expo 2008 are in:www.createdinbarcelona.net

barcelona infrastructures

airport to double commercial offer thanks to t-sud terminal

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New commercial and shopping areas to be opened in the T-Sud, the new terminal at Barcelona’s Airport, will allow it to effecti-vely double its commercial offer compared to the situation today. The Airport has had a highly successful diversified commercial offer over the years with good sales resul-ts, and many Catalan business people are looking at the possibility of taking up space there due to the positive outlook for the T-Sud. The terminal’s spectacular design by architect Ricard Bofill will be the gateway for millions of passengers.

The commercial offer now under public tender (some 23,000 metres squared) will effectively make the terminal into a shop-ping mall, reserved mainly for those holding a valid flight ticket. The public tender in-cludes the management of VIP areas and a business centre in the entrance hall of the T-Sud, which can be accessed by all publics.

The strength of Catalan commercial com-panies is already seen in the current termi-nal, the T-Nord. 58% of companies there

are Catalan ones. In the first phase of the T-Sud, there will be 46 shops and around 30 eateries and bars. Regarding just shops, AENA, the Spanish airports authority, has selected the type of shops that it wants in order to create a diversified shopping expe-rience, and now it is awaiting tender offers. There will be a wide variety of product on offer in the shops, ranging from electronic goods to clothes, and with premises all smaller than 200 metres squared, meaning they are affordable for small and medium sized commercial companies.

Some of the companies that have expressed an interest include: Desigual, Custo, Lupo, Cacao Sampaka, Jofre, Vinçon, Casa Viva,

Friday Projects, Jordi Labanda, Misako, Rabat, Santa Eulàlia and Nice Day Nice Things. As well, those companies already present in the T-Nord can also participate in the T-Sud. Regarding eateries, the Áreas group, with its headquarters in Barcelona, has already said it will take part in the ten-der process for the T-Sud. This group mana-ges also bookshops and others selling travel complements and products connected to the city, like Barça goods.

The tender winners will be announced in the month of October, making the commer-cial offer at Barcelona Airport more and more attractive. It’s now just a question of waiting to see who wins!

barcelona sees freight traffic increase by 7.7% to april

The Catalan capital’s airport handled 35,342.54 tonnes of freight during the first four months of 2008, a rise of 7.7% compared to the same period last year.

According to geographical areas, national traffic fell to 25.5% while trade via airfreight with the European Union, the main market for the Catalan airport, rose by 2.1% (20.926,92 tones). Regarding the rest of international destinations, traffic with the rest of Europe rose by 182.4%; regarding North America, the rise was 153.5%; for Asia-Pacific it was 246.2%, and with the Middle East the increase was 10%.

Barcelona closed 2007 handling a total of 96,769.57 tonnes of freight, a rise of 3.6%. It was the only large Spanish airport not to record a fall in freight, growing at above the average rate for 2007.

The Board at the Port Authority of Barcelona (APB) has awarded a tender bid for the work on the enlargement at the Moll Sud (south docks) to the company Dragados, S.A. at a cost of 40,316,652 euros (VAT excluded). This work will create 18 new hectares of port area, and when added to that of Terminal de Contenidors de Barcelona, S.L. (TCB), the Port will boast an operative surface area of 91.5 ha in the Moll Sud and Moll Álvarez de la Campa, with a capacity to handle 2.1 million TEUs a year.

the port of barcelona gives go-ahead for works valued at 100 million euros

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barcelona infrastructures

second phase of the enlargement at moll adossat

The APB has also agreed to an enlargement to Moll Adossat, 2nd phase B. These new docks, which will be used for containers and general freight, will have a docking length of 1,035 metres, with a 16-metre draught, and a ramp for traffic on its southern wing. The docks will boast 15-metre high cranes, and it is to be built with 25 prefabricated reinforced concrete boxes on a cement bed.

The Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, inau-gurated last June the new terminal A cruise facility belonging to company Creuers del Port, located in the Moll Adossat docks at the Port of Barcelona.

Constructed in the same space as the old Terminal A, the works have cost 15 mi-llion euros –a large investment for a facility that unites quality, security, services and comfort for passengers and agents.

The new maritime station has a surface area of 8,300 squared metres, of which 5,900 are for clients, with a 350-metre-long mooring, 2 passenger walkways, a commercial area, a taxi rank and bus sta-tion, amongst other facilities, and the ca-pacity to handle 4,000 passengers.

Linking the terminal via a 450-metre-long walkway to the Terminal B will mean ships holding 6,000 and 7,000 passengers can

still be handled –like those of the Gene-sis project which are currently being built and which should be operative from 2009. This means that the Port of Barcelona, along with that of Florida in the United States, will be the only ones in the world that can handle mega cruisers in purpose built facilities.

The Port Authority’s investment and mar-ket strategy was highlighted during the inauguration, as was that of the company Creuers del Port, which since being star-ted nine years ago has invested 50 million euros in its five terminals, two of which are in the World Trade Center, and the others being Terminals A, B and C.

Delta Air Lines will offer a new exclusive check-in service at the Port of Barcelona for passengers that have taken a cruise and then fly from Barcelona to the United States.

Clients that arrive at Terminal B on Royal Caribbean International, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Holland America cruises will en-joy the comfort of this check-in, baggage check-in, and boarding card issuing service for their final destinations. As well, there will be check-in areas available for clients that use Delta’s two direct flights between Barcelona and the United States.

delta air lines will offer check-in at the port de barcelona for cruise passengers

barcelona inaugurates new terminal A for cruisers

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barcelona flying

barcelona in the world

business bridge in johannesburg and cape town

morocco and catalonia develop air connections Barcelona’s Committee for the Develop-ment of Air Routes (CDRA) and Royal Air Morocco have signed an agreement by whi-ch the Moroccan carrier agrees to promote and improve air connections between Ca-talonia and Morocco. The agreement was signed last June during a trading mission in Casablanca, Maroc’08.

The objective of the Maroc’08 trading mis-sion was to bring business people and insti-tutions from Spain and Morocco together to detect new business opportunities. As such, one of the strong points of the meeting was the setting up of a network of contacts that facilitate freight transport between Spain and Morocco, and that can help generate trade between the two countries.

According to the director of the Spanish delegation at Royal Air Morocco and presi-dent of the Chamber of Commerce of Mo-rocco in Spain, Abdelhamid Khalil, “Cata-lonia is a priority market for this company -it accounts for nearly 52% of the whole Spanish market; it is positioned strategi-cally both industrially and in terms of bu-siness, and also because of its role develo-ping and strengthening relations between Morocco and Spain”.

Over the last few years, the Catalan market has grown continuously above the Spanish average. With 16 flights a week to the ca-pital of Catalonia, the national carrier of Morocco recorded a rise of almost 60% in passenger traffic last year.

The company forecasts 13% increases in the future and it expects this positive forecast will also be seen in its results in Catalonia.

Barcelona City Council and Barcelona’s Chamber of Commerce organised a Busi-ness Bridge to Johannesburg and Cape Town from June 30th to July 4th last summer.

This mission continued working at promo-ting Barcelona, its institutions and especia-lly its businesses internationally. The main objectives were:

• Analyse the opportunities, trends and competitive factors present in the region of Gauteng, Johannesburg, the region of Wes-tern Cape, and Cape Town.• Share experiences and help our compa-nies to be more international.• Promote Barcelona and its economic and social environment.

the richest in sub-saharan africa

South Africa is the richest economy of any country in the Sub-Saharan African region, with a rise in GDP of 5% over the last few years. This factor creates a favourable con-text for business. The priority sectors are infrastructures, construction, energy, car industry (components and finished vehi-cles), technology and industrial machinery,

chemicals business (derivatives of hydro-carbons), pharmaceuticals, ICTs (mobile telephone, electronics and audiovisuals), agro foods business (wine and gour-met products), the environmental sector, tourism, services and consumption pro-ducts (the habitat, leather goods, shoes).

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Barcelona Activa and Cape Town Partner-ship will cooperate in those sectors con-sidered priority areas for Barcelona and Cape Town, like the knowledge economy and creative and cultural industries.

Jordi William Carnes, President of Barce-lona Activa, and Andrew Boraine, Mana-ging Director of Cape Town Partnership, signed an agreement last July as part of a series of promotional activities organised by Barcelona City Council and Barcelona’s Chamber of Commerce. The so-called Bu-siness Bridge’s objectives were to analyse opportunities, economic trends and com-petitive factors in the region of Gauteng, Johannesburg, the region of Western Cape, and Cape Town. Furthermore, another ob-jective was to share experiences and help the internationalisation of our companies and promote our city and its economic and social environment.

The agreement includes different areas of action, like promoting cooperation between the aforementioned sectors. As well, it in-

collaboration agreement between barcelona activa and cape town partnership

cludes a commitment to exchange good practice examples in private and public sectors in the context of entrepreneurship, business growth, human capital, emplo-yment, urban regeneration, and also the strategic development of the city.

transformation via the entrepreneurship initiative

Barcelona Activa, the City Council’s Local Development Agency, has the mission of promoting the transformation of Barcelona via the entrepreneurship initiative, human capital, professional opportunities and qua-lity employment.

Cape Town Partnership is a public-private entity that aims to develop, manage and promote the central city of Cape Town as a location for all, and a leading centre for commercial and residential activities.

barcelona in the world

barcelona looks to china

barcelona’s urban planning will be shown at the expo shanghai 2010

The Universal Exposition to be held in Shanghai 2010 under the slogan “better city, better life” expects to get 70 million visitors. It will be dedicated to urban plan-ning and how to improve quality of life. Barcelona, showing in a prime position between London and Hong Kong, will pre-sent its two principal projects: the renewal of the Old City and the conversion of the in-dustrial area of Poblenou in the new 22@Barcelona technology district. Barcelona will explain its urban development model, which combines tradition and modernity in the same city.

The Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, along with his Shanghai counterpart, Han Zheng, have recently signed an agreement to gua-rantee the Catalan capital’s participation in

the Universal Exposition of Shanghai from May 1st to October 31st, 2010. Twinned with the giant Chinese city, Barcelona will have a space of 638 m2 in one of the “Ha-bitable Cities” pavilions, where 55 projects will be shown. Four other Spanish cities will be participating: Madrid, Zaragoza, Santiago de Compostela and Bilbao.

The relationship between Barcelona and China goes back to the end of the eighties. In the commercial area, we can highlight the Port of Barcelona, which sees 30% of its container traffic coming from this coun-try. On the other hand, Casa Asia (Asia House) stands out in the cultural area. As well, during 2008 Barcelona hosted the first international Asian tourism congress and the Global China Business Meeting.

Shanghai is considered the commercial and financial centre of continental China, with its strong industrial manufacturing and technology base. Its port is one of the world leaders in terms of container traffic. Since 2005 it has been the world’s most important cargo port, handling 560 million tonnes a year. The Shanghai Bourse is the fastest growing in the world.

On the other hand, Guangzhou, located about 120 km northwest of Hong Kong, is the economic centre of the Pearl River Delta and one of mainland China’s leading commercial and manufacturing regions.

The business sector in the Barcelona area is highly internationalised and 22% of expor-ting companies in Spain are located here.

barcelona in the world

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Barcelona hosted the Global China Business Meeting this November 17-19th in the World Trade Center. Considered one of the major world summits for Chinese business people and their European counterparts, the Global China Business Meeting will bring the main Chinese companies and their world partners together in Barcelona. Some 400 business leaders from around the world will take part under the slogan “Globalizing Chi-nese Firms”.

This event is organised yearly by the company Horasis, and this fourth edition has seen Casa Asia hosting the event, with Barcelona City Council, the regional authority Generali-tat de Catalonia, and ICEX as collaborating institutions.

This year’s edition placed special emphasis on the relationship between China and other emerging countries in South America, the Middle East, India and Africa, with the objective of analysing opportunities and the impact on the fast growing, global business of Chinese companies.

fourth edition of the global china business meeting

The meeting also included parallel debate sessions on different questions like Chine-se investments in Europe, the importance of logistics, air and maritime transport and the relationship between China and Latin America and Africa, and the main finan-cial markets. Over the last three years, this congress has positioned itself as the platform for Chinese businesses that are looking to globalise their operations in western economies.

The Economic Promotion Department and Barcelona’s Chamber of Commerce or-ganized a Business Bridge to China from November 8th-15th this year. The mission visited Shanghai, the province of Zhejiang, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

This business aimed to further the inter-national projection of Barcelona, its insti-tutions and especially its business. These missions aimed to provide participants with the best tools in order to achieve the following:

• Analyze the opportunities, economic trends and competitive factors in the pro-

vinces of Shanghai, Zhejiang, Guangzhou and Hong Kong• Share experiences and help internationa-lize our companies• Promote Barcelona and its economic and social environment

The delegation, led by Barcelona Mayor, Jordi Hereu and Jose Manuel Basáñez, First Vice-Chairman of Barcelona’s Cham-ber of Commerce visited emblematic com-panies and entities in the area of Shang-hai, Zhejiang, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. The five-day program included various seminars, presentations and networking events.

boom and economic growth

In 2007 the province of Barcelona carried out 79.6% of Catalan exports and 22% of total Spanish exports. The total value of exports from the province of Barcelona amounted to 40,000 million Euros. Catalonia represents within Spain the first exporting region to China (27.8% of total Spanish exports) and accounts for 31% of total Spanish imports.The main products purchased by Catalonia from China are machinery, and electrical and mechanical equipment. Half of the Chinese imported products are textiles, furniture and decoration objects.

In terms of investing in China, Catalonia ranks as a first position amongst the rest of the Spanish Autonomous communities, holding 76% of the total foreign investment in China. On the other hand, China occupies fourth position regarding foreign direct investment in Catalonia, after Germany, Italy and France.

To get more information about the Barcelona Business Bridge, you can contact the follo-wing: Mrs. Glòria Perarnau at the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce’s International Pro-motion service (phone. 934 169 535, fax. 934 160 735, gperarnau@cambrabcn.org) or Ms. Verònica Tan at Barcelona City Council’s Economic Promotion department (tel. 93 256 3930; veronicatancn.cat)

business bridge in shanghai, the province of zhejiang, guangzhou and hong kong

barcelona in the world

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barcelona is fifth in world for cruises

The Port of Barcelona will this year become the fifth top port in the world for cruises in terms of passengers. The Port, which bet-ween January and August recorded almost 1,300,000 passengers, expects to reach a figure of 2 million passengers by the end of the year, a rise of 15% compared to last year, when it handled 1,765,838 passen-gers and 820 stopovers.

Above the Port of Barcelona in terms of passenger numbers we have the three large North American ports in the State of Florida –Miami, Port Canaveral and Port Evergla-des- and the Mexican port of Cozumel.

Lloyd’s Cruise International, an industry magazine, highlights the fact that the Ca-ribbean ports, the top area for cruises in the world, are experiencing very small ra-tes of growth, while the Mediterranean is the main emerging area for this type of bu-

the port of barcelona leads growth in the cruise sector in the mediterranean and europe

siness. It goes on to emphasise the special role of Barcelona as the benchmark cruise port in Europe and the Mediterranean. Bar-celona has made important investments to renew its existing terminals and to cons-truct others, and it makes special referen-ce to the new Terminal A inaugurated this year and operated by the company Creuers del Port de Barcelona. The new Terminal A has been designed to handle the biggest cruise boats that will be built over the for-thcoming years, some with 6,000 passen-gers. Currently, the Port of Barcelona has seven terminals just for cruise traffic, all boasting a complete service offer, security measures, and adaptable to the needs of each operator.

Lloyd’s Cruise International claims the loca-tion of these terminals, right at the heart of the city and its main tourism sights, is one of Barcelona’s key success points.

The magazine also highlights the specta-cular growth of international, Spanish and European passengers. Finally, Lloyd’s Crui-se International explains that Barcelona is consolidating its position as a homeport, with cruises that start and/or finish accoun-ting for a much higher percentage of total cruise passengers compared to those in transit. Barcelona, with 1,200,000 cruise passengers that started or ended their holi-days in its Port, occupies the fourth spot in the rankings for this category.

60% of the 1.7 million cruise passengers that stopped off in Barcelona in 2007 actually started or ended their trips in the Catalan capital. This means they generate more money for the city, since they spend a night or two at a city hotel. The indirect spend of these tourists for the city ranges from 125 to 130 million euros.

Forecasts for 2008 indicate that a figure of 2 million cruise passengers will be reached, and if so this will represent a rise of 13% on last year, while estimates also show there will be 900 stopovers by cruise boats this year, a rise of 10%.

Cruises represent 8% of all Port of Barcelona activities. Profits from the cruise sector also reach others.

cruise passengers spend 130 million euros per year in barcelona

As such, there has been an increase in in-ternational flights at the city airport, espe-cially those to the United States.

North American tourists travel by plane to Barcelona Airport to start their cruises in the city’s port. These passengers have be-come highly sought after as they are from the quality end of the tourism sector, which represents 15% of the wealth generated.

the port of barcelona inspires valparaíso

Chile’s top port has embarked on an am-bitious reform of its facilities to make them more competitive and increase its business. To do so, authorities have taken Barcelona’s facilities as a model for their own development.

The Port of Barcelona has become a source of inspiration for many cities on all the con-tinents. Valparaíso, Chile’s most important port, has also taken Barcelona as a model so that it can become more competitive, increase activity, and better integrate its fa-cilities into the city.

As such, last August Valparaíso opened a logistics zone 11 kms off the coast in or-der to reduce traffic in the port, following the same model as the Zona d’Activitats Logístiques (ZAL) in Barcelona. This is the most important development for the port, which as in the case of Barcelona, carries out all the necessary customs processes, and offers clients –importers and expor-ters- the possibility of renting or buying logistics space, warehousing, and offices. As well, the Port of Valparaíso will return 20 hectares of its current land to the city to construct the so-called Puerto Barón ur-

ban, leisure and entertainment complex, just like Port Vell in Barcelona.

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barcelona fairs

Barcelona held the 10th edition of the International Logistics and Maintenance Fair (SIL) last June. The fair, held in Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via halls, has become a benchmark event in Spain and the South of Europe.

Barcelona, and Catalonia in a wider sense, forms the main gateway for products entering Spain. The city and its metropolitan area, with just a five-kilometre radius, makes up a logistics space that includes the airport, port, ZAL –zone of logistics activities-, the Zona Franca (free trade zone), and a variety of urban distribution centres and railway terminals which are all necessary for the development of large scale, quality logistics activities.

The Catalan capital knows that holding an event like SIL means professionals can update their knowledge on the present and future trends in the sector; it also knows the relative weight that the logistics sector plays in the city’s economy.

During the SIL opening ceremony, Jordi William Carnes, Deputy Mayor and Coun-cillor for Fiscal Policy and Economic Pro-motion, highlighted the fact that events like SIL help place Barcelona on the world lo-gistics map, not just for its logistics assets, but also because it is a decision centre in a sector which is vital for the competitivity of the economy.

This year’s edition includes an exhibition area of 70,000 metres squared with more than 1,000 participating companies ge-nerating business with 2 billion euros and more than 48,000 visits.

After 10 years, SIL is a nationally and in-ternationally renowned fair. With the help of its professionals and companies, SIL has managed to consolidate and become Spain’s top event as well as Europe’s se-cond most important logistics fair. In this sense, Barcelona plays an important role as the capital of Catalan logistics, supplying a hinterland of 16 million people and mee-ting the needs of an important swathe of industrial and commercial activities.

sil, 10 years of international prestige

sil helps place barcelona on the world logistics map

barcelona to host 2009 carbon expo

Barcelona will host the 2009 Carbon Expo fair, the main in-ternational event dealing with the control of carbon emissions.

To make this possible, Fira de Barcelona has joined with the event’s promoters, the World Bank, IETA (International Emissions Trading Association) and the Cologne Trade Fair, the usual location for the fair.

Carbon Expo, which follows a mixed format with a congress and fair, offers services and products to make the emissions market more efficient, like innovative technology

to reduce emissions. In the last few years, the fair has seen continuous growth and is now consolidated as a world event for the exchange of knowledge and experiences in the area of carbon emissions.

The agreement between the four entities in-volved establishes that the fira will be held in the capital of Catalonia in 2009 and the following year in Cologne. The increasing sensitivity to environmental issues in Barce-lona and its ability, through Fira de Barcelo-na, to organise large-scale events were key to being chosen host city. This, then, repre-

sents another example of how bringing large international events to the city can contribu-te to the promotion of our economic sectors abroad. It also strengthens Barcelona’s posi-tion as one of the best platforms in Europe for large meetings. Fira de Barcelona keeps adding to its por-tfolio of fairs with significant international events. These are captured by institutions like Bread & Butter, Mobile World Congress, EIBTM, the 2009 European Cardiology Congress, after holding its world congress in 2006, and also Itma in 2011.

barcelona fairs

15

barcelona guarantees mobile world congress till 2012

An accord agreed to by GSMA partners (Generalitat, City Hall, Turisme de Barce-lona and the Guild of Hoteliers) effectively guarantees the continuity of the congress in the Catalan capital.

Managing Director of the GSMA Congress Division, John Hoffman, has assured that the key to consolidating the congress’s position as the main event in the mobile sector is that Barcelona is an ideal location for this type of event. “Barcelona is a safe place to do business and we want to conti-nue maintaining this.”

After three successful years in the city, the Mobile World Congress will hold its next edition from February 16-19th, 2009.

innovation and investments

Apart from what the congress brings to tourism sectors, commerce and eateries, the De-puty Mayor at Barcelona City Council, Jordi William Carnes, highlights the fact that the congress should bring positive spillovers for the city’s new economy.

Barcelona shouldn’t be “just a place for innovation, but rather somewhere to make in-vestments”. The focus in these new times is moving towards technology and the many transactions and investments that this factor brings.

protocol for adhering hotels

Given that the hotel sector is one of the keys to the development of the congress, the novelty in terms of future editions is a protocol for adhering hotels signed by 234 esta-blishments in the city in order to guarantee block reservations and price stability. Hotels Guild President Jordi Clos has highlighted that the delivery of services in city hotels has brought an image of quality to Barcelona.

These 234 hotels have some 18,000 rooms in the city blocked for Mobile World Congress delegates and visitors.

Some 55,000 visitors took part in the last edition of the Mobile World Congress in Februa-ry and the number of exhibitors participating in the Fira de Barcelona halls was 1,300.

barcelona 22@

generalitat, barcelona city council and 22@barcelona develop knowledge centres in the innovation district

the objective is to improve economic promotion and innovation policies in the municipality

Huguet assured that the Government has “a special interest in the promotion of these centres” to make them benchmarks in their own fields: media, ICT (information and com-munications technology), medical and design technologies.

“Barcelona is betting on a new production model that maintains traditional models”, adding to these elements from the Barcelona of 2020. The President of the municipal company 22@Barcelona, Jordi William Carnes, defended the importance of this new pro-ject, which forms part of the economic promotion and innovation policies in the district.

a new production model

Jordi Hereu pointed out that the project is an example of the value of “joining to-gether to push forward with a new model for the city”, which is part of an overall countrywide strategy. In this sense, Hereu also explained that Barcelona “will be even more of a capital when it works together as a network” in society.

The Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, the Regional Minister for Innovation, Universities and Business at the Generalitat de Catalunya, Josep Huguet, and the President of the municipal company 22@Barcelona, Jordi William Carnes, have signed two accords to locate four new buildings in the 22@Barcelona district, with the objective of creating knowledge transfer centres. These are: Centre Tecnològic LEITAT (Production techno-logies), the Centre Tecnològic Barcelona Media Centre d’Innovació (Audiovisuals), the Barcelona Digital Centre Tecnològic (Information and Communications Technologies) and the Centre Bressol de Moda (Textiles).

The participating institutions now have to establish the general conditions for the development of the centres based on their commitment to contribute to the impro-vement of economic promotion and inno-vation in the municipality, by generating creative activities, the establishment of in-frastructure facilities for knowledge in the city of Barcelona and especially the tech-nology district 22@Barcelona.

1�

barcelona 22@

The technology centres that will be located in 22@Barcelona already operate today, but they will be moved to the innovation district to take advantage of the facilities and inter-connectivity with other compa-nies in their sector, universities, and re-search centres found in the area.

Barcelona Digital Centre Tecnològic works in the area of applied information techno-logies in the healthcare sector and in mo-bility and security technologies applied to any sector.

Barcelona Media Centre d’Innovació is fo-cused on applied research in the area of communication and media, while Centre Tecnològic Leitat offers services for compa-nies in the industrial sector, adding techno-logical value to products and processes.

three technology centres

Centre Bressol de Moda is a newly created centre born out of the idea of helping to make the textile and fashion sectors more dynamic. It is an initiative that is designed to prepare young designers for the business world, helping develop their talent, offering support for the creation of their businesses and being a meeting point for stakeholders in the fashion system.

The Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, has signed an accord to help medical technology companies set up in the 22@Barcelona technology district and as such boost Barcelona’s position in the world in this sector. Hereu assured the Council will develop policies so that “research reaches business projects” and so that medical technology companies become “large companies developed in Barcelona”. The agreement will help position the city in the world of large companies, having already done the same for universities, research and development.

For the Mayor, this accord has to help the transfer of knowledge needed to set up im-portant business projects in the city and to improve the competitiveness of the sector in Catalonia. “We will have strategies grounded in the city that will help companies in the medical technologies sector to grow”, explained Hereu.

barcelona to boost medical technologies in 22@barcelona

formalising the agreement

The Managing Director at Barcelona Biomedical Research Park, Jordi Camí, also showed his support for the development project as it would bring incentives to companies to work in the biotechnology field.

On the other hand, special delegate for 22@Barcelona, Josep Miquel Piqué, has highlig-hted that the agreement is only the formalisation of a way of creating scientific, technolo-gical and business collaboration that is in fact already being carried out.

TeleTech, a contracts processing multinational, has rented 867 squared metres of offi-ce space in the Badajoz building, located in 22@Barcelona. Tele Tech thus leaves its previous location in a building also located in 22@Barcelona, which has 3,374 metres squared. The company has offices in more than 18 countries and manages more than 3.5 million operations in more than 29 languages.

rented 8�7 squared metres of office space in the 22@barcelona district

Piqué signalled that the city should be ex-cellent in science, and in this sense the new cluster is the start of Barcelona’s business growth in biomedical material.

17

barcelona 22@

The technology district 22@Barcelona has been chosen by Toshiba for its customer service centre. This computer company has moved its centre here to deal with Spa-nish clients.

The call centre is managed externally via the Sitel company, and it boasts 15 agents that attend 10,000 calls monthly from clients, in Spanish and Catalan. The centre, opera-ting since last June, occupies 125 squared metres of office space and the total cost to Toshiba is 1 million euros a year.

toshiba moves telephone support centre to 22@barcelona

The last centre, which was in Toronto (Ca-nada), has moved to Barcelona to be clo-ser to Spanish clients and thus offer better services.

The relative weight of Catalonia in Toshiba’s business is getting bigger and bigger. Last fiscal year 2007, the Catalan market re-corded incomes of 91 million euros, 78% more than the previous year. This quantity represents 25% of Toshiba Ibèrica’s busi-ness, which turned over 364 million euros in 2007, 21% more than in 2006.

Laptops, the company’s star product, also followed this trend. In Catalonia they sold 100,000 units from a total of some 541,000 units sold in Spain. For 2008, forecasts show a rise in incomes of 10% to 400 million euros and an increase in units sold of 25%.

barcelona companies

puig group beats forecasts with a rise in net profits of 130%

Puig Beauty & Fashion -a perfume, cosmetics and fashion group- obtained a net profit of 34 million euros in 2007, more than twice the 15 million recorded in the year previous, showing a rise of 130%. This Catalan com-

pany achieved incomes of 954 million euros the same year, way up on the company’s set target and representing a 12% increase. According to company sources, these results make Puig one of the fastest growing companies in the sector.

Spain is the main Puig group market since it represents 34% of its incomes. The rest of Europe accounts for 31% of business, while the American continent makes up 24% of incomes. As such, this historic family-run company sells its products in 150 countries and has branches in 23 of these. The group has eight factories across Spain, France and Mexico, with a total of 4,000 employees.

The perfume division represents 80% of group sales thanks to products like 212 Sexy Man from Carolina Herrera; Nina from Nina Ricci; Black XS from Paco Rabanne and Green Tea from Adolfo Domínguez. 14% of its business comes from the cos-metics division, while 6% corresponds to Puig’s third largest division, fashion, with brands like Carolina Herrera, Paco Raban-ne and Olivier Theyskens for Nina Ricci.

grífols constructs new plants in vallès and los angeles

Last June plasma derivates producer Grífols presented

its growth plans for the next few years, which featured investments valued at 400 million euros. The company will construct two new factories in Parets del Vallès and one in Los Angeles (USA), whilst enlar-ging its current facilities dedicated to the fragmentation of plasma and obtaining plasma derivates like albumin. The ob-jective is to increase production capacity through to 2018.

In Parets del Vallès (Barcelona), the com-pany is set to construct a factory for ma-king fibrin glue, organic glue that is still at the clinical investigation stage, but that

will be launched on the market in four years. This is the first product of these characteristics that Grífols is developing and this will have applications in cardio-logy and other surgery.

In the United States, it will construct a plant for Flebogamma DIF, the company’s star plasma derivative product, which is currently only produced in Parets. With the new factory, the company expects to do-uble its annual production capacity.

The company also expects to enlarge its facilities for the fragmentation of plasma in Parets, with a new production line that will be located on land bought from Novar-

tis at the beginning of the year. In the US, the company will open its second plasma analysis centre in Texas.

18

era biotech about to bring new partners onboard

Era Biotech, a company headquartered at Barcelona Science Park, is about to clo-se a deal to increase its capital by 5 mi-llion euros in order to finance R&D up to 2010. The company’s shareholders have

committed to raising 2 million euros, and the other three million will come from a capital risk company that would become a shareholder.

The company’s shareholders are both its founders and employees at the same time, with 47.25% of the shares, along with ca-pital risk fund BCN Emprèn –financed by Barcelona City Council, the Catalan Insti-tute of Finances, Invertec –which reports to Cidem-, and the Uninvest and Reus Ca-pital Risc funds, which make up 52.7%.

This biotechnology company founded in 2002 has its main activities in the pro-

The creation of funds specialised in biotechnology is already a reality in Spain. Ysios Capital Partners, located in the Science Park, was set up just a few months ago. It has up to 70 million in its fund; another is Unio-Biofocus promoted by BCN Ventures.

funds for biotech

barcelona companies

barcelona tourism

barcelona goes for quality tourism

During the presentation of the new Strate-gic Plan for Tourism in the city of Barcelo-na, Jordi Hereu, Mayor of Barcelona, said the result should be better quality tourism and a more competitive sector.

The plan will have a time line taking Barcelona’s tourism from 2010 to 2015, although it may go even further into the future. The idea behind the plan is think about the city’s future positioning after a brilliant 15-year-long growth period when Barcelona has positioned itself as one of the main tourism cities in Europe. Hereu said the city had gone from 4.5 million tourists 15 years ago to 13.5 million now. He added: “quantity and quality are com-patible, and this has been the case over the last 15 years, although if we ever re-ached a moment when they became in-compatible then Barcelona would go for quality.”

Joan Gaspart, President of Barcelona’s Tourism Board, signalled that since 1993, when Turisme de Barcelona was founded, the city has received 58.1 million tourists, meaning a growth of 190% in visitors and 220% in overnights, something that hasn’t been seen in any other city in the world.

duction of proteins via the so-called Zera technology, developed by two investigators at the Spanish National Research Concil (CSIC). Zera is a system that allows cells to produce complex proteins easier, like insulin.

The company has developed four families of patents and has more than 30 colla-boration projects with universities and companies that use its technology. Two examples include an agreement with the University of Cape Town in South Africa to investigate Aids, and another with the University of Arizona (USA) for vaccinatio-ns for animals.

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barcelona tourism

According to the ICCA (International Con-gress and Convention Association), the main organism in the sector, Barcelona is one of the most preferred destinations for professionals organising events periodically in different countries.

In 2007 the city played host to 106 mee-tings (including congresses, conventions, and events), taking it to the fourth posi-tion in the world rankings behind Vienna, Berlin, Singapore, and Paris. Nevertheless, regarding the number of delegates, Barce-lona came in second place with 108,983 participants behind Vienna. Madrid is lo-cated further down the ranking. According to the ICCA ranking, the capital of Spain stood in 10th position, with 77 meetings and 60,000 professionals.

international meetings and congresses choose barcelona

Congress tourism generated up to 1.7 billion euros for Barcelona, while the figure for Madrid stood at 800,000 euros.

The Plan aims to guarantee the sustainabi-lity and continuity of Barcelona’s successful tourism sector over the next fifteen years. This will come in two phases: an initial one that will run to the summer of 2009, and a second one running to June 2010 during which time the model will be analysed, including contributions from citizens and other city stakeholders.

a plan that includes everyone

Barcelona Medical Centre (BCM), an asso-ciation that brings together the best clinics and private medical centres, wants to at-tract more foreign patients to the Catalan capital given the quantity and quality of its health centres. Created twenty years ago, BCM is dedicated to the promotion of Bar-celona as a world benchmark in the heal-thcare field.

Presided over by the President of Barcelona’s Chamber of Commerce, Miquel Valls, in co-llaboration with fellow members La Caixa, Iberia, Grup Godó, Grup Planeta, Hotels Hilton, Hotels Husa, Esteve laboratories, Ferrer, Uriach, Pfizer, T-Systems and Iber-plan, the association’s board will now de-bate and exchange ideas in order to push the project forward.

Board members will destine 500,000 euros to the international promotion of private healthcare in addition to a sum estimated at 500,000 euros from the Generalitat, the Catalan regional authorities, as part of the Health Sector’s Internationalisation Plan. BCM’s objective is to double the number of patients from aboard that come to the city for some sort of medical treatment over the next three years.

a bet on health tourism: barcelona medical centre

In 2007 BCM centres received visits from some 2,000 foreign patients, generating a spend of almost 12 million euros. Some of the main markets abroad include the Eu-ropean Union, Argentina, USA, Russia and Arab countries like Algeria and Saudi Ara-bia. BCM has signed an accord with Russia whereby members of private health asso-ciations can receive medical treatment in Barcelona and another is to be signed with Turkey.

According to BCM, its members total 3,520 professionals with 1,321 beds. In Cata-lonia, private hospital centres account for 19.6% of beds and generate a turnover of 1,000 million euros a year.

www.bcn.cat/barcelonabusiness

barcelonagood news summer-autum 2008 n.44

copyright registration number: B-38-065-206

publisher: Economic Promotion Departmentmanagement: Foreign Economic Promotioneditor: Isabel Carranza, Olga Lópezimage coordinator: Margarita Cabrerodesign and layout: el estudio del armario blancoaddress: C/ Llacuna, 162-164, 1st floor - 08018 Barcelona tel.: 93 256 39 17 - fax: 93 485 34 60 - e-mail: proeconomica-ajbcn@bcn.cat

Vueling and Clickair in a merger process

The shareholders of Vueling and Clickair, with headquarters at Barcelona Airport, passed a motion to begin a merger pro-cess last July with the idea of creating one company that will operate mainly in the low cost sector. The majority of the capital will be in the hands of Iberia, with 45% of shares, while the rest of the capital will be shared between Inversions Hemisferio, with 15%, and Nefinsa, that has the majority of Air Nostrum, with 5%.

Mango opens its first shop in an American airport in San Francisco

The Catalan fashion chain Mango continues its international expansion. During June, it opened its ninth shop in Hong Kong, a second in Azerbaijan, three in Romania and one in Portugal.

In the United States, the firm already has 20 shops, with new ones in Boston, Chicago, New York and San Francisco. In the case of the Californian city, it’s the first time that Man-go has opened in an airport in North America.

The company expects to close 2008 with 180 new sales points. The chain already has 1,100 in 90 countries.

Freixenet invests 16 million in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia

Wines group Freixenet has invested 16 million euros in a new production line for the the fabrication of cava bottles in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, where it has its cellars. The new line is still at the test stage, but should be up-and-running in 2009.

To mark the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 and the Shang-hai Universal Exposition 2010, the Catalan company has decided to beef up its presence in this giant Asiatic country. Freixenet supplies more than 100,000 bottles a year to Chi-na, and hopes to consolidate its presence there through a Shanghai sales office.

In the future, the company will concentrate on its traditional markets, especially Germany, Great Britain, United States, Japan, France and Spain.

Bardehle Pagenberg opens an office in Barcelona

Bardehle Pagenberg, a German legal firm specialised in in-tellectual property, opened an office in Barcelona last June. The objective of the new centre is to bring a local presence regarding the patenting needs of its Spanish and international clients in Spain.

Barcelona is the fifth office that Bardehle Pagenberg has opened in Europe. The others are in Düsseldorf, Paris, Alicante and Munich, where its headquarters are located. Here the firm specialises in patents and its lawyers offer services to inter-national industrial clients regarding litigation, patent manage-ment, and the strengthening of intellectual property rights.

La Caixa opens office for Asian market

La Caixa, a Catalan savings bank, opened a special office in Barcelona last June to advise clients with interests in Asia, gi-ven the social and economic growth and general development of this country. The centre is located in part of the bank’s offices in the Catalan capital, where 25% of Spain’s Chinese population resides, and boasts a team of Asian officers which helps companies, individual business people, and import and export companies.

Draco System increases business through Smart Eyes brand

Draco Systems, specialised in the design of image and control systems, will launch a new line of products under the Smart Eyes brand in 2009. The company is specialised in visual component technology and invests half of its turnover on inno-vation. Draco has structured its business along two lines. On the one hand, the development of made-to-measure technolo-gy solutions for companies that externalise their R&D, and on the other hand, they commercialise products like IP cameras for intelligent security analysis under the Smart Eyes brand.

Boehringer Ingelheim investment

Boehringer Ingelheim will invest 6.3 million euros in its fac-tory in Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona) to set up a new production line for injectables. This line will be working flat out in 2011, raising production capacity to 245 million bottles a year.

barcelona business notes