At the Círculo de Economía conference in Sitges, near Barcelona, startups have been paid their due in a event today revealing the attraction of Catalonia for talent, and Barcelona specifically, and the opportunities offered by the city. The news in recent weeks of companies opening headquarters in Catalonia (link in Catalan) also marked the roundtable.
The debate involved figures like the founder of SocialCar, a peer-to-peer car rental firm in Spain, Mar Alarcón; Banc Sabadell's director of prudential regulation, Maurici Lucena; the CEO of Schibsted Spain, a media and classified ads company, Estanis Martín de Nicolás and the founder of Asabys Partners, a consultancy firm, Josep Ll. Sanfeliu. They discussed the problems startups face getting on their feet and the lack of investment in such companies.
Barcelona, attracting talent and investment
The Catalan capital ranks among the most attractive cities for entrepreneurs and accounts for 58% of all investment in startups in Spain by itself.
Mar Alarcón, who founded SocialCar in 2011, "at a time when the world of startups was still very small", emphasised that Barcelona is consolidating its position in this ecosystem and that "a third of the entrepreneurs come from abroad and stay, thanks to everything that the city offers". Alarcón says that "it's necessary to maintain this ecosystem of attraction and retention of talent we've achieved".
Estanis Martín, meanwhile, is CEO of Schibsted Spain, the Spanish subsidiary of a Norwegian group which has committed strongly to Spain, buying companies like Infojobs and Fotocasa. They've also "very clearly bet on Barcelona, with the intention of turning it into our hub, because it's a very good place to attract talent and where people want to come to work".
Criticisms of the government and lack of investment
One of the great problems they agree on is the "lack of investment", thanks to a large extent to "the minimal involvement of the central government".
Maurici Laurena, who works at Banc Sabadell, believes that the "R+D is an area which needs to be promoted by the government". "It's desirable for the government to intervene to improve the productivity of companies, but these public interventions have to be assessed in context," he said.
He believes that "the education system, the working of the justice system, the financial system, etc, also have a lot to do with the health of the economic ecosystem. Catalonia, and Barcelona specifically, are headed in a very good direction".
On the other hand, according to Alarcón, one of the problems causing the lack of investment in Spain is that "confidence is needed, which everyone has to create, not only entrepreneurs but the whole ecosystem. The regulations for the investor have to be very clear and secure".
Alarcón explains that "the economy ministry of the Catalan government is the only one which has taken a step to promote entrepreneurship and the collaborative economy, something which hasn't been done in any other autonomous community, let alone by the central government".