 Over the last 20 years, Barcelona’s economy, urban planning and infrastructure have undergone a radical transformation, turning the city into an internationally recognised tourist destination and economic hub.
Barcelona is the centre of a metropolitan area with a population of almost 5 million. It is the sixth largest urban area in Europe in terms of population, and the fifth in terms of its industrial workforce. Barcelona is a city whose economic base has been transformed. Industry continues to carry significant weight (around 13% of the workforce) but services have come to play a pre-eminent role (82% of employment). Sectors like business services and those activities related to tourism and commerce also play a key role in the city’s economy. In recent years, a sector that has experienced dynamic growth and diversification is the so-called “quinary sector,” comprising a group of strategically important industries such as health, culture, education, art and entertainment - all linked to innovation and creativity, areas in which Barcelona has enormous potential. The city’s existing infrastructure, along with projects such as the extension to the port, the new airport terminal and the high-speed rail connection, will consolidate Barcelona as Southern Europe's largest logistics hub. Notably, Barcelona’s role as a cruiser port and turnaround base for the most important Mediterranean cruise lines has contributed to the city’s status as a tourist destination at a global level. The city’s international reputation has also been enhanced by continual improvements to the quality of life of its residents, and the appeal of a range of factors such as climate, geographical location, local lifestyles and Mediterranean gastronomy. Together with the city’s rich historical and cultural heritage, the quality of its architecture and its high levels of social cohesion, these are the distinctive features of the so-called “Barcelona model”.
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 The 22@Barcelona project is in the process of transforming 200 hectares in the Poblenou area of Barcelona, turning this former industrial zone into an innovative economic district. It will offer cutting-edge infrastructure to encourage a strategic concentration of knowledge-intensive industries, through the development of urban clusters for each of five sectors: media, bio-medicine, information and communication technologies (ICT), energy and design. These zones will bring together the different institutions essential to the process of innovation – technologically advanced companies, universities and centres for ongoing training, centres for research and technology transfer – with organizations that facilitate interaction and communication between them. By December 31st 2008, a total of 1441 companies were established in the 22@Barcelona district, of which 68.4% were operating in sectors directly related to the strategic clusters developed within the area. The total number of people working in the district stands at around 42,000. In terms of company activity, the design sector is best represented, with 33% of the total activity, followed by ICT (31%) and media (19%), while 6% of companies are from the energy sector, and 4% work in medical technology..
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 Barcelona is working to strengthen its creative industries, both in terms of their cultural standing and their economic development, with the following high-profile projects:
The Media and Design clusters of the 22@district. The district is home to Barcelona Media Park, a large-scale multidisciplinary centre of excellence intended to bring together key players from the public and private sectors, to improve competitiveness and the city’s international profile within the audiovisual industry. At the same time, the Design cluster is intended to facilitate the strategic concentration of the principal economic, institutional, and educational players in the sector around the planned design centre DHUB. The Culture Institute of Barcelona’s project to convert abandoned factories and spaces currently in disuse into centres for creativity. These “creativity factories” are intended to alleviate the historic lack of workspaces for artists within the city, to raise the city's profile in the art market at a national and international level, and to act as a motor, generating new forms of creative activity in the neighbourhoods in which they are located. The project involves the renovation of seven buildings, representing a total of 30,000 m2, in particular the central structure of the Fabra i Coats factory in the Sant Andreu district – comprising some 12,000 m2 – and other former industrial sites such as Can Ricart, L’Escocesa in Poble Nou, and the Philips block on the main avenue of the Zona Franca.
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 Barcelona offers a competitive infrastructural network of transport and logistics options, benefiting from the proximity of the port and the airport, and by the ongoing expansion of both facilities. At the Port of Barcelona, 2008 saw the entry in to service of its new Terminal A at the Adossat Wharf, able to accommodate high-tonnage vessels. The building works currently underway will multiply the port’s total surface area by a factor of 2.3, allowing it to handle a throughput of up to 130 million tons and 10 million TEUs. At the same time, the recent opening of the new terminal at Barcelona Airport reinforces its position within Europe, and will increase its capacity for intercontinental flights.
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 Barcelona is a world-famous destination for urban tourism, which makes this area of activity – one which has experienced strong growth over the last decade – one of the pillars of the city’s economy. Taking this success as its starting point, and seeking to establish a model for tourism that balances the needs of residents and those of visitors, Barcelona’s Strategic Plan for Tourism has set its sights on 2015. Its objectives are to evaluate the impact of tourism on the city, to reflect on Barcelona's tourism model within a framework of sustainable growth, and to foster the positive involvement of the community. One economic sector that has benefited especially from the growth of tourism in Barcelona is retail, which receives more than 30% of the money spent by international visitors via credit card transactions. A key development in this context is the commercial association Barcelona Shopping Line, a five kilometre urban axis that links four of the city’s most attractive shopping districts.
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 For more than twenty years, the city of Barcelona has shown its commitment to promoting employment, enterprise and the competitiveness of its businesses through the work of Barcelona Activa, the City Council's local development agency. The organization runs initiatives designed to facilitate access to the world of work, offering users guidance on entering the job market, formal training and work-experience, as well as working to boost socio-economic activity and strengthen the networks of neighbourhood associations within the city. The organisation also provides training courses on career development, improving business competitiveness, and developing human capital. At the same, during 2008 Barcelona’s Centre for Entrepreneurial Initiative has quadrupled the number of centres at which it provides attention and consultancy services to new businesses. In the field of business growth, highlights include the business incubator, which provides a base for innovative new companies, the Xarxactiva business co-operation programme, the Day of the Entrepreneur event, and the support provided to companies in the processes of internationalization, gaining access to funding, developing inter-business co-operation and strategic management. Last but not least, the Cibernarium is both a business incubator for Internet-based companies, and a centre offering training in the use of new technologies.
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 Barcelona's attractiveness as a location, and its proven organizational capacity, have positioned it as a world leader in the organization of congresses and international business meetings, both at a European and a global level. In this context, Fira de Barcelona – with a portfolio of 80 exhibitions, bringing together 40,500 direct and indirect exhibitors, and welcoming 3,5 million visitors a year – plays a strategic role in the Spanish and Catalan economies as a platform for companies to promote themselves and gain international recognition. 15 of its exhibitions are European benchmarks, being among the top three in their respective sectors. The Fira is the leader in industrial and trade shows, contributing around 2,500 million Euros to the economy annually and helping to create 41,000 jobs. With its two venues - Montjuic and Gran Via – Fira de Barcelona boasts the largest trade fair floor space in Spain (362,000 m² of exhibition space) and one of the largest in Europe. A planned extension will increase the exhibition capacity by another 40,000 m².
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 The Barcelona Metropolitan Region encompasses three major areas of industrial, tertiary and logistic activities, with support structures in place to forward changes in its growth model towards a knowledge-based economy. Geographically it forms a triangular area of some 3,243 hectares, which contains the following zones: the International Gateway in the Llobregat district, with the key transport links of the port and the airport, as well as – adjacent to them – the Zona Franca; the Innovation and Creativity District 22@, which is driving the transformation of the industrial district of Poble Nou with the setting-up of knowledge-intensive businesses, and which will be completed with the construction of the inter-university campus in Besos and the development of the area around the high-speed rail station in Sagrera; and the Mediterranean Corridor in the Vallès area, bringing together a consolidated group of industrial, service and research parks, which gain a significant level of synergy from the proximity of the Barcelona Autonomous University, the ALBA synchrotron in Cerdanyola del Vallès, and the Creàpolis Innovation Center.
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 The food industry is a strategic sector for Barcelona’s future, due both to the size and importance of organisations such as Mercabarna or the city’s network of municipal markets, and also to the strength of the Alimentària food and beverage exhibition, and the international prestige of Catalan cuisine. The latest addition to these well-established elements is the Barcelona Food Platform, which will encourage the setting up of innovative businesses from the food sector, providing them with access to technological services designed to improve products, logistics and distribution, allowing companies to develop new products and increase their market penetration. The project’s aim is to use the most advanced technology to improve the quality of foodstuffs and guarantee food safety. The Barcelona Food Platform will enter service at the beginning of 2010, incorporating a space that will function as a link between universities and companies, a market research centre, a health and hygiene inspection service, and dedicated certification and auditing services. Altogether the project represents a strategic commitment to intensifying the pace of research and offering added value to companies in the sector. The project is an initiative of the Zona Franca Consortium, Barcelona City Council and the Government of Catalonia.
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