FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT 
IN CATALONIA AND BARCELONA
Executive Summary and Conclusions. February - April 2017
Foreign Direct Investment in Catalonia and Barcelona Executive summary2
Executive Summary
1.1 
Methodology and Objectives
The objectives of this study are to analyse the 
recent evolution of Foreign Direct Investment 
(FDI) in Catalonia and Barcelona1 and to 
understand the perception that foreign 
companies have of Catalonia and Barcelona as 
investment locations.
In order to prepare this study, both quantitative 
and qualitative techniques were used. For the 
quantitative analysis, several investment statistical 
sources and databases were examined, mainly 
UNCTAD, managed by the UN; Datainvex, by the 
Spanish Ministry of Economy; and fDi Markets, by 
the Financial Times. As for the qualitative analysis, 
different techniques were used: creation and gathering 
of a panel of 11 experts in foreign investment, 
followed by 18 in-depth interviews2 and a survey 
on 149 executives from foreign companies. The 
most innovative aspect of this study is the fact that 
the perceptions of companies that have never 
invested in the region could be analysed through 
the in-depth interviews and the survey. 
1.2
FDI Global Trends
In open, innovative, and inter-connected 
territories, FDI plays a key role as an enabler of 
economic growth and innovation transfer. The fact 
that almost 14 million jobs were created around 
the world through FDI Projects3 during the 2010-
2016 period shows that investment can also become 
a driver for job creation and talent attraction. In this 
sense, FDI is more important than ever before 
and regions are in an intense competition to attract 
investment flows and projects to their territories. 
Catalonia and Barcelona need to keep making efforts 
to maintain the territory as a preeminent investment 
destination.
 
The study shows that companies mostly invest 
abroad to access new markets, since 65% of 
all respondents chose this option. The second and 
third reasons to invest abroad fall far behind access 
to new markets, but show two specific trends: 
companies investing abroad to innovate in processes 
or products/services and proximity to products or 
services demanded by their local markets.
 
It is also important to understand the factors that 
companies analyse when deciding on an investment 
location. According to this study, the most 
important factor for executives when deciding 
where to invest is the market: its size, level of 
openness and its growth potential. Institutional 
factors and costs hold second and third positions 
respectively. In that sense, costs stands out as a 
fairly important issue to respondents. However, 
established companies in Catalonia not only 
fail to invest in the region because of its costs 
but because of other more value-added elements. 
Besides the top three influencing factors when 
deciding on a location in which to invest, an additional 
reason seems very relevant for most companies 
interviewed: human capital. In fact, certain 
executives pointed out the increasing relevance of 
talent availability as a key investment factor.
1 According to fDi Markets, references to “Barcelona” or 
“Barcelona Area” refers to its administrative region, equivalent to 
the third level of the Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics 
(NUTS 3) of the European Union. In the case of Catalonia, it refers 
to the province of Barcelona
2 The interviews, survey and sessions with the expert panel 
were conducted between February and April 2017
3 fDi Markets database
Foreign Direct Investment in Catalonia and Barcelona Executive summary3
1.3 
Key Findings and Conclusions
Catalonia and Barcelona are leading European 
regions when it comes to attraction of foreign 
direct investment, reaching the highest level of FDI 
inflows during the analysed period. FDI inflows hit a 
record high for two consecutive years, with €4,936 
million in 2015, and €5,052 million in 2016. 
Additionally, Catalonia was the first destination for 
FDI Projects in Spain, accounting for 35% of all 
projects attracted between 2010 and 2016. These 
projects helped to reduce unemployment by 
creating over 50,000 jobs and boosted Catalonia’s 
economy by generating $20 billion of capital 
investment.
Catalonia and Barcelona consolidated their 
attractiveness to the largest economies in 
the world as well as to emerging countries in 
foreign investment. The Top 5 investor countries in 
Catalonia and Barcelona consist of three European 
countries (Germany, France and the UK) and the 
US and Japan. Additionally, 15.9% of all projects 
were from Asian companies, which are the 
fastest-growing contributors to the world’s FDI. 
Catalonia was the main Spanish destination (with 
a 40% share) for FDI Projects coming from China, 
Japan and India.
Barcelona is a top-five European city in terms 
of foreign investment attractiveness. After 
London and Paris, Barcelona had a leading 
position alongside Dusseldorf and Dublin during 
the analysed period (2010-2016). 8.6% of all FDI 
Projects in the EU-28 were in London, 4.2% in Ile-
de-France (Paris region), 2.4% in Dusseldorf, 2.3% in 
Dublin, and 2.2% in Barcelona. 
Overall, investors perceive Catalonia and 
Barcelona as a very attractive place to invest. 
The region is rated globally at 3.7, on a scale 
of 1 to 5, with 5 being “very attractive to invest”. 
Asian companies are those that best rated the 
region, with 3.73 points, followed by European 
and American companies, with 3.70 and 3.65 points 
respectively. 
In terms of the location of survey respondents, 
Asian and European companies have the best 
perception of Catalonia and Barcelona followed 
by the American ones, although the difference 
between the grading is not significant. Asian 
companies’ good perception is especially relevant, 
since the Asian market is an important FDI 
contributor. The number of projects coming from 
Asian companies has been increasing steadily since 
2010, representing 23% of all FDI Projects in 2016.
The importance of investors’ perception of a region 
was also stressed. Since Catalonia and Barcelona are 
competing as advanced regions within Europe, 
there are no major differences in key factors such 
as costs or macro-economic or institutional 
factors. Therefore, the decision to invest is 
greatly influenced by other factors such as the 
attractiveness of being an important hub or 
cluster for a sector, or to be perceived as an 
innovative destination for certain economic sectors 
and value chain activities.
 
Highly innovative sectors find Catalonia and 
Barcelona a very attractive location for their 
investments. From a comparative point of view, 
established companies give greater importance to 
innovation as a factor of decision when deciding to 
invest abroad.  The reason for this is that Catalonia 
and Barcelona are more attractive to innovative 
companies. In fact, Barcelona had a leading position 
within the EU in terms of FDI Projects in Design and 
Development and Testing and R&D. 
Catalonia is set to become a strategic industrial 
pole in the process of reindustrialisation of 
advanced economies. In fact, the Industry sectors 
led FDI attraction in Catalonia during the period 
2010-2016, representing 33.4% of the total flows 
with a €9,098 million investment. Among the most 
relevant industrial sectors, the Food Products and 
Beverages, Pharmaceutical Products, Vehicles 
and Chemical sectors stood out.
Companies that internationalise their manufacturing 
activities are those that have a better perception of 
Catalonia and Barcelona. This means that the region 
is well-positioned in terms of attracting projects 
with a positive impact in terms of long-term 
investments and job creation.
Barcelona leads the attraction of sectors and 
activities with a high impact in terms of jobs 
Foreign Direct Investment in Catalonia and Barcelona Executive summary4
and long-term investments. When comparing 
Barcelona’s five most important sectors in terms of 
FDI Projects received, it had a leading position 
(fifth or above in the ranking) in the Life Sciences 
and Transportation sectors, as the second and the 
fourth EU region with the most FDI Projects received 
between 2010 and 2016 respectively.
Barcelona tops the attraction tables in several sectors 
in Europe even though these sectors are not the 
most important in the region. Barcelona led the 
EU ranking in terms of FDI Projects received 
for the Warehousing & Storage sector. Likewise, 
Barcelona ranked second for the Computer and 
Office Equipment and Textiles sectors. The other 
two sectors where Barcelona was within the Top 5 
EU regions were the Chemicals and Automotive 
Components sectors.
In addition to the analysis of sectors, it is also relevant 
to analyse which activities companies’ investments 
are destined for in the region. In this sense, when 
analysing the most important business activities 
in Barcelona by economic sector, it is notable that 
Life Sciences, Chemicals and Automotive 
Components mostly attracted investment for 
Manufacturing activities.
Catalonia and Barcelona’s talent and education 
ecosystem is a strategic element for reinforcing 
the region’s position in the global competition 
for talent. Catalonia and Barcelona are capable 
of providing international companies with the 
talent they seek by offering education and training 
programmes built around their needs. Currently, the 
fourth best-perceived factor in the region is the quality 
of its education system. Human capital offered by 
the region is perceived very highly by international 
companies.
Catalonia and Barcelona are key regional players 
for the Southern European and Mediterranean 
market. The strong infrastructures network, 
together with its geo-economic location can be used 
by established companies to reach out to potential 
European and Mediterranean Basin markets, as 
well as to establish corporate services near to their 
target markets. In addition to established companies, 
half of the companies that are considering 
investing in Southern Europe have considered 
investing in Catalonia or Barcelona. 
1.4 
Challenges and Opportunities for 
Catalonia and Barcelona
Catalonia and Barcelona have become a great 
location to invest. Nevertheless, there are some 
aspects in which the region can still improve its 
positioning.
 
Non-established companies perceive Catalonia 
and Barcelona as a region with leading scientific 
facilities, an innovative ecosystem, a significant 
start-up presence, local talent availability and 
international talent attraction capacity, head-to-
business mind-set and a great quality of life, and 
their average rating for the region is 4 points out 
of 5. Therefore, Catalonia and Barcelona have great 
potential to attract new investments. The challenge is 
to attract investors that perceive the region as a pole 
of attraction for Southern Europe in which to establish 
their future projects. 
Sectors such as Life Sciences, Transportation or 
Chemicals had a leading position in investment 
attraction in the region in the period 2010-2016. 
Nevertheless, Catalonia and Barcelona could still 
improve their regional positioning within the European 
Union in the attraction of sectors such as Software 
and ICT, Business Services, and Financial Services. 
Even though these sectors have a significant number 
of projects, the region is far behind London, the 
leading region, followed by Paris and Dublin.
 
Strategic sectors find top-class locations for 
their decision-making centres in Catalonia and 
Barcelona. Sectors such as Life Sciences, Business 
Services and Textiles are investing in the region for 
Headquarters activities. The region could improve 
its attractiveness for Headquarters activities in other 
sectors in which it has a leading position, for example 
in Chemicals or Automotive Components, where 
decision-making centres are not found in any of the 
investor companies’ major activities.
Innovation, business performance and 
networking are key elements for attracting 
foreign investment in advanced economies. 
Catalonia and Barcelona’s good positioning in 
these aspects should compensate the factors 
where Catalonia and Barcelona are less positively 
Foreign Direct Investment in Catalonia and Barcelona Executive summary5
perceived, such as those related to taxation, and 
costs (rental costs and energy costs). Although costs 
are the least positively perceived factors, international 
investors investing in Catalonia and Barcelona do 
not consider these factors very relevant. As such, 
Catalonia has to focus on fostering and consolidating 
itself as an innovation pole, since innovation is an 
important factor for companies not yet investing in the 
region.
 
The results of the study prove that Catalonia 
and Barcelona are among the most competitive 
regions in Europe in terms of FDI attraction. 
Nevertheless, the study also proves that Catalonia 
and Barcelona can still increase FDI inflows and 
projects by fostering their strengths. It is a region 
capable of attracting industrial projects and highly 
innovative investments, of becoming a strategic 
destination for companies seeking international talent, 
and a great stronghold for reaching a bigger and 
growing market due to its proximity to European and 
Mediterranean Basin markets.
Foreign Direct Investment in Catalonia and Barcelona Conclusions6
Conclusions 
In this section, the main key findings in conjunction 
with the conclusions resulting from the conducted 
research are described. 
Catalonia and Barcelona, leading European 
regions in attracting foreign direct investment.
Catalonia and Barcelona are top-class regions in 
which to invest. Proof of that is that Catalonia’s 
productive FDI inflows hit a record high for two 
consecutive years, with €4,936 million in 2015, and 
€5,052 million in 2016. These results are in line with 
how foreign companies perceive Catalonia and 
Barcelona as attractive regions in which to invest, 
rating them 3.7 out of 5 on the scale of attractiveness.
Catalonia was the first destination for FDI Projects in 
Spain, accounting for 35% of all projects attracted 
between 2010 and 2016. These projects helped to 
reduce unemployment by creating over 50,000 jobs 
and boosted Catalonia’s economy by generating $20 
billion of capital investment. 
After London and Paris, with an investment market 
share of 8.6% and 4.2% respectively, Barcelona holds 
a leading position in Europe in terms of attraction of 
FDI Projects alongside Dusseldorf and Dublin during 
the analysed period (2010-2016). Barcelona is the 
fifth region, with a 2.2% market investment share after 
Dusseldorf (2.4%), and Dublin (2.3%).
Catalonia and Barcelona, a strategic industrial 
pole in the process of reindustrialisation of 
 advanced economies.
Catalonia’s manufacturing sectors had a leading 
position in FDI Projects attracted in the region, as the 
main ones in traditional sectors such as Chemicals, 
Textiles or Business Machines and Equipment. As 
a result, Catalonia is consolidating its positioning 
as a strategic destination to relocate manufacturing 
activities in a context of reindustrialisation of the 
European economy. Catalonia has become a pole 
of attraction for Manufacturing companies, with 
Barcelona ranking as the European region with the 
second most FDI Projects received for these activities 
between 2010 and 2016.
Catalonia and Barcelona have consolidated 
its attractiveness to the largest economies in 
the world and to emerging countries in foreign 
investments.
The main contributors to FDI Projects in Catalonia are 
among the largest economies in the world. The top 
five consists of three European countries (Germany, 
1.
3.
2.
France and the UK) and two of the world’s most 
powerful economies (the US and Japan). Of all the 
projects received in Catalonia, 19.8% were from the 
United States, 15.9% from Germany, 13.3% from 
France, 9.1% from the UK, and 7.3% from Japan.
 
Asian companies are the fastest-growing contributors 
to the world’s FDI. Catalonia was the main Spanish 
destination (with a 40% share) for FDI Projects coming 
from China, Japan and India.
Asian companies are those with a better perception 
of the region, with a grading of 3.73 points, followed 
by European and American companies with 3.70 and 
3.65 points respectively.
Foreign Direct Investment in Catalonia and Barcelona Conclusions7
Highly innovative sectors find in Catalonia and 
Barcelona a very competitive location for their 
investments. 
Catalonia and Barcelona are more attractive to 
innovative companies, in this sense established 
companies give significantly greater weight to 
innovation. Barcelona had a leading position in 
FDI attraction in the EU for the Life Science and 
Transportation sectors. These were also the sectors 
with the highest impact in terms of job creation 
and capital investment generation per project. The 
Life Sciences sector, which is very strategic for the 
region, invests mainly in Manufacturing activities. 
Additionally, international companies from this sector 
find Barcelona attractive for Headquarters activities, 
increasing the added value of investments destined 
for the Life Sciences sector.
The Software & IT Services sector attracted the most 
FDI Projects in Catalonia (16% of total projects). This 
sector is highly reliant on skilled workers who can 
adapt to constant changes.
Catalonia and Barcelona’s talent and education 
ecosystem is a key element to reinforce 
the positioning of the region in the global 
competition for talent.
Catalonia and Barcelona are capable of providing 
international companies with the talent they seek 
by offering education and training programmes built 
around their needs. The human capital offered by 
the region is perceived very highly by international 
companies. To be more specific, the education 
system, skilled workforce availability and the existence 
of relevant training programmes for workers are 
among the best perceived factors by international 
companies. Additionally, the great quality of life in the 
region helps companies attract international talent.
The attractiveness of Catalonia and Barcelona in 
terms of talent and education is very important for 
investment attraction, since talent has become the 
most important asset for companies in the context of 
a digital and knowledge economy. 
Innovation, business performance and 
networking are key elements for attracting 
foreign investment in advanced economies.
Since Catalonia and Barcelona are competing as 
advanced regions within Europe, there are no major 
differences in key factors such as costs or macro-
economic or institutional factors. Therefore, the 
decision to invest is greatly influenced by other factors 
such as the attractiveness of being an important 
hub or cluster for a sector, or to be perceived as an 
5.
6.
7.
Catalonia and Barcelona are key regional 
 players for the Southern European and 
Mediterranean market.
The good perception of Catalonia and Barcelona’s 
infrastructures is linked to the high perception that 
international companies have of their geo-economic 
location. Catalonia and Barcelona are perceived as 
key regional players in the Southern European and 
Mediterranean markets.
Barcelona is, in fact, the first EU region in terms of 
attraction of Transportation and Logistics FDI Projects. 
This reinforces the idea that Catalonia and Barcelona 
are very well-connected with Europe and other 
world regions through their first-class infrastructures, 
the second best perceived factor in the region. FDI 
Projects destined to the Transportation sector are 
among those with the highest impact in terms of job 
creation and long-term investment. These projects 
created 9,551 jobs and generated a CapEx of 
$4,691M between 2010 and 2016.
The high quality of the infrastructures network, 
in conjunction with the geoeconomic location of 
Catalonia and Barcelona can be used by established 
companies to reach out to potential European 
and Mediterranean markets as well as to establish 
corporate services near their target markets.
Increasing airline routes at Barcelona’s airport and 
connecting the Mediterranean Corridor with a freight 
network will contribute to continually improve the 
good perception of the region’s infrastructures.
4.
Foreign Direct Investment in Catalonia and Barcelona Conclusions8
innovative destination for certain economic sectors 
and value chain activities.
International companies perceive there is a large 
and competitive network of suppliers and providers 
in Barcelona, making the city attractive for doing 
business and creating synergies. The competitiveness 
of local companies is allowing Catalonia and 
Barcelona to become a first-class hub for strategic 
operations.
The perception of a region by companies is multi-
factorial and should be analysed and worked upon 
taking this into consideration. In this regard, it is 
important to analyse investment opportunities taking 
into account hard factors as well as soft factors, with 
the latter determined by the established companies’ 
own experiences.
Established companies are, themselves, an 
attraction factor for foreign direct investment. Positive 
performance increases their internal strategic 
positioning within their company group and against 
other local branches. This, together with a positive 
perception of the region where the branch is located, 
can significantly help to attract further investments 
from their parent companies. 
Strategic sectors find in Catalonia and 
Barcelona top-class locations for their decision-
making centres.
Life Sciences, Business Services and Textile sectors 
are investing in the region for Headquarters activities. 
Promoting investment for desicion-making centres of 
international companies helps position the region as 
an attractive location for other strategic sectors such 
as IT or Transportation.
As a result of receiving foreign investment for 
business headquarters, more and better investment 
opportunities arise around companies’ headquarters. 
On the other hand, Headquarters investments tend 
to be more stable than investments in other activities 
which are more reliant on market fluctuations.
Catalonia and Barcelona are a hotspot for 
 potential investment opportunities.
Non-established companies perceive Catalonia and 
Barcelona as regions with leading scientific facilities, 
an innovative ecosystem, and important presence 
of start-ups, local talent availability and international 
talent attraction capacity, head-to-business mind-
set and a great quality of life. In fact, half of the 
companies considering investing in Southern Europe 
are considering doing so in Catalonia and Barcelona.
8.
10.
9.
Innovation and start-up ecosystems as a way to 
attract potential investment.
International companies have a good perception of 
R&D&i investment in the region, since they rate the 
factor 4.1 out of 5. This finding, along with the fact 
that a greater number of established companies are 
investing in Catalonia and Barcelona to innovate in 
products and processes, implies that Catalonia and 
Barcelona are attractive regions for highly innovative 
companies.
Barcelona is currently developing a strong start-
up ecosystem. In a global context of Digital 
Transformation, large companies refer to start-ups as 
key players to foster their own transformation. As a 
consequence, the entrepreneur network of a region 
becomes an incentive for FDI attraction.
Catalonia and Barcelona, which are among the most 
innovative regions in Europe, are set to become 
innovation hubs. This favourable environment 
promotes the interest of international companies that 
are planning to invest abroad.
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