Friendly for Business

| Subject: Socio-economic development

This is a new programme presenting a web platform with tools and apps for businessmen, entrepreneurs and investors

The AMB has presented a web platform with tools for businessmen, entrepreneurs and potential investors; these tools are totally practical and fall under the umbrella of the comprehensive economic development programme "Friendly for Business".

Sònia Recasens, the vice-chair for Economic Development at the AMB, and Jordi Lahora, director for Economic Development at the AMB, presented this pioneering technological initiative at the  Barcelona Growth Centre. This initiative includes a powerful search engine with almost 600 services for businesses and a search engine for industrial estates, premises and plots of land throughout the metropolis.


The Friendly for Business programme has been created with the aim of contributing to the re-industrialization of the metropolitan area, attracting investment and creating jobs, and supporting businesses from the 36 municipalities in the metropolitan area. "It is main guarantee to recover and create high quality jobs with an added value", said the vice-chair for Economic Development at the AMB. "We want Barcelona and all its metropolitan area to lead the industrial and technological revolution of the 21st century, so that this can contribute to create industries, generate jobs and enhance the whole of the territory", Racasens added.

The search engine for services is public, open and free, and offers investors, businessmen and entrepreneurs almost 600 services and tools for economic development available in the different administrations, municipalities and institutions operating with the AMB territory.

The second tool that was presented is the searcher for industrial premises and plots, and includes global information on the 236 industrial estates in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. It also includes offers for industrial premises and land in the 36 metropolitan municipalities. The search engine is provided in a web format and also an App "AMB premises and land", available for Android, Apple and Windows PhoneS.

One-stop sources, grants for areas of economic activity and agreement with the UPIC

Within the "Friendly for Business" programme, a network of front offices is being designed, that will act as one-stop sources. Also, over the next 2-3 years, 12 Metropolitan Business Service Offices (OEAs) will be set up. Besides, the metropolitan investment agents located in the Barcelona Growth Centre will deal with the requests and applications arriving from investors who would like to establish themselves in the territory.

The AMB has also set up a line of grants with 30 million Euros to improve infrastructures and the competitiveness of industrial estates and areas of economic activity. For the first call, 97 projects were submitted, which are currently under study. The total sum of grants requested amounts to 37.5 million Euros.

Finally, coinciding with the presentation of the programme, the AMB and the Union of Industrial Estates of Catalonia (UPIC) have signed a collaboration agreement to foster the improvement of and growth in competitiveness for the industrial estates in the area.

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