Barcelona Activa, the City Council’s economic promotion agency, supported 57,441 people in 2024, around 3% more than the previous year, and supported 6,802 business and 1,452 entrepreneurial projects. These figures are in line with the levels of activity recorded in 2023.

Barcelona Activa’s goals still include driving and developing local talent to help get people into strategic sectors that generate quality jobs. In this respect, digital skills acquisition among local talent is a key aspect. Barcelona trained over 17,000 people in the digital sphere in 2024 through centralised services at the Cibernàrium, including basic education for the general public, specialised upskilling to transform digital talent, and reskilling programmes to promote local talent through the IT Academy, 42 Barcelona and Xtalento, focusing on ICT roles most in demand among companies.

One initiative that stands out is the XTalento Digital Campus pilot project, a digital training campus for people with disabilities promoted by Barcelona City Council and the Fundació ONCE.

Another key service that the economic promotion agency offers companies and entrepreneurs is help with access to funding, whether through grants or by promoting private funding in key sectors. In this respect, Barcelona Activa awarded 7.4 million euros in economic subsidies in 2024 to help drive companies and add vitality to the city economy through the programmes “Impulsem el que fas”, “Crea feina”, and “Autono+”.

As for venture capital mechanisms to invest in start-ups in the city, Barcelona Activa maintains its investment strategy through the public-private funds Barcelona Accelera and Barcelona Deep Tech Fund. Throughout 2024, progress continued in the execution of the Accelera Fund, worth 10 million euros and focused on reactivating private investment in the city following the paralysis caused by Covid-19, and of the Deep Tech Fund, also worth 10 million euros, in this case centred on the deep tech sector. Between them, the two funds have invested in a range of 107 start-ups, which provide nearly 4,000 jobs for the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The City Council also recently announced the launch of a new venture capital fund entitled the Barcelona Investment Fund, with a municipal contribution of 30 million euros, focused on diversifying the range of investment in these sectors, regarded as strategic for attracting foreign investment.