Barcelona International Community Day celebrates its tenth anniversary

The Museu Marítim will host again on Saturday October 28th Barcelona International Community Day, the annual meeting for all members of the international community living and working in Barcelona. The event, which this year reaches its tenth edition, is a relevant event for international professionals who have recently arrived to the city and also for all those who wish to connect with a group that brings diversity and richness to the Catalan capital.

Promoted by the Barcelona City Council, the event consists in a fair of companies and entities that offer products, services and initiatives for the international talent, and also includes a program of activities, workshops and conferences on topics of interest to the community. Access to the emblematic site that once housed the historic Drassanes Reials is from 10 am to 7 pm.

Admission is free and tickets can be obtained by registering at barcelona.cat/internationalcommunityday.

In this edition, Barcelona International Community Day will have about 80 exhibitors, including companies, public entities, associations and clubs of foreigners, as well as international schools. Twenty-one percent of these exhibitors are participating in the event for the first time. In parallel, more than 60 activities have been scheduled throughout the day: informative talks, workshops, round tables, networking activities, musical performances and children’s activities. The activities will be mainly in English and will be attended by around 100 speakers and experts of different nationalities.

In last year’s edition, more than 5,400 people registered, a record that demonstrates the strong interest that the Barcelona International Community Day arouses among the community. Expat are interested in participating in a day that not only gives access to a lot of practical information, but also becomes a great networking and socializing experience. This year, the first 200 people to arrive at the Museu Marítim will receive a gift: an exclusive T-shirt to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the event designed by Philip Stanton, American artist based in the city.

Under the slogan 10 years with you, the tenth meeting of the international talent ecosystem will host the Cities for Talent Meeting, where 25 representatives from 17 cities have been invited to learn about Barcelona International Community Day. Specifically, the day before the event, an intense working day will be held to share best practices among all these invited cities in terms of services for the international talent.

The first 200 people to arrive at the Museu Marítim will receive a gift: an exclusive T-shirt to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the event designed by Philip Stanton

The sectors represented in the exhibition are real estate, relocation, talent management, legal and financial advice, insurance and medical services, business schools and other educational centers, among others. Attendees will also find cultural and social entities, both public and private, that will offer products, services and initiatives to enjoy the city. Activities have been programmed to deal with practical issues such as paperwork, finding an apartment, taxation and the functioning of the Catalan education and health system. There are also sessions designed for finding a job, for entrepreneurship, on the scientific potential of Barcelona or to develop a professional career, as well as content related to leisure and culture.

The day also has a festive and family aspect. This year there will be new and attractive recreational activities for all audiences such as a castellera performance or a virtual reality experience over Barcelona. As usual, the garden of the Museu Marítim will host concerts and live performances and, inside, there will be children’s activities. The closing party will include a Catalan rumba concert, an anniversary cake and a toast to celebrate these first ten years.

The Barcelona International Community Day, with The New Barcelona Post as collaborating media this year, is the culmination of a serie of activities and programs that the Barcelona City Council offers throughout the year through the service Barcelona International Welcome, whose mission is to facilitate the arrival and integration of international talent in the city. The meeting will include the participation of Barcelona Activa, which will offer attendees its services to find employment and support to create companies. The Barcelona International Welcome Desk, the permanent municipal service to support and welcome international talent that has recently arrived in the city, will also play a special role.

“The Barcelona International Community Day will therefore not only be a space for the reception and meeting of citizens from other countries, but also what is probably the largest concentration of talent, entrepreneurship, ideas and projects coming to the city from abroad”, emphasize the International Economic Promotion area of the City Council, which, once again this year, has the support of the Barcelona International Community Day. host ambassadors to carry out the initiative. These are professionals from various countries who have settled in Barcelona and have developed their professional projects in the city. In addition to participating in the event on October 28, through the social networks of Barcelona International Welcome, each of them explains in a video interview why they chose Barcelona and how the city has helped them to carry out their professional projects.

Global ambassadors of Barcelona

The host ambassadors for this edition are the Ukrainian Svetlana Velikanova, founder of Harbour Space University; Chinese entrepreneur and businesswoman Liling Qipresident of Puente China Holding; the German biologist Reimund Fickertresponsible for communication and development at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB); the Dutch company, responsible for communication and development at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB); the Dutch Mirjam Maarleveldfounder of the Barcelona Expat Life platform; the Cuban Lazaro Campoalegrea computer engineer specializing in the ICT industry, and the French Marion Sanchezcurrently involved in the impact investment foundation Ship2b. In addition, to commemorate the tenth anniversary, we have also invited thehosts and hostesses of all previous editions.

Among the companies collaborating with Barcelona International Community Day is Banco Sabadell, which is the main sponsor of the event. The international mobility management agency Eres Relocation, the insurance company Mapfre, and the tax consultancy Entre Trámites are other key players that make this meeting possible, as a result of public-private collaboration.

Barcelona, a corollary of 177 nationalities

Of the more than 5,400 people who registered in 2022, 71% were foreigners and, of these, 67% had been living in the city for less than five years. They came from 130 countries, mainly France, Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom and Colombia. People living in the Catalan capital who were born abroad now account for 31.3% of the population census, demonstrating the city’s diverse and intercultural character. According to the latest data provided by the city council, there are a total of 519,066 foreigners in Barcelona, of 177 nationalities of origin, although the largest groups are Italian, Colombian, Pakistani and Chinese. In terms of level of education, 43.2% of the expats who live in Barcelona have a university education or a higher level of training.

Barcelona offers numerous possibilities to facilitate the personal and professional growth of newcomers, who, in turn, also enrich the city from multiple perspectives, such as the fact that generate wealth with their work, their talent, their investments and their business projects. Moreover, this diversity of citizens improves competitiveness and productivity, since foreigners are the bearers of new ideas, techniques and innovations. Another very interesting factor is that they become economic ambassadors of Barcelona when they travel around the world or return to their home countries. In this sense, they also help to attract new investments and international talent, as they contribute to investment decisions or facilitate the landing of new people.

“Given this very positive contribution, it is important to take care of this international community, both the newcomers and the older ones. For this reason, for years, the International Economic Promotion area of the Barcelona City Council has had a plan to attract, welcome, retain and energize international talent, which is embodied in the Barcelona International Welcome”, concluded the Barcelona City Council.