Taking a long-term view of the Barcelona economy – Uría Menéndez

Every business begins as a start-up and to help revitalise the Barcelona economy, more focus needs to be placed on encouraging the city’s high technology companies

Para ayudar a revitalizar la economía en Barcelona, se requiere invertir más en las empresas ya exitosas de alta tecnología ubicadas en la Ciudad Condal, afirma Ariadna Cambronero, de Uría Menéndez.

Uría Menéndez’s Barcelona office celebrates 25 years, traditionally a `silver anniversary´ –  fitting given that `silver´ symbolises riches and female power – something Ariadna Cambronero, Managing Partner of the Barcelona office, knows much about.
As one of the few female Managing Partners in Spain, she heads an office that has more than surpassed its founders’ initial objectives, she says. “The idea was to slowly consolidate with no more than 20 lawyers. After 25 years, we have nearly 100 lawyers and are so much more than they could ever have imagined at the start.”
Given the rollercoaster events of the past year in Spain, looking ahead at the next 10, let alone 25, years, is challenging, says Cambronero.  “The challenge is that we are intrinsically linked to how the Catalan economy reinvents itself.”
Catalonia should take the example of Silicon Valley, California, when Apple began there, she believes, and start to enhance small businesses in the technologies and communications sectors, as this presents huge potential for growth. “But we must also support our regional industries that are suffering, give them the resources to reinvent themselves, and then identify the trends and position ourselves to capitalise and thrive alongside.”
And while these are complicated times, and “optimism itself is complicated”, Cambronero is also very clear that Barcelona has an individual identity, economic strength and potential that must not be underestimated.
“I believe in Barcelona as a city with enormous possibilities – as long as we adapt to a new working model and economy, and don’t try and compare ourselves to a capital city, Madrid, as Barcelona has a unique identity, ” she says. “As lawyers, it is vital we support our clients from the very start of any operation or project, and this includes helping to ensure a successful future for the Catalan economy.”