Last week the Financial Times published “Barcelona – Innovative & Creative Business” – a special report which we warmly recommend to anyone who is in doubt about the capacity of this city. Let us have a closer look at some of the texts.

Over the centuries Barcelona has survived invasion, plague, famine and war. The city will survive “The Crisis” thanks to this historic resilience, this time on the backs of its entrepreneurs. I have spent several months meeting with some incredibly inspiring start-ups that want to lead this new economic charge. These groups want to build, grow, and globalize from Barcelona, but there are some systemic disadvantages hindering these burgeoning entrepreneurs.

March 3 was a good day for Barcelona’s “growth” community.

The day started with an all day session at Gild International Club called “Funding Start Ups: International Angels”, where international (UK, USA and Canada) and local investors gathered in order to discuss the situation of seed and venture capital in Europe and Spain.

“Al loro!” “Pim pam, pim pam!” “Molt bona niiit.” “Prou, prou, prou!” “Perdoneu, però algú ho havia de dir.” If you have local colleagues in Barcelona you most likely have heard some of these phrases, usually followed a big laugh. They are all frequently repeated in either Polònia or Crackòvia, two comedy shows which unite virtually all Catalan-speaking Catalans but have a loyal audience also among those who have Spanish as their first language.