In 2019, the Municipal Register of Inhabitants of the city of Barcelona revealed that half of its residents were foreign-born. The city is one of the world’s most multicultural and there are deliberate efforts by the City Administration to promote this. This week, the city is organizing the Barcelona Expat week. How is immigrating to Barcelona going to change and what is the Barcelona Expat week?
Different countries and cities' response to the sanitary and economic crisis has been different. And Barcelona does not seem to want to curb immigration. With the organization of this event, Barcelona council gives an idea of the approach to the post-COVID era with regards to how welcoming the city intends to be to foreigners.
Right now, it is difficult to plan an expatriation anywhere. Even if you are a European citizen, the job market is changing in Europe with the sanitary and economic crisis. For example, jobs in tourism have obviously considerably decreased since the beginning of the crisis. In this post-COVID era, however, jobs in the technology and innovation sector, in the health sector seem to be on the rise. The different promising fields will be discussed during the conference.
If one thing has become really important following the crisis, it is health services. Indeed, a consideration that might drastically change expats' decision regarding the destination. This might mean better consideration of health insurance policies or looking for more insight into the destination's healthcare services. And Catalonia has been very proactive with dealing with the sanitary crisis, converting sports centers and hotels into healthcare centers. The region has also been able to provide staff by hiring student doctors, retired doctors and nurses.
Barcelona's international community has a virtual date to keep this autumn thanks to Barcelona Expat Week, which is taking place between 19 and 23 October This is an event promoted by Barcelona City Council within the framework of activities to attract, welcome and retain international talent in the city.
Thanks to a collaborative and smart new virtual platform, Barcelona Expat Week will have an online and on-site activity programme responding to the main interests and needs of Barcelona's international talent.
Talent and entrepreneurship, pillars of the Barcelona Expat Week
Barcelona Expat Week will kick off on Monday 19th with the keynote speech 2020, the year that changed the employee experience forever, given by the Practice Lead of Employee Engagement and Experience at Mercer Consulting, Katerina Psychopaida. This expert in talent management will analyse the consequences of the covid-19 pandemic for employees and what future challenges and opportunities this new paradigm opens for talent and companies in Barcelona. The opening address will also feature the intervention of the first Deputy Mayor, Jaume Collboni, who will explain how Barcelona is positioned in the face of this new scenario and what initiatives are being offered by the City Council for international talent.
Right after the opening address, a non-stop programme of activities will begin, from morning to evening. Throughout the week, experts in different areas will be sharing their knowledge and experience with attendees at workshops via real-time video conferencing, dynamic meet and share activities and webinars.
Monday 19th will be dedicated to personal landing and there will be talks where useful information will be given for people who have just arrived in Barcelona. They will explain, for example, how to open a bank account, how to find a flat or how to find the perfect school for your children.
Work and training will be the leitmotif on Tuesday, since the current situation has led to a significant change when it comes to working and looking for work. Attendees will be able to receive advice to find a job through Linkedin or learn the keys to teleworking, among others.
Wednesday will be the day to talk about talent without borders in Barcelona. Throughout the day there will be various talks and round tables on how to maximize and promote talent in our city. In addition, part of the day will be dedicated to talking about women's professional networks and female entrepreneurship.
Thursday will be dedicated to doing business and entrepreneurship in Barcelona, with talks and webinars to analyse the resources to create a company in the city. There will be workshops to discover the keys to starting a business in Barcelona and how to seek funding.
The last day, Friday 23rd, will be dedicated to discovering how to enjoy the city and discovering the cultural potential of Barcelona.
In addition, every evening there will be an on-site activity in different emblematic buildings of the city which have been landmarks for creativity, innovation and business in Barcelona throughout history: Palau Güell, the City Hall, Casa SEAT, Casa de la Seda and Soho House.
The 9 Host Ambassadors of Barcelona Expat Week
Barcelona Expat Week presents nine host ambassadors that will play a key role in this new initiative. They are professionals of different sectors and backgrounds who share their condition of expats in Barcelona and their love for this city, where they decided to stay to carry out their life projects. With an experience that spans over 15 to 30 years as expats in Barcelona, they are all expert voices that will share their points of view through different activities.
Andrew Funk comes from USA, has been living in Barcelona for 17 years and is the founder the association Homeless Entrepreneur. He will be presenting his project on Thursday 22nd.
Aleksandar Ivancic is a serbian engineer and researcher specialized in renewable energies and we'll be discussing cutting-edge research in Barcelona on Wednesday 21st.
The German Christoph Himmelskamp arrived 20 years ago, is head manager of a law firm and will talk about Barcelona as city of opportunities for business on Thursday 22nd.
Creativity marks the career of Dutch Karlijn Surminski, a true Picasso and Barcelona lover. She will share the inspiration she gets from Barcelona in an online session on Friday 23rd.
Lynn Wong is a woman entrepreneur from Singapur and will take part in a webinar on woman's entrepreneurship on Wednesday 21st.
Patricia Radovic, from Peru but with Italian origins, is an event producer and also the General Secretary of the Casa degli Italiani in Barcelona. She will share her experience on Friday 23rd.
The French Ronan Bardet has over 15 years of experience as an ecommerce professional. On Tuesday October 20th, he will talk about job opportunities for Barcelona's digital talent.
The Swedish Sara Larsson arrived in Barcelona 20 years ago. She now works as gastronomy photographer and will share her outlook on Barcelona in the activity ‘Discover Barcelona through its people', on Friday 23rd.
Lucre Mba Ndong comes from Equatorial Guinea. She is the cofounder of the SOS Africa association and creator in 2012 of the Africa Fashion Week Barcelona. Lucre will bring her point of view in the same activity as Sara Larsson and Patricia Radovic.
