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Barcelona is among the ten European capitals that are considered technology hubs. Furthermore, it was named European Capital of Innovation in 2014 and the “smartest city” in the world in 2015.
Catalonia has managed to attract a considerable amount of private investment in recent years, specifically, 56% of all foreign investment in Spain in 2015. It is the European region with the greatest capacity for foreign investment in corporate innovation and development, with over 1.07 billion euros invested between 2010 and 2015. Spending on innovation increased to 3.1 billion euros in 2014.