The 22@Barcelona project was created in 2000 for the urban and economic renewal of former industrial areas in the Poblenou district. Up to now, urban renewal has begun on 70% of the territory, and the number of companies established has easily doubled, rising from 3,427 in 2000 to 7,329 in December 2012. A trend that will continue in the coming years, although the pace of creation has fallen somewhat compared to previous years.

Main milestones for 2014:

1. To promote the smart cities sector in the city, creating the conditions necessary to develop a smart cities cluster and the Smart City Campus-22@ project, at the heart of the district.

2. Jointly with other administrations and institutions, to develop two strategic projects for the city:

• Diagonal-Besòs Campus-22@ (see project 1), a space of excellence in research of international prestige, mainly in the energies, sustainable mobility, materials technologies and biomedical engineering sectors.
• Knowledge Economy Yard (KEY) (see Project 7), an urban space strategically located on the sea front, designed to stimulate top-level incoming international investment and academic projects for new business research, offering value added.

3. Opening of the Business Support Office to provide an integral service to local and international companies and entrepreneurs. This office will be located in the Barcelona Growth building (Media-ITC), the centre of reference for the city's business and economic growth. It will share its premises with the Mobile World Hub, the Barcelona Brand agency, a data centre and a showroom of the City of Barcelona, among others.

ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL DATA

• Area of action: 198.26 ha, 115 street blocks, 1,159,626 m² of land
• Floor space for productive use: approx 3,200,000 m²
• 4,000 public subsidised houses (25%, at least, for rent)
• Obtaining of 145,000 m² of land for new facilities and 114,000 m² for new green zones
• Companies established: 7,329 (December 2012)
• Workers: 85,000 (December 2012)