Chambers of Commerce

In the Basque Country there are three Chambers of Commerce located in the three provincial capitals. Their mission is to represent, promote and defend the general interests of commerce and the industrial and maritime sectors. They offer technical, legal or financial advice to the companies and they carry out all the necessary activities to promote the economy. [move up]

Basque Institute for Competitiveness - Orkestra

The mission of the Basque Institute for Competitiveness is to support, by means of research, training, forecasts, technical assistance and assessment, debates and participation in international networks of excellence, the activities of the public administration, socio-economic agents and all the universities of the Basque Country in fields connected with competition, so that, thanks to the strengthening of the competitive advantages of the Basque Country, greater levels of socio-economic growth and life quality can be achieved for its inhabitants. The institute centres on all aspects that affect competition by giving priority to the following areas: Competition and innovation, Clusters and regional development, Strategy, Entrepreneurship and the society of knowledge.

This initiative is promoted by the University of Deusto and the Deusto Foundation, with the initial co-operation of the Basque Government (through the SPRI), Kutxa, Euskaltel, Repsol-Petronor and the Gipuzkoa Regional Council (Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa).

The Basque Institute for Competitiveness has signed co-operation agreements with the prestigious Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness from Harvard University, directed by Professor Michael E. Porter who is, in turn, Chairperson of Honour of this new institute.

The Basque Institute for Competitiveness, an official member of the world network of Institutes for Competitiveness belonging to the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness from Harvard University includes, among its activities, a course on Corporate Competitiveness and Regional Development (CCEDR) designed by M. E. Porter and his collaborators from the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness.[move up]

Sectorial Clusters

Since the beginning of the 1990s, concurring with the launch of the Competitiveness Programme of the Basque Government, the main Basque industrial sectors have been creating specific sectorial organizations that have become agents that promote commercial and technical collaboration among the companies within the sector and between these and third parties. They support their presence in several kinds of international exhibitions and forums and operate as tools of the Basque industrial policy and key elements in the organisation of corporate co-operation.[move up]

Financial Sector and Insurance

The Basque financial sector has long been considered one of the powerhouses behind business growth and the commercial and financial relationship established with Europe. Relationship favoured by the region’s excellent geographical situation on maritime routes and the traditional iron and steel activities, which lead to the accumulation of capital. Thanks to these factors, the Basque Country experienced a major financial development and the birth of the first banking institutions.

Since then, the financial activity has continued to develop and progress, so much so that today the Basque Country remains one of the five leading autonomous regions in the State. The region’s financial system now provides banking, savings´ bank and credit cooperative services. It is also the headquarters of several Spanish leading banking institutions.

In January 2007, it had a total of 1,834 branches, which means one branch for every 1,163 inhabitants. All the major foreign financial institutions operate in the Basque Country: Barclays Bank, Citibank, Lloyds Bank, Credit Lyonnais, Credit Agricole, Fortis Bank, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Band and J.P. Morgan. Saving banks have been highly regarded in the Basque Country ever since they were created at the end of the 19th century. They have given the right response to the economic growth and have ambitious expansion plans outside the Basque Country. The major Spanish insurance companies also carry out their activities in the Basque Country.[move up]

Bilbao Stock Exchange

The Bilbao Stock Exchange is the second most important in the Spanish State as far as trading volume is concerned. All the values can be negotiated, either as bonds or as trade bills. A large number of highly experienced Intermediation Societies provide companies and individuals with assistance in their operations.[move up]

Subcontracting

The subcontracting sector has been remarkable for its chameleon-like ability to adapt to the changes in the different Basque economic scopes and for the significant growth experimented in several sectors: Casting, Chipless Metal Forming, Chipforming Metal Cutting, Heat Treatments, Surface Treatments, Dies. Moulds and Patterns, Tooling and Tools, Catering and Food Industry, Plastics, Rubber, Energy, Information Technology Supplies, Local net suppliers, Local communication network fitting, such as RDSI and ADSL and Electronics. Further information on every homologated company is available in www.subcontratistas.com, including product activities, resources and homologations.[move up]

Conference Centres

The Basque Country offers a wide range of choices where to celebrate conferences, congresses, symposiums, talks and different kinds of meetings. In Bizkaia we could highlight the Bilbao Exhibition Centre, the Technology Park of Zamudio and the Euskalduna Palace, the “Best Conference Centre in the World 2003” according to the jury responsible for the International Association of Conference Centre’s Apex Award. Gipuzkoa, and especially San Sebastián, the provincial capital, has become the centre of international events, mainly thanks to the well-known Cinema Festival of San Sebastián – Zinemaldia, the Miramar and Ayete Palaces, the Technology Park of Miramón, as well as the most outstanding and recently inaugurated Kursaal, which has been awarded the "Mies van der Rohe 2001" prize for the best building in the European Union and first Conference Centre in the Spanish State in obtaining the quality certificate ISO 9001:2000. Araba has, among others, the Europa Palace and the Technology Park of Miñano. Besides, the three capitals have a wide offer of high quality hotels, which are especially suitable for the celebration of congresses and business conventions or meetings.[move up]

Bilbao Exhibition Centre

Since April 2004 Bilbao has a new exhibition centre with the world latest technological advances. The privileged location of its premises, make it easily accessible from any point of the international and national geography Every year, almost 20 fairs, exhibitions and conferences take place, some of wich are among the most important in Europe.[move up]

General View of the Support Prospects to Investments

SPRI, the “Association for the Promotion of Industry” is the development agency of the Basque Country. Its main remit is to promote the country to foreign and Basque firms as an attractive place to invest and set up businesses, field where it has achieved good experience after more than 25 years of work. It is the access to a wide range of financial aids, from the public and private sectors, for the promotion of projects to set up new businesses. These attractive competitive aids are available to interested firms. Indeed, the Basque Country has always offered a broad range of institutional aids for the development or starting up of business projects, which configure a competitive industrial promotion system. These aids, given to the industrial, commercial and tourist sectors, include different types: investment and creation of employment; R&D and the development of technological companies and new products; internationalization; venture capital societies, to set up businesses in industry or technology parks, etc. In order to get further information, contact SPRI in info@spri.es. [move up]