Rodrigo de la Mota: "Madrid is becoming the technological hub of southern Europe"

In the latest programme of "De Cara al Mundo", on Onda Madrid, we had the participation of Rodrigo de la Mota, Director General of Invest in Madrid, the regional office for foreign investors that promotes investment in the Region of Madrid, who spoke to us about foreign investment in the Region of Madrid. 

The Community of Madrid is the Spanish region that receives the most foreign investment in the whole country, what figures are we talking about?

In 2021, the Community of Madrid received 72% of the country's foreign investment. This data translates into more than 20 billion euros, people might think that this is a big deal that has been done, but, if we look at the data of the last 10 years we observe that the trend identifies that Madrid has received 62% of the total foreign investment in Spain. This accumulates some 180,000 million euros and has contributed to the generation of more than 600,000 jobs in the region. 

This creates economic activity and therefore translates into jobs...

The benefits of attracting foreign direct investment are very clear, but I would like to highlight three main ones: the generation of wealth, due to all the capital that arrives from abroad; the creation of employment, which we mentioned earlier; and the transfer of knowledge, a variable that is difficult to measure but which undoubtedly provides enormous value. 

What is the tool that the Community of Madrid uses to attract this investment?

The best tool is the Community of Madrid itself and the image it has abroad to attract all these investments. Both the tax policy that has been in place in the region for 18 years and the fight against over-regulation, together with the legal security that foreign companies investing in Madrid have enjoyed, have led the region to consolidate its position as the country's economic engine, and this is the best way to represent Madrid. 

Why is such an office necessary in the Community of Madrid?

I believe that it is not only necessary in the Community of Madrid, we have already talked about the benefits they bring, but that there are more than 5,000 agencies like Invest in Madrid in the world at local, regional and national level. In Spain, all the autonomous communities have an agency like this and this contributes to boosting the economy and generating employment and wealth. From Madrid, obviously, we work to highlight these opportunities and compete in the investment attraction market, a mature and highly competitive market precisely because of all these benefits.

How does Invest in Madrid carry out its role of advising companies?

It should be borne in mind that the investment process is a long one. When a company considers investing in any market in Europe, the first thing they do is make a list of options and at the beginning what they mainly need is information, and also information that is contrasted to compare with the list of options, which helps them to reduce the first list to two or three options. Subsequently, these companies visit these two or three options and, in our case, we put them in contact with potential suppliers, clients and even competitors, and also, if the situation requires it, with the public institutions they need to carry out their work. This is the way in which we contribute to the decision-making process. Once the company has decided on Madrid, we accompany it throughout the entire process of starting up and initiating the activity. Although it may seem that our work ends here, we have an "after-sales" service, where we do not abandon the company once it has settled in Madrid, but continue to maintain contact with it. We continue to accompany them because more than 50% of the foreign investment that enters Madrid comes from companies that are already operating in the region and, seeing the favourable environment that exists in the region, they expand their activities. 
 

In which sectors does Invest in Madrid focus its activities?

Madrid has mainly focused on promoting sectors with a high level of added value in which we have great competitive advantages to offer these sectors. We are talking about sectors such as life sciences, information and communication technologies, aerospace, clean energy and logistics. In recent years we have made a more intense effort in high-tech sectors, and Madrid is becoming the technological hub of southern Europe. Proof of this are all the projects for the installation of data centres that we are currently managing.

On Monday Invest in Madrid is organising a business meeting that brings together Spanish, Israeli and Emirati entrepreneurs. Can Madrid play an important role in helping Middle Eastern entrepreneurs to start their initiatives in the Spanish capital?

Obviously at Invest in Madrid, in addition to supporting foreign companies, our main mission is to promote the Community of Madrid and the benefits we offer. In this sense, we work on a wide range of events and the one taking place on 20 June 2022 is an event that arises as a result of the Abraham Accords, signed in 2020 at the White House with Donald Trump, and for me it represents a unique mission. It is the first time that a joint business mission is organised with Israel and another Arab country, and the Emirates and Israel have just signed a free trade agreement and for them it represents an opportunity for collaboration, Madrid offers them a scenario that helps them to find ways of collaboration between technological projects and sources of funding. 
 

In a few days you will be crossing the Atlantic, you will be explaining what Madrid is and what it offers...

That's right, apart from all the work we do here with foreign companies is to promote Madrid internationally. We have to go out, be proactive and promote the Community abroad and that is part of my work. Next week we will have a meeting with local businessmen in Miami where we will discuss the possibility of signing a collaboration agreement with Miami-Dade County. After that, I will travel to Santiago de Chile and Bogota to meet with potential investors who are looking for a place to place their funds in Europe.

Besides, Madrid is in fashion for many reasons, you only have to look at the level at which we are recovering tourists, but with a Real Madrid team that I believe will not find it difficult to connect with many people outside Spain.

Fortunately, there are factors that contribute to the promotion of Madrid abroad that make me, as a born madridista, very happy. All these factors of course help and the Community is in fashion and booming and we notice it through the interest and contact with foreign companies.