Sevilla City One: promoting and transforming Seville to showcase its value

Sevilla City One has established itself as an initiative to promote and transform the city of Seville into an example of sustainable urban development.

To delve deeper into the subject and discuss its activities, who better than the organisation's president, Rafael Miranda.

It is a project that has been in development for three years and is becoming increasingly important. What is it about?

It's very simple. Sevilla City One is an initiative that was born out of the private sector, basically civil society, and it is really an initiative that sought to change the communication and global positioning of Seville in the world, mainly to attract international investment. Seville is overshadowed by its heritage, its culture, its monuments. It doesn't need to do much marketing, as it is one of the most visited cities in Spain, behind Madrid and Barcelona.

And yet, it was not good at exporting its strengths in economics, business, innovation, technology, aerospace, aeronautics, and many other areas that we will discuss throughout the interview. And basically, that was what it was all about: improving its positioning.

The idea is to be a bridge, for Seville to be a bridge between Europe and various parts of the world, including Latin America. We Sevillians have it in our genes.

This is where the first circumnavigation of the globe began, the ships that set sail for America, the expedition was assembled here, and Seville was the gateway to the Indies and the gateway to America for a couple of centuries. That's in our DNA, it's even in the DNA of Americans. And in fact, there have been several world fairs, especially Ibero-American ones. Interestingly, it will be 100 years since the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition was held in Seville.

In 2029, we will be celebrating the centenary of that Ibero-American exposition. And we see, through our interactions with Mexican and Latin American businesspeople, and it is commendable, that they still see us in some way as the mother country, as we share a religion, we share a culture, we share a legal system and we share something as important as language. And we believe that Seville was and can once again be that bridge, that link between America and Europe.

Perhaps the celebration of the centenary of that Ibero-American exhibition can reunite those ties and enable Sevillian companies to work in Latin America, where there are many, and Latin American companies to enter Europe and Seville perfectly.  

Which sectors do you consider most important to highlight? There are many hubs, there are many industries that are emerging.

Yes, there is a lot to talk about. But to summarise, Seville City One has defined several basic pillars of the economy.

One is the Tech Park, as it is now called. They have changed the name for marketing purposes, but it is the La Cartuja Technology Park. It is actually the site where the 1992 Universal Exhibition was held. After the exhibition, a rethink took place about what to do with the site, and this area of Seville, which is very central and very close to the historic centre, is now home to technology companies, R&D, innovation, and is the technology park with the highest turnover in Spain. It is way ahead of the next one, almost double the turnover of the next one. 

That is one of the economic pillars of Seville. There are others, such as the port of Seville. The port of Seville has certain territorial characteristics. It is a seaport 100 kilometres from the coast, protected from storms and floods, and it also places you at a hub between the Mediterranean and Atlantic arcs, connected by train and airport. The port of Seville is another of the pillars. 

And there is another that comes precisely from that culture of naval engineering that existed in the 15th and 16th centuries, which has gradually evolved into aeronautical engineering. Seville is home to the European Space Agency and has a very powerful hub for the construction of aeroplanes and drones. It is a hub, together with Toulouse in France, where military and commercial aeroplanes are built, and these are the pillars. 

These pillars are also bathed in talent, with five or six public and private universities, which give Seville a very powerful engineering school that supplies this technology park, this aeronautical park. And the south has talent and creativity that are worth highlighting. 

What is missing? Because I believe that one of the main objectives is to achieve reciprocal investment. For example, we need to talk about Mexico, talk about Latin American countries, which we know already have a large economic and geopolitical infrastructure, etc. But what is needed for investors, for example, from Mexico, to come to Seville and vice versa?

I think what is missing is what we are trying to do, which is to highlight its value. I insist, Seville has never highlighted, either to its own residents or to the Sevillians themselves, what is in that technology park or the potential of the port of Seville.

So, what needs to be done is to promote it, the development that this has in the future. It is the third or fourth city in Spain in terms of population or economy, and that needs to be promoted. And when it is promoted, then someone on the other side of the ocean can say, hey, I'm going to explore because I want to bring capital to Europe. And our job is to promote that.

Then, to channel that investment, there are many organisations. We are specialists in some sectors more than others, but we can refer to certain sectors. I understand that there are already several entrepreneurs, more than 100 entrepreneurs who are interested in this, but there are also synergies with, obviously, the political sectors and the City Council. 

We have come to fill a necessary gap and we have been very well received by the productive fabric, by the companies. We have more than 100, but there are 300 collaborating with us. More than 100 are members of the association. There are 3,000 inhabitants of Seville who follow us, support us and agree with our message.

And, above all, we have institutional coverage and also institutions with different political leanings, which I think is commendable. I think we are sending a positive message, mainly from the Andalusian Regional Government and Seville City Council, and many town councils in the metropolitan area we define, support us, as does the Provincial Council, which is the institution that organises all the municipalities, apart from their town councils.

Finally, there is a platform for entrepreneurs who want to study this project, who want to review the options and opportunities; there are ways to communicate. 

Of course, yes, we get in touch and, I insist, we, the Board of Directors of Sevilla City One, are more closely linked to the urban development, urban planning and real estate sector, but we have totally cross-cutting companies attached to us, such as Telefónica, Endesa and small and medium-sized enterprises, and we channel them. We really are, I insist, an initiative that wants to change communication and is changing it, and that the people of Seville themselves are the spokespersons, not only for their monuments and heritage, but also for their companies and their development.