US Commercial Service Madrid, Spain

US Commercial Service Madrid, Spain Canary Islands, Spain on December 2 - 5, 2009

After the big success of the Gateway Trade Mission II, the American Chamber of Commerce in Spain, Canary Islands Delegation, and US Commercial Service, has partnered to organize and sponsor a “Gateway Trade Mission III” of American businesses to the Canary Islands, Spain on... December 2 - 5, 2009.

Why the Canary Islands?

The Canary Islands have a strategic positioning offering access to the northern African, European and Spanish markets.

Factors such as the stable political framework and diversity of well developed industry sectors are characteristic of the archipelago.

With 41 ports and 8 airports, infrastructure is well established and highly conducive to tri-continental trade movements.

The Canary Islands part of Spain’s 17 regions and are home to the first Open Free Zone in Spain, which makes it possible to store, transform and distribute merchandise without the application of duties, tariffs or indirect taxes.
Competitive knowledge labor force. Specialized knowledge resources include areas of biotechnology, water systems, renewable energies, physiology and astrophysics, among others.

Trade incentives with the Grand Canary Islands are detailed in the following power point: http://www.gatewaytrademission.com/docs/Taxincentives.pdf

SECTORS:

Renewable energy
-Spain is the world’s 3rd largest wind energy producer.
-The 4th largest producer of photovoltaic solar energy and the 2nd most advanced in Europe.
-Europe’s 4th largest producer of biogas; and 5th greatest producer of biomass.
-Thermo electric and solar technologies are also important industries.

Environmental
-Increases in public regulation caused the benchmark for environmental technologies to be raised.
-Legislation passed to develop fields regarding water, soil, waste, noise and vibration, odor, biodiversity, among others. Support for this endeavor has been reached by higher education establishments creating programs to support this sector.
-Latest figures show that Spain’s environmental sector has a turnover of $15 trillion USD, equaling 3.2 percent of the global market share.
-Many opportunities are rising in the areas of automotive waste and white goods waste treatment.

Information and communication technologies
-The market totaled $144.71 hundred billion USD in 2007, safely estimating a 5.7 percent expected annual growth.
-Commercial B2B Electronic Interchange Systems are experiencing enormous growth in Spain and are supported by both Central and Regional governments.
-Information Technologies is the second largest sub-sector; consumer electronics and digital content are following close behind.
-Spain is the country with the largest number of homes built each year opening up opportunities related to intelligent home gadgets.

Aerospace
-Considered to be one of the most important industries, employing more than 34,000 workers in 2007, with more than $6.32 million USD in turnover.
-Industry averaged growth of 8.5 percent in the last 5 years and forecasts 14.4 percent turnover in the industry.

Biotech, Pharma and Life Science
-Increased collaboration between government agencies, the public sector dedicated to R&D, the production network and companies with work related to

Biotechnology.
-The number of biotechnology companies is close to 600.
-Between 2006 the turnover for the Spanish biotech industry grew by 200 percent.
-Wide range of business opportunities ranging from functional foods, venture capital in the healthcare sector, generics, nanomedicine, bio-IT and more.


Contact
Carmen Adrada
Tel: 3491-3081542 / carmen.adrada@mail.doc.gov