The Leading Brands of Spain Forum, "Madrid Global" - the office of strategy and international action of Madrid- and the IE Business School organised the First Seminar on the Strategic International Positioning of Madrid. The title “Madrid, an international benchmark for urban services and infrastructures” served as a starting point for a debate on the city’s capacity to achieve international leadership in the management of urban infrastructures and services.

The event, which was inaugurated by Juan Bravo, the deputy mayor and commissioner of the Treasury and Public Administration of Madrid City Council, was also attended by Miguel Otero, the managing director of the Leading Brands of Spain Forum, and Rafael Puyol, vice-chairman of the IE Foundation and chairman of the Town Planning Forum.

The seminar was also attended by the general coordinator of Madrid Global, Ignacio Niño; Carlos III University professor and advisor to FMRE, Julio Cerviño; Andrés Rodríguez Pose, professor at the London School of Economics’ Department of Geography and Environment; the CEO of OHL Concesiones, Juan Osuna; Yann Brenner, representative of the European Office of the Inter-American Development Bank; ICEX’s deputy director of industrial products and technology, José Miguel Cortés; and the deputy managing director of CIEMAT, Cayetano López.

Miguel Otero stressed the importance of reinforcing endeavours to promote the city brand and its attributes with a greater effort to generate business for the companies benefiting from the promotion, stating that it was not enough to achieve worldwide awareness, it was also necessary to sell.

During the seminar it was pointed out that global perceptions of Madrid had improved over the past 20 years and that it was establishing itself as an economic centre and transport hub. Nevertheless, participants agreed that there was still a lot of work to be done. The objective of Madrid is to position itself as the third most important city in Europe, after London and Paris.

Furthermore, the city’s construction industry, the management of infrastructures and how these have enabled the city to progress in recent years were also analysed. Its good position in market terms means that Spanish companies in the sector are among the largest in the world and are capable of meeting challenges and undertaking projects on any continent.