INTERES Invest in Spain

Agri-food Industry

The agri-food business is one of the most important sectors in the Asturian economy. In 2004 it accounted for 15.5% of the industrial sectors turnover and almost 13% of its workforce. The dairy products industry holds a solid position in national and international markets and is the main activity in this sector. Over the last few years we have seen the creation of several companies who have a common commitment to high quality gourmet regional products.

The many research centers and bodies, which provide technology services in the sector, contribute to the support of these regional agri-food companies. These include the Institute of Asturian Dairy Products (IPLA), the regional research and development service for the agri-food business (SERIDA), the inter-professional dairy laboratory of Asturias (LILA) or the associated laboratory for research into the meat industry.

Capital Goods

The industrial culture in Asturias has created a number of manufacturers of capital goods ranging from large companies specialized in turnkey projects to a nurtured group of small companies which are national and international leaders in the manufacture of capital goods for mining, construction, defense, transport or environmental related industry. An excellent supply of support services such as subcontractors for foundry work, mechanization, tooling, boiler and metal structure manufacture, engineering, assembly and maintenance together with a wide range of advanced services companies. The existence of qualified labor in technical specialties is without doubt a determining factor in attracting new industrial activities to the region.

Information Technology and Communications(ITC)

The ITC sector has seen sharp growth levels over the last few years. Asturias has one of the highest levels of broadband coverage in Europe, where usage of this technology is over 15% higher than the national average. The high level of education of its professionals, the wide broadband coverage in Asturias and the regional governments firm commitment to development have attracted new company start ups and multinational groups to the region, as in the case of Computer Sciences Corporation (USA) and Capgemini (France).

Asturias also boasts an ITC cluster (CTIC) which, together with its IT Technology Center, is contributing to the increase in activity in this dynamic sector. The CTIC houses the Spanish and Latin American headquarters of the W3C (World Wide Web) consortium, the most important body for internet standardization worldwide.

Renewable Energy

Asturias is one of the regions with the greatest capacity to generate electricity in Spain. The energy sector accounted for 9.5% of the region's gross value added in 2004 and is the second pillar of its industrial sector after steel and metallurgy. Coal fired and hydro-electric installations generate a surplus of electricity (55% in 2005) making it a net exporter to Spain's national electricity grid.

The future construction of a regasification plant in Gijon and combined-cycle plants which are currently under construction will make Asturias an important national generator of electricity from natural gas.

This culture of energy generation has been further boosted by the many renewable energy projects that have started up in recent years, including wind power, bio fuels and biomass generation.