Sàmper highlights the defense sector's potential for job creation in light of the EREs

BarcelonaThe Minister of Business and Labor, Miquel Sàmper, has established dual industry –with applications in the defense and civil spheres– as one of the levers to "generate a transformation of the current labor market", in the face of the employment regulation files (ERE) in Catalonia, such as those of Nestlé, Ficosa, and Nissan.employment regulation files (ERE) in Catalonia, such as those of Nestlé, Ficosa, and Nissan. According to Sàmper, "defense is one of the clearest examples to understand where we are."

At the presentation of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce The potential of the technological and industrial base for dual use in Catalonia, Sàmper opined that the ongoing EREs "are worrying at first". In his opinion, robotization and artificial intelligence (AI) applications will cause "an initial moment of shock, a certain tension, in which certain jobs will have to be transformed and become other jobs".

He asserted that the Generalitat has "bet from the first moment" on dual industry and, in the same vein, the Minister of Foreign Action, Jaume Duch, defended that "Catalonia cannot escape" from the European commitment to develop its military and defense industry.10,000 additional jobs

Dual industry in Catalonia generates 28,000 jobs and has 113 active companies. However, the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce estimates that it has the capacity to create an additional 10,000 jobs by 2030, including new ones and the retraining of existing jobs that may become obsolete.

Currently, there are 812 companies with activity or potential in dual-use technologies. If Catalonia boosts the sector's activity, the study predicts that by 2030 there will be between 150 and 200 active companies, and they will have a greater weight in European industry. In terms of turnover, if today the 113 companies have an activity of 1.8 billion euros, the estimate is that the business will grow by 1 billion in terms of gross value added (GVA).

The technical manager of the study and former counselor, Roger Torrent, has argued that security and defense is an activity that "provides a lot of stability, long-term projects, added value, and margins", despite having "very high entry barriers". In the same vein, the president of the Chamber, Josep Santacreu, has maintained that it is "an important line of reindustrialization for Catalonia".

However, "it will not be a rain of millions" for all Catalan companies, warned Jaume Baró, the CEO of Acció – the public company for competitiveness – but rather a business line that will only be suitable for some.

An "enormous potential"

In Catalonia, the production of armaments and ammunition is only 1.40% of the potential industry. The bulk of the 812 companies are dedicated to the production of land vehicles (20.40%) and cybersecurity and quantum technologies (14.90%). Also part of the ecosystem are aeronautical companies (14.30%), New Space (10%) and those dedicated to simulation and gaming (4.60%), among others.

In a round table after the presentation of the study, the president of Petronor, Emiliano López-Achurra, stated that "Catalonia has enormous potential" thanks to the scientific and technological environment. To achieve the expansion of the sector, the CEO of Indra, José Vicente de los Mozos, has called for "changing the mentality from the automotive world to the defense world". "There is potential. I think what is missing is to organize it and focus it, we need leading players," he reflected, a leadership for which Indra has put itself forward.

The Chamber has proposed an action plan with eleven concrete measures to boost the sector, including the creation of an industrial conversion program, a certification accelerator, an office to attract European funds, and the development of industrial consortia to compete for major projects.