Euskadi Basque Country

50 Next Destination Partner

The Basque Country represents one of the largest industrial concentrations in Spain and its quality levels place it at the forefront of Europe. It presents a density of natural spaces, as a country with 53% of its surface area covered in trees. It has three outstanding capitals: Bilbao, the first nobel prize-winning city; Donostia-San Sebastian, the European culture capital in 2016; and Vitoria-Gasteiz, named European green capital 2012.

The Basque Country enjoys a high level of self-government in issues as important as healthcare, education and taxation. Its general taxation is 28%- 24% for SMEs. The Basque Country is focusing its efforts on Smart Specialisation, namely Advanced Manufacturing 4.0, Energy, Biosciences for Health and FoodTech.

The food value chain is strategic for the Basque Country, since it represents 10.6% of GDP, with a great tradition in gastronomic culture and quality food production. The Basque Government's food policy focuses on the European farm-to-fork strategy to develop a unique, safe, sustainable and healthy food ecosystem. It also leads the Food4Future World Summit to be held next June, as an international benchmark event in FoodTech innovations.