Barcelona Activa is a municipal company of the city council of Barcelona which was created in 1986 in order to cope with the economic restructuring that Barcelona was experiencing after the industrial crisis. Its aims are to promote entrepreneurship; to support and promote business creation; to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship; and to stimulate innovation in SMEs. According to their action plan, Barcelona Activa offers four main services:

• Business creation and entrepreneurship support: It coaches more than 1,000 business projects each year and provides the entrepreneurs with a wide range of services and products to turn their business ideas into reality. The training is carried out by means of a blended model methodology that mixes on-site and online support, complemented by a large offer of training activities.
• Innovative business consolidation and growth: The activities and services included here are the business incubator and the Barcelona Nord Technology Park, the 'Xarxactiva' Business Network, which is a space where entrepreneurs can exchange ideas, learn and do business, the mentoring programme and the itineraries for growth which include training actions for business growth.
• Human capital development and new employment opportunities: There is a Portal Jobs Space (the so-called Porta 22) that provides citizens a free access space to find work, orient their professional future and evolve in the labour market.
• Access to and improvement of employment: Barcelona Activa offers labour market orientation to unemployed (itineraries for professional insertion), training (vocational and tailor-made training in sectors with high demand for professionals), inclusion programmes (the Programme for Socio-Labour Inclusion, the programme for New Opportunities of Access to Work for women, the Youth Plan Training-Employment), and work experience programmes that combine training and work experience (Workshop Schools, Trade Skills Houses, Employment Workshops, Employment Plans). Cibernarium provides access to the new technologies.

The collaboration with the public employment services at regional level allows Barcelona Activa to share information in order to monitor trajectories of their users.