Alcobendas “The Spanish Silicon Valley”
Alcobendas is a city located in northern Madrid, with 117,000 inhabitants. Thanks to its great public transport system, the city is less than 15 minutes away from Madrid’s financial district and Downtown, Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas international airport and IFEMA convention centre. Moreover, the city currently hosts the headquarters of 554 multinational corporations, being the third Spanish city by turnover, just behind Madrid and Barcelona.
Alcobendas provides high quality services to its citizens and companies and it is the first local government body in Europe to be handed the EFQM Excellence Award (2016).
Determined to become a smart city, Alcobendas has launched a Digital Innovation Hub, called Intelligent Urban Lab, with the support of local institutions, companies, universities and start-ups. It is turning the city into a true urban lab in which mobility issues can be tackled through testing and experimentation so that innovative solutions may be developed within Alcobendas and escalated to other urban areas. Thus, the city is usually renowned as the Spanish Silicon Valley.
This economic system lies within more than 30 green areas such as a 300 hectares protected forest and five thematic parks for children. It ranks among the top 10 cities in Spain with the largest green areas per inhabitant (10 square metres).
With 8,000 federated athletes and 144 sports associations, Alcobendas has been twice awarded with the National Sports Award. It holds a wide range of sports facilities and multiple elite male and female teams take part in the top national leagues.
The range of cultural activities of Alcobendas include several national museums, such as the National Science and Technology Museum and the National Basketball Museum, as well as the largest public photography collection in Spain and the only bonsai museum in the whole country. Concerning leisure, there are more than 10 shopping centres throughout the city, with cinemas, restaurants, bowling alleys and all kinds of stores.
Alcobendas also has some of the most prestigious schools in Spain with a range of public and private centres. More than 30,000 students attend the three universities located within the area, including the Autonomous University of Madrid -the second best university in Spain.
