Month: November 2020

‘Barcelona Accelerates’ its backing for innovative start-ups

Posted on by Comunicació

The new ‘Barcelona Accelerates’ initiative will invest up to ten million euros in six private venture capital funds with the intention of providing a boost for innovative start-ups in the city and keeping the digital enterprise ecosystem competitive. The investment companies selected will have to invest at least three times the amount awarded and make a commitment to investing an equal amount in companies led by women.

Companies from the Barcelona metropolitan area belonging to the sectors defined as strategic in the Barcelona Green Deal will be able to benefit.

These sectors have the greatest capacity to generate added value, create quality jobs and position the city brand at a global level: digital economy, creative industries, the green economy, 4.0 industry, health and bio, sport and sports tech, food and food tech and the blue economy.

The measure corresponds to the strategy to reactivate the city economy and help it grow, to tackle the effects of Covid-19 and strengthen Barcelona as southern Europe’s digital capital.

Smart City Week returns with a new edition focusing on digital inclusion

Posted on by Ana Tapia

The third edition of Smart City Week is being held from 9 to 15 November with the slogan ‘Reconnecting Barcelona: City, Society and Technology’. Jointly organised with the municipal foundation BIT Habitat, the programme includes over thirty free online activities reflecting on digital inclusion in the city, a priority for improving the situation of people for whom technology is still a barrier.

This edition broadens its outlook to open up the debate to citizens and analyse the opportunities offered by technological advances for fairer, more sustainable and more inclusive cities.

The activities being offered include lectures, debates, exhibitions, documentaries and initiatives for families, with three itineraries providing the common thread for the programme:

  • The city we see: activities relating to access to technology, connected spaces and the explanation of urban space.
  • The city we don’t see: infrastructures which make digital interaction possible, linked to related activities through an explanation of the digital city and skills acquisition.
  • The city we imagine: the city of the future, presenting activities linked to the innovation ecosystem and the projection of the future.

BIT Habitat, the urban innovation centre housed in Ca l’Alier, is also inaugurating an exhibition on the digital divide. Under the slogan ‘An analogical vision of digital inequality’, the display explores the race towards total digitalisation.