• Tech Barcelona, in collaboration with the Institut d’Arquitectura Avançada de Catalunya (IAAC) and the Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya (COAC), is holding the second debate of the cycle to promote the Urbantech Hub.

Barcelona Urbantech Hub, the platform to bring together institutions, companies and professionals that promote sustainable urban transformation through technology, claims the role of large corporations to lead the innovation that must define the new model of sustainable city.

The Barcelona Urbantech Hub is a project led by the Institut d’Arquitectura Avançada de Catalunya (IAAC), Tech Barcelona and the Col-legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya (COAC). The second session of the cycle of debates to promote the Hub highlighted the need for large companies to promote projects that connect new technologies with urban planning, architecture, mobility and energy.

The conference, held on Wednesday at the COAC, was attended by Carlota Pi, co-founder of Holaluz; Lucas Casanova, managing director of Seat Mo; Catalina Balseiro, director of innovation at Aigües de Barcelona; Anna Gener, CEO of Barcelona Grupo Savills Aguirre Newman, Pilar Conesa, CEO of Anteverti and Joan Pons, director of innovation at Sorigué.

Miquel Martí, CEO of Tech Barcelona, stressed during the inauguration of the event that “the Urbantech Hub integrates actors that until now have been working separately and others that until recently were barely counted on, such as startups. It is a model of transversal collaboration that we must continue to promote”. The dean of the COAC, Assumpció Puig, stressed “the need to connect the innovation that takes place within large companies, which is the driving force behind social progress, with the talent and potential that is being developed at universities. For his part, Vicente Guallart, founder of the IAAC, insisted on the need for an “optimistic vision in the face of the challenge of building the model of innovative and sustainable city that will define the future in the next 50 years”.

Carlota Pi, co-founder of Holaluz, presented the opportunities for transforming the energy consumption model and the potential of cities. “At Holaluz we have started the rooftop revolution, which should not be confused with self-consumption. It is about converting roofs into a renewable energy plant, without involving a large investment”, said Pi.

Regarding the impact of mobility on the transformation of cities, Lucas Casanovas, managing director of Seat Mo, defended an urban planning model that allows for “reduced mobility, smaller vehicles, less polluting, that make less noise and allow pedestrians to gain more space”. Pilar Conesa, CEO of Anteverti, added that the pillars that will mark the urban transformation in Barcelona are the relationship with public space, construction, materials and mobility.

For her part, Anna Gener, CEO of Barcelona Grupo Savila Aguirre Newman, valued the level of demand currently being set by public administrations and institutions in terms of sustainability, which has already become a priority from the point of view of investors. “In three years there has been a change in awareness of climate change and it is a trend that is here to stay. If we can have better, more profitable buildings, we will also have better cities”.

The debate also addressed the challenges of public-private partnerships in the process of urban transformation. In the words of Catalina Balseiro, Director of Innovation at Aigües de Barcelona, “water is a vital asset for economic and social development and the future of the city. We work along two lines: efficiency and increasing the availability of alternative resources such as reuse”.

For his part, Joan Pons, director of Innovation at Sorigué, assured that it is necessary to apply technology and artificial intelligence with the aim of making “preventive” decisions in terms of “sustainable, industrialised construction and safety”.

• In collaboration with Dayone de CaixaBank, today the Association has celebrated two round tables about the future of Food & Beverage and HealthTech
• 15 companies have a prominent presence in the Association’s space at the event

Tech Barcelona, the private non-profit association that supports and promotes the digital and technological ecosystem of Barcelona, consolidates its commitment to collaboration between startups and large corporations. As part of the 4 Years From Now (4YFN), Tech Barcelona today held two round tables in Caixabank’s DayOne space, focused on the future of Food&Beverage and Healthtech.

The round table under the title Technological transformation and future prospects of the Food & Beverage sector opened the day with the participation of Iker Ganuza, Senior Commercial Director Foods (Snacks and Nutrition) and head of Insights at PepsiCo and Santiago Molinas, B2B ecommerce Manager & Open Innovation Lead at Unilever. Moderated by Enric Jové, CEO of McCann Worldgroup Barcelona. Topics addressed included: the impact of the pandemic on the value proposition of companies and how business strategy has evolved, placing the consumer at the center.

Asked about the relationship between large corporations and startups, Santiago Molinas pointed out that “in the end you realize the collaboration model for victory. Startups carry this model in their DNA. Now that we are in Tech Barcelona, we see how we get crazy ideas that can fit into the company. Little by little, large corporations are losing their fear”. Iker Ganuza added that “startups question the status quo in a courageous way and this generates a different corporate culture. We have to be more prepared to fail”.

This year, for the first time, 4YFN has been integrated into the Mobile World Congress (MWC) space, reaffirming the fundamental role that startups play in the mobile technology sector.

The second discussion session focused on the future of Healthtech. The roundtable featured presentations by Orlando Vergara, Reimagining LifeScience & Leadership at Novartis; Pau Rodríguez, CEO at Methinks AI; Javier Ingles, data manager at Ferrer Digital Business Experience in Spain; and Carla Zaldua, CEO & CoFounder at acceXible.

With the pandemic, mental health has been at the center of the debate. In this regard, all the participants agreed that the focus now is on reactive medicine and in the future, it will be on prevention and the relationship with the patient. Javier Ingles assured that “what technology allows us to do is to empower the patient, who will have more data, more information and more resources at his disposal”. Along these lines, Pau Rodríguez pointed out that “the most important thing (for startups) is to identify the problems or the clinical need and then expand all this so that it has a global impact. Technology accelerates the rest.

In Orlando Vergara’s words: “technology and startups will help solve problems. But what happens? It is not about supporting startups, but about collaborating and weaving alliances”. Finally, Carla Zaldúa assured that there is still a lack of resources to connect startups with large corporations. “From my experience, it is necessary to continue building bridges and creating meeting spaces to strengthen these links,” she concluded.

The commitment of Global Omnium’s corporate venturing alongside IBM to create the largest global hub of water technologies kicks off in Barcelona with the support of Tech Barcelona and Acció

GoHub, the open innovation hub and corporate venturing of Global Omnium, launches The Global Water Challenge, a global initiative with up to 3 million euros of investment in each startup to capture the best innovative solutions that will allow the creation of the largest global hub of water technologies.

As a first milestone, GoHub joins forces in Barcelona with IBM and adds the support of Tech Barcelona and Acció, a combination of four leading strategic partners that mix entrepreneurship with a vision to create an innovation and technology ecosystem.

The goal: to create the largest global hub for water technologies, a sandbox in which startups can experience new products and services. It is about bringing together worldwide talent and technology to anticipate and solve the great problems of the most scarce resource: water.

The challenge had its prologue in New York with the launch of The Ultimate Water Challenge at the beginning of June and will gradually add more places and ecosystems (Helsinki, Quebec…) to the roadmap.

Technology to solve water problems

In a scenario of climate emergency and search for environmental sustainability, The Global Water Challenge starts from the premise that the use of innovation is essential to address the greatest global challenges, such as water scarcity and quality.

Technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G, Internet of Things, augmented and virtual reality, cybersecurity, digital twins or robotics contribute to more efficient use of water resources.

For this reason, the challenge calls on startups with disruptive deep tech solutions that solve major problems in areas such as agriculture and food production; offer smart water solutions with data science for more efficient management; seek the care of the oceans by eliminating microplastics and spills; predict anomalies in infrastructure; prevent natural disasters and phenomena such as desertification; and combat drought and the decline in stocks.

Which startups can apply

The initiative is aimed at the entrepreneurial ecosystem regardless of its geographical location. The applications are open until September 30th for startups with proposals applicable to smart water management, industry 4.0 and smart cities with a sustainable approach.

The requirements for startups are, among others, that they must: be focused on B2B and have turnover; have a team with leadership and solid technological experience; a validated product-market fit in their country, strong business model and technology consolidated in at least one vertical; experience working with a large corporation and be involved in a fundraising during 2021 or 2022.

The startups will be selected by an expert committee composed of members of GoHub, IBM, Tech Barcelona and Acció.

Benefits for startups

Each selected startup will receive an investment up to 3 million euros through GoHub Ventures. In addition, the challenge will open the opportunity of developing a remunerated use case in Global Omnium, one of the top five water companies in the world, and join our portfolio of solutions that will strengthen its commercial action thanks to the relationship with different corporations.

The startups will also have access to a network of experts and mentors from GoHub and IBM. IBM will also provide support for the use of the technology; business accompaniment days at the IBM Garage in Madrid and 120,000 euros in free annual credits for solutions development.

Entering the challenge also entitles a Tech Barcelona Membership for two years -1r year free + 2n fast trackfee-, which includes access to activities, connections and contents, as well as tickets for the 4YFN and other events.

Patricia Pastor, Managing Director of GoHub: “We are creating the largest global hub for water technologies. To do this, we are looking for the best startups with innovative solutions that can predict and anticipate the problems of the future”.

Mónica Cernuda, IBM Public Cloud Market Leader for SPGI: “Cloud technology is an enabler for large and small companies to develop their ideas without worrying about the technology that makes them possible. That is our motivation to join this challenge”.

Miquel Martí, CEO Tech Barcelona: “Water management will be one of the key factors that will define the territories in the future. Barcelona as a Mediterranean enclave and technological ecosystem has all the elements to become a world reference centre. Investment in this sector is prioritary and strategic”.

Jordi Aguasca, Technologic Transformation and Disruption Director at Acció: “Collaboration between corporations and startups has been shown to generate great economic impact and highly disruptive innovations. For this reason, from Acció we have been working on it for 4 years, in which we have led more than 300 meetings between both agents of the ecosystem”.