With more than 9,000 registered participants and 140 top-level speakers, the media did not want to miss the third edition of Tech Spirit, the benchmark event in Barcelona’s technological and digital ecosystem. Here is a summary of the main impacts on television, radio and press:

TV

• Telenotícies Vespre, TV3 (01/12/2022).

Radio

• El Món, RAC1 (30/11/2022).

Press

• “El ecosistema emprendedor exhibe potencial con el congreso Tech Spirit“, La Vanguardia.
• “Tech Spirit Barcelona se consolida como evento de referencia de la comunidad tecnológica“, El Periódico.
• “Si lo tienes muy claro, emprende solo; si no es así, busca ayuda”: las aceleradoras se convierten en motor del emprendimiento en mitad de la crisis“, Business Insider.
• “El Tech Spirit se hace fuerte en su tercera edición“, The New Barcelona Post.
• “Torna el Tech Spirit i reivindica el paper de ‘hub’ tecnològic de Barcelona“, Tot Economia.
• “Catalunya acoge a más de 1.700 empresas extranjeras del ámbito tecnológico“, Viaempresa.
• “Las startups exhiben músculo en el congreso Tech Spirit“, Crónica Global.
• “Toni Ruiz (Mango): “La tecnologia o será más humana o no será“, modaes.es.
• “NFT: combustible per a l’especulació o democratització de l’art digital?“, MetaData.

• The event has been attended by a total of 140 speakers, including more than 90 entrepreneurs, more than 30 investors, as well as corporations and experts in different technologies

• In the Catalan Pitch Competition, organised by ACCIÓ, the winning startup was Real Deal Milk

• The sessions analysed the impact of Artificial Intelligence and blockchain, sustainable consumption, NFT and crypto investment, as well as the keys to success in different sectors

Barcelona, 1 December 2022-. Tech Spirit Barcelona, the benchmark event for the local technology community with a global outlook and ambition, successfully concludes its third edition after more than 9,000 registered participants, double the number of the previous year, and more than 50 presentations held over two days at La Llotja de Mar in Barcelona.

This edition of Tech Spirit Barcelona was supported by Acció (Generalitat de Catalunya), Ajuntament de Barcelona, CaixaBank, Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona, Estrella Damm, HP – Printing Emotions by Alium, Institut Català de Finances, Mango, Mobile World Congress, Port de Barcelona, Wayra – Telefónica Innovation, LLYC, dwfRCD, McCann, La Vanguardia and Llotja de Mar – Cambra de Comerç de Barcelona, as host.

The event had a total of 140 speakers, including more than 90 entrepreneurs, more than 30 investors, and 20 corporations participated in the different round tables and conferences. As part of Tech Barcelona’s strategy to advance towards gender parity and give visibility to female talent in the technology sector, 35% of the speakers at the event were women and 65% were men, who took to the stage to talk about their success stories and their business vision.

In the words of Miquel Martí, CEO of Tech Barcelona, “in this 3rd edition, Tech Spirit Barcelona has established itself as the benchmark event for the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Barcelona. In this edition, we have counted with great entrepreneurs, investors and corporations, in a demonstration of why Barcelona has become a technological hub of reference at European level”.

On the CaixaBank stage, Toni Ruiz, CEO of Mango, focused on the creation of a digital ecosystem, “At Mango, we are committed to technology and innovation as a basic pillar of our business model. In recent years we have focused on building a technological ecosystem of experiences, services and products, seeking to unite the digital world with the physical world and always with the aim of providing the best service to our customers”.

Also, Mar Galtés (Tech Barcelona) talked to Rubén Bonet, the co-founder of Fractus, about the history and learnings of the startup that is the great story of technology transfer in Barcelona in the last 20 years.

On stage at Tech Barcelona, Xavier Juárez, HP Construction Services Director, spoke about the creation of an innovative robotic solution. “HP SitePrint is a revolutionary robotic solution born of intrapreneurship thanks to an internal company competition in which a team of HP employees realised their dream. This project was worked on and incubated within the company as if it were a new startup, drawing on all the talent and innovation of the HP centre in Sant Cugat del Vallés, until today, when this idea proposed by HP employees is already beginning to be marketed. The HP SitePrint solution is a perfect example of how a company can bet on a great idea and local talent,” adds Juárez.

In addition, investment firms such as Aldea Ventures, Inveready, Kibo Ventures, Nina Capital, Farside/101 Venutres, Nuclio, among others, have been in charge of explaining the trend change that corporate venturing and private equity are experiencing in the complex socio-economic context.

ACCIÓ also held the Catalan Pitch Competition, in which Real Deal Milk was awarded the Catalan Startup of the Year. During the competition, the purpose and business model of 27 startups was highlighted. Albert Castellanos, Secretary for Enterprise and Competitiveness of the Government of Catalonia and CEO of ACCIÓ, stressed that “through the Catalan Pitch Competition we showcase the talent that the city of Barcelona hosts, which once again demonstrates its wealth and capacity as a European technology hub to attract founders and workers from all over the world in a complex socioeconomic context such as the current one”.

The event concluded with a panel discussion “Everything you always wanted to know about entrepreneurship (but were afraid to ask)”, in which experienced entrepreneurs shared their vision and answered questions from young entrepreneurs.

• Speakers from renowned startups and global corporations such as Factorial, PepsiCo, TradeInn, Platanomelón, Vicio, Factorial HR, Wayra, among others, participated in the first day

• Drone company Only10s has flown its drone inside Tech Spirit to capture unique moments and never-before-seen images of the event

Barcelona, 30 November 2022-. Tech Spirit Barcelona, the event promoted by Tech Barcelona to mobilise and give visibility to the digital and technological ecosystem, has started with a high attendance of entrepreneurs, investors and innovative corporations that corroborate the positioning of Barcelona as a hub for talent, investment and the creation of technology companies. As of this morning, 8,500 people had registered to attend the event, which was held this morning at Llotja de Mar.

After the institutional inauguration, the two-day event began with talks and colloquiums on the Caixabank Stage and Tech Barcelona Stage, to discuss the present and future of the ecosystem, as well as the success stories of renowned entrepreneurs and startups.

“Local Heroes” brought together three significant success stories from the ecosystem to analyse the future potential of Barcelona as a base for the creation of new success stories and unicorns. Jordi Romero, co-founder and CEO of Factorial, shared his personal experience as the driving force behind the latest unicorn born in Barcelona’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. “Startups may not have resources, but we have the capacity to go faster than large corporations. It is possible that in Barcelona we are late compared to other digital and technological ecosystems, but we have the attributes that a city needs to become the first. I am optimistic,” adds Romero.

In the words of Ana Maiques, co-founder and CEO of Neuroelectrics: “Barcelona has the ability to attract talent, and we have a culture and a value that makes us different, a European way of doing business. We are the city of creators and we need to boost this aspect, which is a challenge. We need more ‘Wallbox’, ‘Glovos’ and ‘Factorials'”. Maiques added, “We have to keep working, because Europe is the continent lagging behind in the creation of startups.” Pol Valls, founder of Submer, highlighted the role of sustainability in any future-oriented business.

David Martin, CEO of Tradeinn, an e-commerce company founded in Girona and which this year will have a turnover of more than 400 million euros, explained the path that has led him to position Tradeinn as an e-commerce giant. “TradeInn is a company that covers a wide market, which is why our website is translated into 18 languages and has multiple payment methods. We sell in markets such as the United States, Japan, Australia, among others. It is for this reason that the creation of in-house technology has played a key role in adapting the company to each specific market. Even so, we collaborate with external partners on specific issues. TradeInn’s CEO also stresses that “TradeInn is a profitable company, because from the beginning it has made a profit that has been reinvested in improving our technology with the sole objective of increasing our sales”. Finally, Martin assures that “the future of the retail sector is online sales, the physical shop will take a back seat because people no longer like to go shopping”.

Pavlo Kartashov, Director of Ukrainian Startup Fund, was interviewed live by Carmen Ríos, founder and COO of Doctomatic, to explain how Ukraine is betting on the technology sector for the reconstruction of the country after the war: “from Ukrainian Startup Fund we provide financial and non-financial support to startups, developing an ecosystem and bringing the community and the Ukrainian ecosystem and key players to an international level. In 3 years of activity we have already funded more than two hundred Ukrainian startups”. We are building an ecosystem that is already very strong.”

Speakers included Pere Vallès, CEO of Exoticca; Francesc López, COO and co-founder of Stayforlong; Ross McNairn, Chief Product Officer and Technology Officer of Travelperk and Toni Raurich-Marcet, co-founder and managing partner of eBooking.com, who discussed the attraction and strengths of Barcelona to dominate the future of the global travel industry.

The presentations focused on key issues for the growth of the ecosystem such as trends in public-private investment, artificial intelligence, web3 and Blockchain technology, as well as the main drivers that attract large companies to locate their digital hub in the city of Barcelona.

A Drone’s Eye View and Catalan Pitch Competition

The drone company Only10s has flown its drone over the Tech Spirit to capture unique moments and unpublished images of the Llotja, as well as of the different conferences held during the event. The images captured will soon be available on Tech Barcelona’s social networks.

During this first day, and with the aim of boosting the ecosystem and facilitating the raising of funding by Catalan start-ups, ACCIÓ also organised the Catalan Pitch Competition, in which 27 start-ups explained their business model in one minute to the most representative investors in Catalonia.