AI Campus Barcelona, the meeting point for technological talent in the city

Barcelona is a city of entrepreneurs. The Catalan capital is considered the hub of startups in Southern Europe and, therefore, an important pole of attraction for talent. It is not uncommon to find executives, entrepreneurs, and technology experts wandering around the city, renting an apartment there, or working in Catalan companies. Although the ecosystem is there, collaboration between companies still has room for growth, and in some cases, it is scarce. Vincent Jong had spent a good part of his career working in software and technology companies, and when he arrived in Barcelona, he wanted to connect with professionals with a similar background to his, but he found it difficult to do so. From this need, AI Campus Barcelona was born, a space conceived to connect this talent and foster the exchange of knowledge through workshops, meetings, and conferences on artificial intelligence and new technologies.

"It's about getting the right people in a room and letting things happen," says Jong in an interview with The New Barcelona Post. His idea is innovative in Barcelona, but also in the rest of the world. The reality is that there are many conference and workshop spaces in all plural and technological cities like Barcelona, but not always from this perspective that "what happens on stage is as important as what the colleague sitting next to you says," the entrepreneur mentions. His idea arose from the need to connect with more people with his thinking and criteria, but also to try to find facilities where entrepreneurs could help each other: "Not fostering competition, but business collaboration," says Jong.

AI Campus Barcelona also pivots on a very important axis in current society: the use of advanced technologies. Evidently, Jong was looking for a meeting space, but he also wanted to comment, reflect, and help implement this new technology that is often viewed with reluctance by companies. In this way, conferences and events are always related to artificial intelligence and new ways of integrating technology. "A learning space for everyone," emphasizes the founder. Located in the Gràcia neighborhood, the facilities of this project are open-plan but also intimate. In this sense, the groups of people who meet there do so from a social and discreet perspective, in which they can comment and give their opinions. Jong also assures that the groups they set up are small, about thirty people, to foster this connection between professionals.

Sponsors and word-of-mouth exclusivity

The sessions at AI Campus Barcelona are exclusive and can only be accessed with a prior invitation or by filling out a form that is reviewed. This methodology allows Jong and his team to establish groups from similar sectors or with common interests who can perfectly work on their concerns about business or the world. Furthermore, these are free sessions that seek to explore connectivity between people, beyond economic profit. However, the initiative has sponsors who finance part of the project and in return have a space to hold some of the talks they like with the assurance that attendees are interested in the topic being presented.

One of these sponsors is Holded, the Catalan company that has developed cloud-based business management software, especially designed for SMEs and freelancers. Scott Dodson, Vice President of Marketing for the company, explains to this newspaper that the values of AI Campus Barcelona "align perfectly with Holded." The expert states that sometimes the connection between companies is complicated and that a space like this facilitates relationships between technology companies. Dodson assures that they sponsor this initiative because it can help create a community and an ecosystem "and they want to be part of the change," he specifies.

Workshops for companies

Beyond connectivity, AI Campus Barcelona also wants to be part of the business educational aspect. They have a space dedicated to workshops for companies, in which the managers themselves can raise their needs and create dynamics for teams to continue advancing in the use of technology hand in hand with their employees. These workshops are eminently practical and adapt to the functions and daily life of each team, with exercises based on real situations and tasks. The training can be done both at the campus itself and at the companies' offices or online, and is designed so that AI ceases to be an abstract tool and becomes a technology applicable to daily work.

In short, Barcelona has a growing technological ecosystem, but the interviewed experts agree on the lack of spaces for knowledge transfer, and not only in my vertical lines -from managers to employees- but also horizontally, that is, from company to company. AI Campus Barcelona seeks to become this reference space for reflection on technology; a project to grow this ecosystem and unite it more and more through training, events and conferences of all kinds.