Barcelona and universities will accompany scientific 'startups'

The Barcelona City Council, through Barcelona Activa, has allied with the main Catalan universities to promote Barcelona Deep Tech Node. The initiative should serve to support more than a hundred emerging companies in the scientific and technological fields, between 2021 and 2023, in their development. It will have the support of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) and the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC).

The project is aimed at startups that have emerged from a scientific discovery or a disruptive technological innovation and that need resources to grow. The investments they receive will allow these companies to begin the commercialization phase of their products. These are the so-called deep tech companies, many of which emerge in the academic field, and which correspond to a segment of startups that accounts for 13% of all emerging companies currently created in Barcelona, ​​according to City Council data.

The initial budget for the next two years is 840,000 euros, of which Barcelona Activa will contribute 470,000 euros; the universities, 300,000 euros, and different sponsors, 70,000 euros. From Barcelona Activa, to facilitate access to financing, forums with investors will be organized and, by 2022, a service for searching and processing public financial instruments will be activated, where a group of experts will identify and process calls aimed at emerging technology companies.

At the presentation of the initiative, the city's first deputy mayor, Jaume Collboni, described it as "a very important turning point regarding the transfer of knowledge to the economic and productive system of the city and the country." To achieve this, Collboni added that Barcelona already has a good base because it has a large scientific production.