More than a hundred speakers have debated what the city projects should be to overcome the shock caused by the pandemic and how the new economic model for the coming years should be defined in the Barcelona ReAct conferences. Creating a sportech hub in Montjuïc, promoting the blue economy in the Port de Barcelona, re-economizing the city center, and boosting innovation in the coastal area have been some of the initiatives that have been concretized during the four days of the different work sessions organized at the Disseny Hub. A total of 850 in-person attendees and 2,200 online participants followed it, exceeding 3,000.
The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, defended at the closing of the conferences that the Catalan capital "wants to lead the recovery, with alliances with the entire metropolitan region, the real city of five million." Colau added that it also has to act "as an engine for innovation, job creation, the transformation of the urban model, innovative social policies, and the fight to defend the planet." "We have this ambition because we believe in Barcelona, in its people, in its companies, and in the collective capacity we have to grow big in the face of difficulties," she remarked.
For his part, the first deputy mayor, Jaume Collboni, defined the Barcelona ReAct conferences as "a call for the reactivation of Barcelona based on the firm conviction in the city's possibilities; an open, brave, and entrepreneurial city that has everything to win the future." Collboni also highlighted "the generational challenge we face in dealing with a pandemic that has stopped everything while accelerating everything, as well as the obligation of good politics to think beyond tomorrow to transform the economic model." "Barcelona, which shies away from speculation and degrowth, has the two necessary ingredients that will guarantee inclusive and sustainable growth: talent and technology. It has vision, it has projects, and it has the desire of its citizens to see their city get back on its feet," he defended.
The closing ceremony also saw the participation of the Minister of Business and Knowledge of the Generalitat, Ramon Tremosa, and the fourth vice-president and Minister for Ecological Transition of the Government, Teresa Ribera. Tremosa emphasized the importance of European funds, which he stressed are "a fantastic opportunity to open up the Catalan economy more and better, an economy that in recent years has already grown thanks to exports and the attraction of international investment."
Likewise, Ribera applauded the discussions around reactivation that took place over four days in Barcelona. "In this city of wonders, it is extraordinary that a debate on reactivation has been proposed and that we talk about what model we want to build together, which is why I share the vision of long-term pragmatism that requires the concretization of short-term resources and projects. Barcelona and its attractiveness represent an example of innovation: design and dynamism with connections and networking of knowledge and stimuli," Ribera explained.
Among those attending the closing ceremony were also the CEO of GSMA, John Hoffman; the president of Barcelona Global, Aurora Catá; the general director of the Barcelona Centre de Disseny (BCD), Isabel Roig; the editor of The New Barcelona Post, Jaume Giró; the president of Roca Junyent and Amics del País, Miquel Roca, and the president of the Guild of Publishers of Catalonia, Patrici Tixis.