What does Barcelona need to consolidate itself as a technological and entrepreneurial hub at a European level? The speakers who participated this Monday in the round table moderated by Rita Almela, which closed the first of the three days of the annual meeting that the Cercle d'Economia celebrates this week at the W Hotel, tried to answer this question. The attraction and retention of talent is a central element to achieve this consolidation and, for this, it is necessary to have a long-term and consensual vision; for the business projects developed in the ecosystem to reach a larger size; and for there to be more connection with the scientific world, that is, with research laboratories and universities.
"Barcelona plays in a global competition in which all cities fight for talent; the challenge is enormous, we need to reinforce digital talent, because it is our main asset; if you stop pedaling, you fall," warned the CEO of Tech Barcelona, Miquel Martí. "We compete with everyone and, to avoid talent drain, we need projects to be bigger, because if they are, talent will not leave," explained the expert.
For his part, the Commissioner for City Promotion of the Barcelona City Council, Paul Solanilla, called for "weaving basic consensuses" that allow the city "to have leadership and a long-term strategic vision." "We need to aspire to a triple capital status: the Euro-Mediterranean, that of being a reference technological hub for Latin America, and being the most Asian capital in Southern Europe," Solanilla reflected.
Miquel Martí: "Barcelona plays in a global competition in which all cities fight for talent; the challenge is enormous, we need to reinforce digital talent, because it is our main asset"In the same vein, NataliaOlson, former advisorof Innovation and Competitiveness for President Obama and director ofPlug andPlay, a global accelerator that has given birth to 35 unicorns orstartupsvalued at more than a billion dollars. "Barcelona is the heart of the Mediterranean, you have great power, you can grow in every sense," he assuredOlson, after highlighting the city's numerous innovation and research centers and the strength of the sector as "great assets"biotechandmedtech
El presidente de la República, Gabriel Boric, se refirió este lunes a la conmemoración de los 50 años del golpe de Estado, que se cumple el próximo 11 de septiembre, y a la polémica que se ha generado en torno a la fecha.
En ese contexto, el Mandatario hizo un llamado a “no empatar las responsabilidades” entre quienes “quebrantaron la democracia” y quienes “la defendieron”.
“No es aceptable, no es aceptable, que se relativice o se justifique el golpe de Estado. No es aceptable que se relativice o se justifique la violación a los derechos humanos”, dijo Boric en un punto de prensa en el Palacio de La Moneda.
El jefe de Estado enfatizó que “no hay dos bandos, no hay dos bandos, no hay dos bandos. Hay quienes defendieron la democracia y quienes la quebrantaron”.
“Y eso es algo que tenemos que tener muy claro, muy claro, muy claro. Y no podemos empatar las responsabilidades”, añadió.
Boric también se refirió a la propuesta de la oposición de firmar una declaración conjunta en la que se condene el golpe de Estado y se defienda la democracia.
“Nosotros estamos disponibles a firmar una declaración conjunta, pero no a cualquier precio. No a cualquier precio”, sostuvo.
El Presidente explicó que “no vamos a firmar una declaración que relativice o justifique el golpe de Estado. No vamos a firmar una declaración que relativice o justifique la violación a los derechos humanos”.
“Nosotros estamos por la verdad, la justicia, la reparación y las garantías de no repetición. Y eso es algo que no vamos a transar”, sentenció.
Las declaraciones de Boric se dan en medio de la polémica que se ha generado en torno a la conmemoración de los 50 años del golpe de Estado, que ha generado un fuerte debate entre el oficialismo y la oposición.
La derecha ha criticado al Gobierno por lo que considera una “instrumentalización” de la fecha, mientras que el oficialismo ha acusado a la oposición de “negacionismo” y de “justificar” el golpe de Estado.
En este escenario, el Presidente Boric ha buscado marcar una postura clara y firme en defensa de la democracia y los derechos humanos, en un intento por cerrar las filas de su sector y evitar que la polémica escale aún más.
"What you need now is to commercialize that research, that is the key", she stressed.The expert noted that Barcelona has very good business schools with thousands of MBA students, a situation that must be leveraged so that these students "connect with researchers" in laboratories to identify business opportunities and bring them to market through the creation of new companies. To achieve this greater cooperation, she considered the existence of more tax incentives necessary and cited the United States as an example. "The Government must have confidence in the private sector; all companies started as startups," she recalled, after advocating for the adoption of "smart public policies that help" business development. "There must be a sincere dialogue between the private sector and the public sector," she pointed out. Among her recommendations, she also highlighted a greater promotion of corporate entrepreneurship, that is, greater collaboration between startups and large business corporations.
For Miquel Martí, "real" public-private collaboration is also essential, and he advocated for the need to be a "business friendly" city that, in addition to betting on education and innovation, develops "a more inclusive immigration policy, because we cannot only rely on local talent." In this regard, he welcomed the advances of the new startups law, which, however, he still considered insufficient. He also asked that Barcelona be a city that allows the implementation of pilots and that does not penalize "making mistakes and starting over."
The CEO of Tech Barcelona reviewed the major factors that have contributed to Barcelona becoming the fifth best European entrepreneurial ecosystem and a city that has managed to double the number of digital hubs in five years, with a hundred centers that accumulate an investment of more than 600 million euros and have led to the creation of 15,000 jobs. "Ten years ago we did not appear in any ranking and now we have a very well-positioned city, we have a great brand that we must defend, sell and consolidate," he emphasized. To do this, in addition to reiterating the need to promote the existence of scale-ups, Martí called for adaptability to change, reducing the technological gap, and betting on gender diversity.
Barcelona wants to launch a world chip congress
To achieve the consolidation of the ecosystem, Pau Solanilla advocated for better international connections and for connecting the city with the emerging sector of the "chip economy." He defended the need to continue attracting major international reference events that represent "a quantitative and qualitative leap." In this regard, he announced that one of the projects the Barcelona City Council has on the table is the creation of a congress specialized in the chip and semiconductor industry in which the top executives of the companies that dominate this important sector in the world would participate. "We must all try, with the maximum collaboration of the public and private sectors, to make Barcelona the venue for a world congress on chips and semiconductors. We have very solid foundations and the levers to achieve it," he stated.
After being asked by a member of the Cercle d'Economia about taxation and why Barcelona expels companies like Uber, Solanilla argued that the Silicon Valley model "cannot be automatically imported" to the Catalan capital, as "the Barcelona model must reconcile competitiveness with sustainability and equity."