Barcelona, 'rentrée' at full sail

We return from the holiday period and find a top-level sporting event that, for the first time, is taking place in Barcelona: the America's Cup of Sailing. As we return to computer screens, work routines, and prepare the children's extracurricular activity schedule, the city sails at cruising speed and with an agenda full of challenges.

A good cartography of the city, identifying weaknesses, threats, strengths, and opportunities, helps us set the course and define the route. The America's Cup is a first opportunity. It allows us to position the city before the world to lead the blue economy, which already generates around 4 billion euros in Barcelona and creates more than 15,000 jobs.

The economic activities linked to the city's maritime sector are very relevant: logistics, nautical and maritime services, design and innovation and retrofit of ships, research and design of new vessels, cutting-edge engineering, electrification of docks and ships, fishing and local trade, new infrastructures, and a large Port of Barcelona as an economic driver.

An example of innovation is the case of the American company Triton Submarines which, following the example of Narcís Monturiol and his Ictineu submarine (1859), designs and builds submarines for scientific expeditions, and has found in Barcelona the optimal space to test its prototypes. Barcelona guarantees it an efficient port infrastructure, the technology and knowledge to certify safety systems, and a coast with depths of a thousand meters less than 12 nautical miles away for testing.

The America's Cup is therefore an opportunity to show something beyond the sporting competition: the renovated infrastructure, cutting-edge technology, the commitment to the electrification of the docks, the knowledge of professionals with a top-level Faculty of Nautical Studies and related research centers, logistical efficiency, and the dynamism of the city.

The sea is one of the strategic natural resources, and the city of Barcelona has set its course: a new economic hub for the city on the horizon. Undoubtedly, Barcelona is experiencing a full-sail rentrée this 2024 with an exceptional competition and a clear course in its sights.