The plenary session of the Barcelona City Council has unanimously approved the candidacy of the Catalan capital to become the physical headquarters of the future Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The proposal aligns with "the city's interest in promoting an ethical AI model and contributing from Barcelona and its institutions to lead the European model of technological development."
During the plenary session, the Deputy Mayor for the 2030 Agenda, Digital Transition, and Sports, Laia Bonet, argued that the city has one of Europe's "most powerful" ecosystems in technological innovation. Although other cities are also interested in hosting the new headquarters, Bonet emphasized that the Catalan capital has the assets to apply.
In fact, the city already hosts initiatives with the same purpose, such as Digital Future Society (DFS), a program promoted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation and Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWC) to study the ethical challenges posed by digital transformation. Furthermore, the local ecosystem is made up of more than 180 companies in the AI sector, with a turnover of 1.350 billion euros and 8,500 employees.
After the plenary session authorized the candidacy, Bonet will be responsible for carrying out the necessary procedures to formalize it. The period for submitting candidacies to host the future state headquarters ends on November 7.