BNEW kicks off with a debate of former mayors on resilient Barcelona

[dropcap letter="B"]

arcelona will become, starting today, the center of global economic reactivation thanks to the Barcelona New Economy Week (BNEW), a disruptive hybrid and 100% professional event organized by the Consorci de la Zona Franca (CZFB) and which has registered 9,000 people from all over the world. For four days, more than 350 speakers will debate the new opportunities generated by five strategic sectors for the post-Covid era: logistics, real estate, digital industry, e-commerce, and economic zones.

Four political leaders who know the Catalan capital very well, having been its mayors, will discuss today Barcelona's resilience capacity and define its strengths to face the current situation and position itself as the capital of the new economy. The panel will be composed of Joan Clos ---currently a professor at the Barcelona Institute for International Studies---, Jordi Hereu ---recently proposed to chair Hispasat---, Narcís Serra ---president of IBEI--- and Xavier Trias.

[subscribe_newsletter_esp]

The debate will be moderated by the special delegate of the State in the CZFB, Pere Navarro, and will kick off BNEW Real Estate, one of the five interconnected thematic axes that make up this great global event, which will be followed live by streaming worldwide, with a special focus on Europe, Africa, and America.

The panel of mayors will be broadcast from one of the three sets installed at Estació de França, where the inauguration ceremony will also take place, with the presence of the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, and the Government delegate in Catalonia, Teresa Cunillera. In this same framework, on Friday, October 9, the last day of BNEW, the Best Innovation awards will be presented, an event attended by King Felipe VI and the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.

At Estació de França, BNEW Real Estate, BNEW Ecommerce, and BNEW Logistics are held. In parallel, the Movistar Centre in Plaça Catalunya hosts the BNEW Digital Industry set, and Casa Seat hosts the BNEW Economic Zones set. The five events will be broadcast in parallel between eleven in the morning and seven in the evening, which will generate more than 160 hours of content and contribute to the much-desired economic reactivation.

The five BNEWs will share throughout the week twelve keynote conferences given by the so-called Inspirational Speakers. The expert consultant in digital transformation Marc Vidal will be the first to speak, today at one in the afternoon, with a talk dedicated to the fifth digital revolution. This first day will also feature the architect Jorge Alonso (on the future of cities) and Luca Lazzarini (rational optimism).

For the first day of BNEW, debates are planned on the supply chains of the future; on technology, talent and intrapreneurship; and on the challenges for attracting sustainable investments for Spain. Chef Nandu Jubany and Tomás Tarruella, from Grupo Tragaluz, will also debate on the restaurant sector.

The organization of BNEW has had a budget of two million euros and generated 140 direct jobs and more than 500 indirect jobs. The real estate company Servihabitat is the main sponsor of the event, which is born with the vocation of being repeated in the coming years. BNEW has developed an innovative proprietary technological platform that will foster networking and generate business opportunities among the thousands of registered professionals.