The future digital, audiovisual, and video game hub of Catalonia, which will be located at the emblematic Tres Xemeneies of the old Sant Adrià del Besòs thermal power plant, has already attracted the interest of 80 companies, sectoral agents, and academic institutions, among others, who have signed a letter of adherence to the project.
The so-called Catalunya Media City aims to become an economic and social transformative engine for the next decade in Catalonia and a catalyst for Barcelona's digital and audiovisual capital status. Most digital multinationals are based in the city, and it is where the main events of the sector are held, such as the Mobile World Congress and the Integrated System Europe (ISE), the most important audiovisual industry fair in the world.
Expected to be operational in 2030, the audiovisual hub will be located in the old turbine building, right next to the three gigantic chimneys, with an estimated investment of 450 million euros, partly from EU Next Generation funds, as it is a public-private initiative.
The proposal has been developed by the Audiovisual Cluster of Catalonia together with the Catalan Institute of Cultural Industries of the Department of Culture and the city councils of Barcelona, Sant Adrià del Besòs, and Badalona, the municipalities where the land is located. Just this Friday, it was announced that both councils will approve the Urban Master Plan (PDU) for the sector to be transformed in their respective plenary sessions next week.
Catalunya Media City will feature the most advanced technology: state-of-the-art studios and UX testing rooms; spaces for interactive content creation (VR/XR); artificial intelligence project laboratories; 5G and robotics; sound and podcast recording studios; a Data Center with high connectivity for remote production and editing, among others.
Currently, the audiovisual sector in Catalonia is made up of more than 2,000 companies that invoice 12,000 million euros and employ some 14,000 workers. Likewise, the other sector involved in the project, the video game sector, has 200 companies and 4,000 workers, mostly under 45 years old.