"Talent has no limits". The motto that presides over the Parc Tecnològic de Nou Barris is not just an institutional slogan, but a declaration of the city. Barcelona has decided to reconvert this facility —which is now also being expanded and transformed— into the new Digital Talent Hub, a strategic commitment that aims to place Nou Barris at the center of the technological map of the Catalan capital and, at the same time, ensure that the digital revolution is truly inclusive, also including people with disabilities.
This decision is not just an expansion of facilities: it is a declaration of intent. Barcelona wants to project itself to the world as a technological benchmark not only for its figures —203 technological hubs and more than 129,000 digital professionals—, but also for its cohesion: ensuring that the digital revolution can reach all corners of Barcelona and include all its residents.
Historically perceived as a periphery, Nou Barris now asserts itself as a powerful economic engine. Since 1995, the Parc Tecnològic —managed by Barcelona Activa— has promoted technological innovation in the district. With the reconversion of this facility into the Digital Talent Hub, the project gains dimension and ambition. The new hub integrates existing facilities and incorporates a key player: XTalent Digital, an initiative promoted by Barcelona Activa and the ONCE Foundation, with the support of the Telefónica Foundation, to train people with disabilities in digital skills.
The set of facilities totals 11,000 square meters dedicated to three main axes: training and talent, entrepreneurship and innovation, and ecosystem and community. More than 6,000 people are expected to pass through it each year. According to the fifth deputy mayor and president of Barcelona Activa, Raquel Gil, "Nou Barris signifies, like few districts, Barcelona's capacity to drive itself from cohesion and to grow together." The decentralization of opportunities, she adds, is also "a way to guarantee the right of citizens to stay in their neighborhood and city."
Gil has also recalled that the new hub is part of a broader municipal strategy: the commitment of the Barcelona City Council to create specialized economic facilities in different sectors in different parts of the city, promoted thanks to public-private collaboration. After the XRLab in Palo Alto, focused on the audiovisual industry, and the circular economy hub in Bon Pastor, specialized in industry 4.0, the one in Nou Barris consolidates a network of spaces whose objective is to draw the productive map of the Barcelona of the future.
The set of facilities totals 11,000 square meters dedicated to three main axes: training and talent, entrepreneurship and innovation, and ecosystem and community. The forecast is that more than 6,000 people will pass through it each year. According to the fifth deputy mayor and president of Barcelona Activa, Raquel Gil, "Nou Barris signifies, like few other districts, Barcelona's capacity to propel itself from cohesion and to grow together." The decentralization of opportunities, she adds, is also "a way to guarantee the right of citizens to stay in their neighborhood and city."In total, the council plans to exceed 27,500 square meters specialized in six buildings. In addition to the three already inaugurated, with the Digital Talent Hub as the latest addition, the City Council is also developing three other spaces: urban planning and architecture (Barcelona Urban Innovation), the care economy, and women's leadership and professional growth (Lidera).
The Digital Talent Hub: training, business, and community
Within the Digital Talent Hub, the business dimension coexists with the training dimension. The StartupLab currently hosts 13 deep tech companies —among which are, for example, Metly or Balance Phone— and more than 200 professionals, while the Ateneu de Fabricació annually receives thousands of students who experiment with technologies such as digital manufacturing. In the educational field, the hub integrates Campus 42 Barcelona, a free center promoted by the Telefónica Foundation; the equipment of the Cibernàrium network of Barcelona Activa; and the new XTalent Digital.
XTalent Digital: a firm commitment to inclusion
In this scenario, the new XTalent Digital center, promoted by the ONCE Foundation and Barcelona Activa, brings a decisive dimension to the hub: the effective inclusion of people with disabilities in the technology sector. The 600-square-meter center has adapted classrooms, accessibility innovation spaces, and coworking areas. During 2026, it will offer 25 courses ranging from basic digital skills to specializations in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data analysis, or advanced programming.
Built thanks to a public-private investment of 1.2 million euros, its objective is ambitious: to train 1,000 people with disabilities in four years and guarantee them real and free access to the technology market, with the support of more than 75 collaborating companies that will facilitate job placement.
The initiative stems from a worrying reality: people with disabilities represent only 2.8% of the employed population and have salaries up to 25% lower. For the executive vice president of Fundación ONCE, Alberto Durán, the digital sector is an essential area for the development of cities and cannot do without the talent of people with disabilities. "The future is built now and, for this reason, from today these people must be integrated into these sectors, not as areas, but as protagonists," he stated.
Although this center is opening this year in Barcelona, Fundación ONCE already has years of experience in technological training through the X Talento Digital Program, created in 2019. The program has headquarters in Madrid and Valencia and offers courses throughout the territory through different collaborating classrooms. So far, more than 32,000 people with disabilities have participated. In Catalonia, more than 1,200 people have received one of these technological courses, in centers such as that of Fundación ONCE in Plaza España and, since this year, in the new XTalent Digital center in Nou Barris, which will concentrate the program's training activity in the city.
"Many of the students arrive at the center due to an acquired disability that forces them to reinvent themselves," says the director of the X Talent Digital program at Fundación ONCE, Mónica Cadenas. These people find a way to reinvent themselves through technology. This is the case of Marc Amorós, who, after more than three decades working in a printing press, was forced to reinvent himself due to a neurological disease and sudden hearing loss.
Far from resigning himself, he has completed courses in digital skills and artificial intelligence and is now preparing to specialize in graphic design, a field he describes as his new passion. Amorós believes that the teaching support and the adapted environment have been key in this process of professional reconversion.
It has also been for Eva Alonso. Diagnosed with Crohn's disease from a young age and later with autism, she decided to enroll in a programming bootcamp along with her son, who had suffered bullying at school and showed some reluctance to return to a conventional educational environment. That shared decision changed the trajectory of both: in this program they found a sensitive space, adapted and respectful of the rhythms and needs of each person.
"A place where you don't have to constantly justify yourself: if you need to go to the bathroom, you can go. If you learn better visually, it adapts." And if you need silence, it is respected. However, Alonso —who currently works at the NTT DATA consultancy— warns: "adaptation does not mean lowering the level of demand: the level is competitive because the goal is to be able to compete on equal terms in the labor market." In addition, the space also supports this objective: podotactile paths for people with visual disabilities, real-time subtitling and resources in braille, text and audio.
The technological legacy in the city
The inauguration of the Digital Talent Hub also coincides with the days leading up to the celebration of the Mobile World Congress, which this year commemorates twenty years in the city. In these two decades, the congress —which in its last edition alone generated an economic impact of more than 561 million euros in the city— has been a driver of innovation and international projection, but also a catalyst for local talent. "Twenty years ago we did not observe a large technological base in the city, but, at great speed, digital talent has flourished," recalled John Hoffman, CEO of the GSMA, the organizing entity of the Congress.
This was also celebrated by the fifth deputy mayor, Raquel Gil, who recalled the challenge she posed to John Hoffman the first time they met: "We do not want to settle for our young people serving coffee at the technology congress; we want them to be protagonists." An objective that has not only been achieved, but that the city continues to reinforce, with initiatives such as the new Digital Talent Hub, which aims to boost the digital revolution for all of Barcelona —from the center to the periphery— and for all people, including those with disabilities. Thus reminding that talent, like the city, has no limits.