It is the first of four 4.0 economy projects that the Consorci de la Zona Franca will announce throughout 2018. A giant step for the Barcelona Free Trade Zone, which thus anticipates its European counterparts by promoting a privileged space for fundamental sectors such as biotechnology, automotive, metalworking industry, chemical, and aerospace, among others. In the coming weeks, the offer of access to interested companies and entrepreneurs with relevant projects will be published. At the headquarters of the Consorcio de la Zona Franca itself, they will have facilities of 600 square meters where they can establish their development units in the incubator's premises for a maximum period of five years and advantageous access to 3D/AM (Additive Manufacturing and New Materials) machinery and materials.
The project aims to provide services to the scientific, technological, and business community susceptible to 3D/AM application, a transversal technology that will strengthen the competitiveness of the business and entrepreneurial fabric in Catalonia in consolidated sectors and will allow technological transfer in the business field of micro-SMEs and startups.
This is an excellent opportunity for Catalunya's innovative business universe, made possible thanks to the collaboration of the Consorcio de la Zona Franca de Barcelona, with the Leitat Technological Institute and the INCYDE Foundation. The president of the Consorcio de la Zona Franca, Jordi Cornet, has promoted a strategic shift of the first order for Barcelona's logistics park, which is reorienting itself towards the technological industry and the 4.0 economy. Cornet announced an initial investment of 2.9 million euros, made between FEDER funds and the contribution of the Consorci. The launch of the incubator will involve investing two million euros in technological equipment. For Cornet, it is fundamental that the public sector "helps small and medium-sized companies to understand and enter the fourth industrial revolution". The Consorci, owner of the incubator, is responsible for setting up the infrastructure, acquiring basic equipment, and registering services. Leitat is the technological partner to develop the incubator's innovation strategy. The INCYDE Foundation provides the incubator project approved by the European Commission with a total investment of FEDER funds, for all European projects, of 32.5 million euros.
Projects that apply to the call and are selected will have a management and reception office for basic services, a design, production, and post-processing area, a co-working area with flexible spaces, and an office area for companies requiring more than 15 square meters. They will also have modular meeting rooms, common areas, as well as a showroom space on additive manufacturing technology, an exhibition and dissemination area that will be located on the ground floor of the corporate headquarters of the Consorci de la Zona Franca.
The Consorci is a public company financed entirely with its own funds from industrial leases in the Zona Franca industrial estate and its asset management. Dedicated to economic promotion, it is an entity that seeks agreement and has a plenary composed of representatives of the Spanish government, the Barcelona city council, and the main economic entities of the city. Leitat is a Technology Institute with more than 100 years of history and 300 professionals. It has five locations: Terrassa, Barcelona, Vilanova del Camí, Valencia, and Chile, and a budget of more than 30 million euros. The INCYDE Foundation is an institution created in 1999 by all the chambers of commerce in Spain to promote entrepreneurship and the consolidation of companies through innovation.