A new innovation hub joins the Barcelona ecosystem. The Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys is finalizing the launch of a center for innovative companies focused on music, sports, and major events. Named The Venue Barcelona, the initiative will open its doors at the end of the first quarter of this year, after works with a budget of 2.8 million euros that Barcelona de Serveis Municipals (B:SM) has allocated to adapt the space.
As a preliminary phase to the formal opening, a first call for startups has been launched to facilitate the installation of the first entrepreneurs who will work from the stadium. The entity responsible for energizing the space and attracting the initiatives and companies that will settle there will be a temporary union of companies specialized in innovation in these fields. The objective of the management company and B:SM is to identify projects interested in operating from the space and to collaborate with the companies that will be part of the new center, yet to be specified.
The Venue Barcelona will offer support and acceleration programs to these initiatives and will work to help strengthen the local and international positioning of the Anella Olímpica de Montjuïc. Also, from now on, to position it as a leader in innovation and emerging projects in music, sports, and major events, areas aligned with the activity usually hosted by the venue. Despite being its three main axes, other sectors linked to these will also be addressed, such as catering, mobility, energy, and security.
The Estadi Olímpic and the Palau Sant Jordi will become testing grounds for the projects of the innovative companies of The Venue BarcelonaThe new center occupies an office space of 1,100 square meters located on the south facade of the Olympic Stadium. It will have 14 interconnected work modules, an area of coworking and other spaces to facilitate collaboration and synergies between startups and companies that set up in the center.
The project, which will also have 400 square meters of outdoor space, aims to foster relationships and exchange not only among the initiatives operating within it, but also with the ecosystem of institutions present in Montjuïc, such as the Institut Nacional d'Educació Física de Catalunya (INEFC), the Museu Olímpic, and the Piscines Picornell, in addition to large facilities linked to events and sports. Thus, companies operating from The Venue will coexist with concerts, sporting events, and other events held in Montjuïc, which also hosts Barça's matches during the Camp Nou renovations. The Anella Olímpica closed 2023 with a record year, tripling visitors to reach 2.1 million, and with 167 events, 23% more than the previous year. With the launch of The Venue, both the Estadi Olímpic and the Palau Sant Jordi will become testing grounds for the projects of its innovative companies.
The UTE that will manage The Venue Barcelona is made up of four major firms linked to the acceleration of startups and the promotion of innovation centers, among other areas. Among them is The MotherTrees, which will lead the application of the collaborative open innovation concept within the center's ecosystem to design a collaborative environment. The company specialized in converting ideas into products, B-Bruce, will promote the brand development of proposals emerging from the center, while Ongoing will use results-based marketing to optimize concepts and experiences born from the startups and companies at The Venue. For its part, U-Skale will be responsible for accelerating initiatives, creating innovative business models that seek to impact their respective sectors.
The center, which has been designed with the collaboration of Barcelona Activa and the Institut Barcelona Esports (IBE), aims to act as a facilitating lever for disruptive and emerging projects in its three main areas, and wants to represent "a new example of how Olympic facilities play a relevant role in 21st-century Barcelona," according to Barcelona's first deputy mayor and president of B:SM, Laia Bonet. "We are working to make Barcelona a great European capital of entertainment," Bonet concluded.
At the same time, The Venue Barcelona will contribute to boosting the Barcelona Sports Hub, promoted by the City Council and also operating from the Olympic Stadium, with offices in the Palau d'Esports. Both initiatives will work to position the Catalan capital "on the world map as a center for technological innovation applied to sport," according to the Sports Councilor, David Escudé. From the center's management, Emilio Risques has argued that The Venue Barcelona aims to redefine the meaning of an innovation space, through a dynamic ecosystem that fosters collaboration between companies and startups to promote initiatives that impact their sectors, and that make Barcelona a benchmark for innovation in this field as well.
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