The tired ones do the work

Mayor Jaume Collboni and the president of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Josep Santacreu, say that the Catalan capital is the only city in the world that has hosted an Olympic Games, a football World Cup, the America's Cup, and the Tour de France. Although the city will hardly be able to live forever on the flame of Olympic memory, it is a historic milestone that marked a path to follow as a land of entrepreneurship, fairs, and events. We could also add the Mobile World Congress (MWC) or the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE), among other recent examples of successful fairs that generate wealth and jobs, attract investment, and project Barcelona and Catalonia worldwide.

Over the last decade, I have seen Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Reed Hastings (Netflix), and now also Steve Wozniak (Apple) parade through the Mobile World Congress. Giants of technological power walking through the streets of our city. However, what I did not expect to hear live was world champion Garry Kasparov checkmating the dichotomy between human creativity and AI after losing to the Deep Blue machine in 1997. The Talent Arena has made a grand debut as a futuristic vision game board with more than 20,000 attendees.

According to Kasparov, it's not just about solving problems but about being a little better with each challenge we face. Computers will optimize answers, but it is the responsibility of humans to ask new questions. "It's augmented intelligence rather than artificial, and we are not being replaced, but promoted," he assures. Hopefully, time will prove him right, and we will walk together towards the new horizons of this augmented intelligence.

Just in case, let's remember that a technologist like Steve Wozniak advocates for the importance of critical thinking, creativity, curiosity, business thinking, passion, innovation, respect, and teamwork. Let's not forget this advice: "First, you have to learn to think for yourself and then use AI efficiently. It's more important to want to learn than to have knowledge." Thus, chess can also be a first link between human creativity and machine intelligence. As stated by the president of the Gran Teatre del Liceu Foundation and Saba, Salvador Alemany: "Chess teaches you to navigate life and make decisions. There is a time to think and a moment to decide." If you'll allow me the simile, the Mobile World Congress helps us partly decide what we want to be, and the Mobile World Capital helps us think 20 years later what we want its legacy to be in the city and the territory.

This headline has already been given, but let's remember it: La Caixa's headquarters returns to Barcelona after seven and a half years. And Criteria's too. CaixaBank's headquarters remains in Valencia for now. As we explained a month ago, Banco Sabadell first played this ace up its sleeve, also taking advantage of the takeover bid context, and now it has been La Caixa's turn, which has reinforced exactly this same discourse: "The circumstances that motivated the temporary transfer no longer exist." It remains to be seen what all of Criteria's investees, which is Spain's leading industrial investment holding, will do now: CaixaBank (31%), Naturgy (26%), or Colonial (17%), as well as Telefónica, ACS, Veolia, or Puig, among others. There is talk of a total of more than 3,000 companies that, according to the College of Registrars, moved their registered office out of Catalonia during the last months of 2017. With the return of La Caixa, a new domino effect is now opening up, which with Sociedad de Aigües de Barcelona, Cementos Molins, or Banco Sabadell itself already lit the first spark, and different sources indicate that more companies will return. Back to the origins.

With the return of the registered offices of La Caixa and Criteria to Catalonia, it remains to be seen what all the investees of Spain's leading industrial investment holding will do.

If we previously spoke of Catalonia as a land of entrepreneurship ---it is estimated that there are almost 400,000 people involved in entrepreneurial activities---, fairs and events, we must also mention a couple of recent news items from the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya now managed by Fira Barcelona through Fira Circuit. The first is the renewal with Dorna Sports for the celebration of the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix until 2031 and a total economic impact of Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya estimated at approximately 500 million euros. The second is the creation of a new hub of innovation, technology, motor and sports in collaboration with GSMA and the Mobile World Capital Foundation.

To conclude, I would like to share some reflections I recently heard from the president of Saba and the Liceu, Salvador Alemany, in a session of the Cercle Obert, and from the honorary president of Borges, Antoni Pont, at an Aijec lunch. These are some phrases that make one reflect and stand the test of time quite well.

Salvador Alemany:

• "I prefer to work with good people rather than very good people"
• "We achieved it because we didn't know it was impossible"
• "When you assume a presidency, you have to think about the best time to leave it, who could continue it and improve what you have already done, and if possible, that the next one speaks well of you"
• "The tired ones do the work, as my grandmother used to say"
• "The intellectual knows how to step out of the spotlight and that's why intellectuals are always needed in an organization"

• "The son of an entrepreneur doesn't have to be an entrepreneur, just as Picasso's son didn't have to be a painter"
• "The human factor is the difference between one company and another"
• "You have to be honest, even out of selfishness"
• "If you fall and get up, you move forward. The problem is if you stay on the ground"
• "It's important to have a positive attitude towards life. Doing physical exercise, having good nutrition, and good emotional control are three pillars of happiness"