A city project to drive innovation
Barcelona Innovation Coast (BIC) is a new public-private platform to strengthen the urban innovation zone along the city’s coastline. The initiative has been conceived to help diversify the city’s economy and provide added value. The project is expected to create 40,000 jobs in the next ten years.
Barcelona Innovation Coast is an opportunity to consolidate the city as a capital for innovation in southern Europe, helping attract and mobilise resources for a sustainable and competitive local economic development model.
The strategic sectors which the BIC mainly seeks to promote are mobility, energy, technology, digitalisation and health, which offer a greater return for citizens and for the more sustainable, human and less polluted city model promoted by the 2030 Agenda. The action plan is also in line with the ecological and digital transition of Next Generation Europe.
The public-private nature of the BIC will be reflected in the participation of universities, research centres, clusters and businesses from home and abroad.
What will the BIC mean?
Barcelona Innovation Coast offers an innovation space of 25,100 hectares (a quarter of the city’s surface area), where research centres and outstanding companies in the city are located.
The area is home to 5 universities, 28 research centres and various municipally managed centres linked to innovation, along with large companies in ICT and other strategic sectors.
The next ten years are expected to see these centres create 40,000 direct jobs and have an impact of 235 million euros for the city. One of the main arguments for attracting companies and innovation projects to this area is the availability of 550,000 square metres of premises and offices with over 1,000 square metres.
