Culture, Education, Science and Community

Economy. The third edition of Barcelona Deep Tech Summit, the leading congress for advanced technology start-ups, is being held on 5, 6 and 7 November 2024 as part of the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC).

The third edition of Barcelona Deep Tech Summit, the leading congress for advanced technology start-ups, is being held on 5, 6 and 7 November 2024 as part of the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) at Fira Barcelona's Gran Via exhibition centre, where advanced technologies from universities and research centres will converge with the major challenges facing cities, such as energy transition and sustainability, Industry 4.0 and mobility, digital health and space.

The synergy between the two congresses is strategic, as it brings advanced technologies developed in universities and research centres together with the major challenges facing cities.

Furthermore, there is a shared focus on innovation and sustainability, which brings future solutions to companies and allows start-ups and spin-off events to become more international.

Deep Tech encompasses scientific and technological discoveries and innovations that aim to improve the world we live in.

The Barcelona Deep Tech Summit will focus on finding solutions to four major global challenges: energy transition and sustainability, industry 4.0 and mobility, digital health and space.

The congress will include specialised sessions centred on these key issues, and details will be announced on the event website in the coming months.

Moreover, five strategic partners, Aldea Ventures, the IESE Business School, Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Mobile World Capital Barcelona and Tech Barcelona, will join the Deep Tech start-up congress to contribute their knowledge and bring their ecosystem into play to enhance the event profile, combining efforts to position Deep Tech as a strategic sector for the future.

Barcelona is already a European benchmark for Deep Tech start-ups: according to consultancy firm Deal Room, the city has the highest percentage of start-ups (13% of the total number of companies).

What’s more, Deep Tech start-ups have grown by 10% in Catalonia, bringing the overall number to 320, according to the latest report by ACCIÓ. The same document highlights that they currently employ more than 2,300 people, and taking the most up-to-date data into account, the volume of investment attracted by these start-ups reached €183 million in 2022.

The new edition of Summit indicates that the investment community and large corporations will have a strategic role to play because Deep Tech start-ups require higher capital and more funding, and the event is key for connecting with big companies that may wish to incorporate start-up proposals into their business.

This event, which is the cornerstone of the Deep Tech scientific and entrepreneurial ecosystem, is being promoted by Barcelona Activa and five Catalan universities (UB, UAB, UPC, UPF and UOC). Through a joint initiative called Barcelona Deep Tech Node. The Barcelona Deep Tech Summit has the institutional support of the Generalitat de Catalunya.