Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

The new Deep Tech Barcelona fund, with an initial sum of ten million euros, is one of the first initiatives for the Barcelona Innovation Coast (BIC), the new public-private platform constituted today to boost innovation in strategic sectors for the city.

Economic diversification and innovation for a more sustainable, resilient and equitable economy form the backbone of the strategy to consolidate the city as an innovation hub for the 2030 Agenda.

The goals of the Deep Tech Barcelona fund are to:

• Foster innovation and tech transfer in Barcelona
• Facilitate the intermediation of knowledge between research and business
• Accelerate the promotion of entrepreneurial projects from the sphere of science
• Help fund stakeholders in the city’s ecosystem
• Help develop and attract deep tech companies to Barcelona

Deep Tech Barcelona falls within the framework of the Barcelona Innovation Coast (BIC), the board of which was constituted today. The new platform brings together innovation stakeholders in the city from both the public and the private sector.

The body facilitates different instruments (legal, financial, relational etc.) to foster innovation among its stakeholders: universities, business schools, research and knowledge transfer centres, business associations, public administrations and more.

The Barcelona Innovation Coast takes its name from the urban innovation area concentrated along the city’s coast. This area has more than 550,000 square metres of offices and other premises of over 1,000 square metres available, which can act as an incentive for innovative projects and companies to relocate to the area. The idea is that in the next ten years the BIC will create up to 40,000 direct jobs.

The new fund is being complemented with Barcelona Accelera, an accelerator programme for start-ups, promoted by Barcelona Activa. These companies will also have access to the Barcelona Deep Tech Node, a recently constituted mentoring and support space to manage spin-offs and start-ups and help them access the market.