Damià Calvet, Port of Barcelona president; and Emma Cobos, Director of Innovation and Business Strategy
The Port of Barcelona has launched its Innovation Plan to coordinate the advancement of the various projects that transform the way the port offers its services.
Developing the proposals specified in the Fourth Strategic plan, the Innovation Plan establishes its own innovation model based on the smart port concept.
Port of Barcelona president Damiá Calbet explained that Barcelona “is today one of Europe’s tech capitals, highlighting its commitment to developing mobility and energy model solutions that facilitate the transition to a sustainable city model that takes particular care of people and the environment.”
The Innovation Plan considers that innovation must be sustainable, open, collaborative, demand-driven and aligned with the port’s strategy, with a strong technological base.
It defines three main objectives: strengthening the Port of Barcelona’s role as a driver of economic growth and recovery, driving innovation and digitisation of the logistics ecosystem and fostering synergies with the city in this area.
The four lines of action the plan is structured around include developing nimble and cross-cutting management tools involving the port community of Barcelona, forging alliances with the innovative environment of Barcelona, stimulating sectoral innovation and disseminating the port’s innovative activity.
Consequently, the Innovation Plan proposes “a new model of participation, which must be collaborative and open, and which requires the active involvement of Barcelona Port Community and the innovative ecosystem of the city”.
This will be achieved through strategic alliances with the agents of the city’s innovative ecosystem, such as 22@, Consortium of the Free Trade Zone of Barcelona, Barcelona Tech City, Mobile World Capital, etc, and that of the port.
Calvet added: “We have set ourselves the goal that all of this powerful technological and innovative ecosystem that is being in developed in Barcelona will look out to sea.”
Port of Barcelona’s director of innovation and business strategy Emma Cobos stressed the importance of having “a structure that is more nimble than the port authority, able to promote new initiatives quickly and efficiency.”
For this reason, the Innovation Plan provides for the creation of the BCN Port Innovation Foundation, which will facilitate the management of innovative initiatives and the acceleration of technological, environmental and energy transition projects.
BCN Port Innovation is a private foundation with a prominent participation of companies with the Port Logistics Community as partners and the Port of Barcelona together with two technology companies, Ackcent and Aggity, as found patrons.
The BCN Port Innovation Foundation will be the meeting and debate forum in which port companies will discuss the increasing challenges being generated by international transport and logistics, and in which technology companies will offer disruptive solutions.
“There can be no open innovation without alliances and collaboration,” Cobos explained.
To facilitate the development of the plan there are plans to promote the Blue District, a forum for sectorial innovation located mianly in the Port Vell area, where facilities are already set up such as Pier01 and the Barcelona Nautical Faculty.
The port will provide a definitive boost to the Blue District with the creation of the Blue Tech Port, the new blue economy innovation centre, which will be located on the Sant Bertran pier and will host start-ups, international maritime institutions, innovation centres for large companies linked to logistics, transport, port activity and training centres.
Also hosted at the Blue Tech Port centre will be the Barcelona Logistics Institute, after it opens its doors in the 2022-2023 academic year at the World Trade Centre Barcelona before being set up at the Blue Tech Port.
