With the restoration of Sant Bertran’s warehouses, the Port of Barcelona will boost and improve the spaces it offers in its innovation hub. The works, requiring an investment of 50 million euros, will extend until 2027. However, the port’s innovation ecosystem has been running for some time and, unlike what happens at other port facilities, startups in Barcelona have access to a testing space to trial their initiatives at sea.
On Thursday, some firms presented their projects and explained how they work with this testing ground at the Àgora Port during the Barcelona International Boat Show. The boat show usually has a congress space designed for debate and reflection beyond the commercial realm. And this part of the Boat Show is coordinated by the Port of Barcelona, with a conference programme that encourages collaboration between companies.
Getting companies to test prototypes in a real environment isn’t easy. The testing space has 250 square metres, opened a few months ago and some trials have already been carried out, explained Rita Almela, innovation manager at the World Trade Center Barcelona. It’s small. In future it would make sense to make it bigger, she added.
Port Barcelona innovation hub enables collaboration
One of the firms that’s already used it is Ocean Ecostructures and Mireia de Mas is one of the founders of this company dedicated to marine regeneration. Having a testing space is a real facility. One of the purposes of this innovation hub, nicknamed BlueTechPort, is for companies to collaborate with each other. And this is precisely what happened between Ocean Ecostructures and Qstar Rov, dedicated to oceanographic services and with a training school. Specifically, they created a custom machine.
At another of the day’s round tables, the head of innovation at the Port of Barcelona, Carles Rua, presented all the tools the port has for startups. From funds to start and make prototypes to incubation spaces, including help to find clients. Rua argued that Barcelona is already internationally recognised for its innovation in the blue economy. He assured that corporations already present at the port benefit from startup innovations.
The Port of Barcelona has positioned itself as a leader in maritime innovation within the Mediterranean. The BlueTechPort initiative brings together technology firms, researchers and established maritime companies to develop sustainable solutions for the shipping industry. This approach addresses environmental challenges whilst boosting Barcelona’s position as a blue economy hub.
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