Barcelona doubles investment in science and innovation

Barcelona City Council has announced, during the presentation of the Barcelona Innovation Coast (BIC) action plan, that it will double the municipal budget for science and innovation to €46 million between 2025 and 2027. In the project’s first stage, from 2021 to 2024, investment totalled €22 million.

Barcelona Innovation Coast is a city-wide initiative designed to drive progress in science and technology. Led by the City Council, it brings together more than 40 active members from key sectors such as life sciences, mobility, energy, technology and digitalisation.

At the presentation of the new action plan, the city expressed its ambition to stand alongside world-leading scientific hubs such as Boston, Zurich, Copenhagen and Berlin, and to consolidate its role as the scientific and technological capital of southern Europe. To achieve this, the city will double its budget for science, innovation and knowledge transfer.

The City Council stressed that, through the Barcelona Innovation Coast, it is evident that even without direct powers in science and innovation, local government does hold responsibilities in these areas. It will therefore provide financial backing for projects with social impact, promoting research that can improve citizens’ everyday lives.

Projects planned under the Barcelona Innovation Coast for 2025–2027 include the Barcelona Investment Fund, the establishment of the Fraunhofer Institute in Barcelona, the Deep Tech Summit and Deep Tech Node, the Barcelona Innova Lab Mobility and the Proactive City initiative led by the BIT Habitat Foundation, among others.