Tech Spirit BIVA brings together more than 250 professionals from the technology and innovation ecosystem in Sant Cugat

Sant Cugat hosted the first edition of Tech Spirit BIVA this Thursday, an initiative organised by BIVA (Barcelona Innovation Valley Alliance) and Tech Barcelona, bringing this technology and entrepreneurship ecosystem event outside Barcelona for the first time. Held at El Siglo, Mercantic, the gathering brought together more than 250 professionals from the business, technology and innovation sectors to share knowledge, explore opportunities and strengthen relationships among the different stakeholders across the region.

One of the event’s distinguishing features was the prominent role played by Sant Cugat’s talent and business community, with a significant proportion of the speakers and participating companies belonging to the local ecosystem. This showcased the municipality’s innovative capabilities and international outlook, highlighting an ecosystem deeply rooted in its local community while maintaining a global vision and the ability to generate solutions, projects and opportunities with an impact beyond the local area.

The event opened with an institutional welcome from Sant Cugat’s Mayor, Josep Maria Vallès, who highlighted the municipality’s business and innovation potential and its ambition to continue growing and creating new opportunities.

In this regard, he stated: “Sant Cugat is a city of opportunities, with a strong business community and enormous innovation potential. We are an ambitious city that embraces innovation to improve people’s lives and aims to continue growing and creating opportunities. That is why we are open to our surrounding areas and work to strengthen our connections with Barcelona, the Vallès region and the country as a whole.”

The welcome address also featured Miguel Vicente, co-founder of Antai Ventures and President of Tech Barcelona, who highlighted Sant Cugat’s potential to establish a leading innovation ecosystem, thanks to the talent, companies, entrepreneurs and research centres that coexist in the municipality. Vicente emphasised the importance of creating opportunities for the different stakeholders to meet and connect, noting that “an ecosystem truly grows when its members recognise, get to know and listen to one another.”

Eduard Torres, President of Sant Cugat Empresarial, also addressed the audience, highlighting BIVA’s work in the city and how events such as Talent Day and Tech Spirit offer a forward-looking perspective and opportunities for the city’s young talent.

The event was hosted by Sant Cugat native Sergi Figueras, founder and CEO of Worldcoo.

The first keynote was delivered by Aleix Valls, mathematician, technology entrepreneur and artificial intelligence expert, founder and CEO of WeArtificial and former Managing Director of Mobile World Capital Barcelona. Under the title “Judgement and Computing: The New Operating System for Businesses”, he explained how artificial intelligence is transforming business processes, evolving from an assistance tool into a system capable of autonomously executing processes. In this new landscape, he highlighted that “work is no longer about carrying out tasks, but about directing, supervising and applying sound judgement”, emphasising the evolving role of people within organisations.

The first panel discussion focused on Sant Cugat’s startup ecosystem, featuring Rubén Bonet, from Fractus, and Miguel Vicente, in a conversation moderated by Mònica Lablanca, journalist and strategic communications consultant. The session explored the key factors behind successful business ventures, including identifying genuine market needs, building complementary teams and developing the resilience required of entrepreneurs.

The discussion also highlighted the importance of developing projects with the potential to make a meaningful impact and building teams capable of overcoming the challenges involved in entrepreneurship.

The relationship between research, science and business was the focus of the second panel discussion, featuring Montse Costa, from Grifols, and Albert Puente, from Boehringer Ingelheim, moderated by Montserrat Daban, from Biocat.

The conversation highlighted the potential of Sant Cugat and Catalonia in the healthcare and life sciences sectors, with their strong concentration of scientific talent, knowledge and entrepreneurship. It also emphasised the need to strengthen connections between these fields to turn research into innovation with an international impact. Participants further underlined the importance of having talent that combines scientific and business expertise, as well as fostering collaboration between startups and large companies.

The third panel discussion focused on open innovation and the role of large corporations as drivers of transformation and generators of new opportunities. Participants included Sara Vallribera, from GFT; Diana Pascual, from HP; and Roger Olivet, from Banc Sabadell, in a conversation moderated by Josep Salvatella, from Roca Salvatella.

The session explored how large companies can drive innovation through the adoption of new technologies, collaboration with startups and engagement with the entrepreneurial ecosystem. It also highlighted the importance of creating collaborative spaces between companies of different sizes to accelerate digital transformation, share knowledge and address emerging market challenges.

Finally, the connection between universities and businesses was the focus of the final panel discussion, featuring Santiago Silvestre, from UPC; Rosa Sebastian, from UAB; and Noelia Galan, from UIC Barcelona, moderated by Oriol Alcoba, from ESADE.

The discussion explored the role of universities in fostering entrepreneurship and knowledge transfer, as well as the challenges involved in turning research findings into business ventures, particularly through spin-offs. It also emphasised the importance of encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration and strengthening connections between scientific and business talent to generate innovative initiatives with social and economic impact.

The event concluded with an address by Albert Salarich, Councillor for Business, Innovation and Internationalisation at Sant Cugat City Council, who highlighted the richness of the local ecosystem and BIVA’s role as a platform for connecting its different stakeholders.

Salarich emphasised that “Sant Cugat can take pride in having all these stakeholders, and through BIVA we work to connect them and create new opportunities for collaboration. An event like today’s Tech Spirit demonstrates the enormous potential of joint efforts between the local community and the surrounding digital sector. We are confident that this will be the first of many initiatives and collaborations that we will drive forward together in the future.”

He also reaffirmed the city’s commitment to continuing to promote an economic development model based on high value-added activities, with new spaces for business development and pilot projects that will help move towards this vision for the future.

The event concluded with a networking session and dinner, providing an opportunity to exchange experiences and establish new professional connections.