Startups supported by Novarium will have access to the Port of Barcelona’s Blue Sandbox. In addition, the relationship has been structured to serve as a catalyst for non-dilutive investment funding from Spain’s Ports 4.0 Fund, the largest capital pool in Europe dedicated to port-based open innovation challenges.

The agreement was signed last week in Barcelona at the Smart Ports: Piers of the Future 2023 event, which is focussed on port infrastructure innovation. It brought together representatives from some 20 international ports making advances in the blue economy sector, integrating AI and sustainable solutions to optimise their supply-chain management processes.

Last July, the Port of Barcelona and Tech Barcelona launched BlueTechPort, a new innovation space for companies conceived to foster innovation in all sectors related to the blue economy. Through this collaborative approach, BlueTechPort expects that participating start-ups will be positioned to benefit from all the advantages available through this ecosystem. This provides a further example of the network of alliances on which the Port of Barcelona is building its open innovation strategy.

The Bureau du Québec à Barcelone played a key role in fostering and facilitating the new partnership. In 2021 the Bureau financed a project to develop avenues of collaboration between the innovation ecosystems linked to the ports of the Canadian province and the port of Barcelona.

For more than a year, Novarium and the Bureau collaborated with CENIT-CIMNE, the Spanish logistics and port research outfit, which has been involved with the innovation department of the Port of Barcelona for a long time.

Thanks to this collaboration agreement, it was stated, Québec will forge closer ties with the Catalan capital, given that the startups supported by Novarium will be able to operate from Barcelona and benefit from that city’s assets. These include connections with investors in the region and access to a network of R&D infrastructures. In addition, the relationship provides Catalan startups with opportunities to link with the North American “ecosystem” and thus enlarge their market reach.

 “The new partnership further strengthens Québec’s role as a gateway to the North American market for European companies, said Maël Solen Picard, director and head of the Bureau du Québec à Barcelone.

“This agreement with Novarium should help us move forward and become international leaders in maritime and port sustainability,” said Lluís Salvadó Tenesa, President of the Port of Barcelona (APB).

The Novarium Innovation Campus in Rimouski is part of La Zone Bleue, which brings together all maritime actors across Québec’s economy. Martin Beaulieu, CEO of La Zone Bleue, said: “This collaboration, and the efforts of the Québec government to ensure it happens, will help all players involved in research and economic development across the maritime sector deploy effective international marketing strategies. Step by step, we are building a transatlantic blue bridge for the soft landing of companies in Québec and Europe.

• Following an agreement reached with the Mediation Service of the Catlonian government’s Department of Labour, USTP, the Barcelona port workers’ trade union and APM Terminals have arrived at a deal that effectively calls off the strike call made for today (Monday, 13 November).  Over the next three months, the parties will try to hammer out new arrangements on pay and conditions.