The Port of Barcelona to invest 50 million euros in the BlueTechPort, a hub for blue economy innovation

The new BlueTechPort is taking shape. The Port of Barcelona and the World Trade Center Barcelona (WTCB) have presented the construction project that will transform the sheds of Barcelona's Sant Bertran dock into one of the most important innovation centers for the blue economy in Europe. 

The works, which will start in October, will involve an investment of 49 million euros, and will transform the six warehouses of the current building into a leading European complex of 25,000 square meters and capacity for 2,500 workers, dedicated to companies, institutions and knowledge centers related to the blue economy. 

“This project places us at the forefront of initiatives to promote the blue economy in Barcelona and consolidates the city's leadership in this field at the European level”

José Alberto Carbonell, President of the Port of Barcelona

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Innovative centrality

BlueTechPort will host start-ups, scale-ups, accelerators, and international institutions and organizations related to innovation and the blue economy. It will be located at a strategic point where the city and the Port converge, acting as a nexus between the Port of Barcelona, Port Vell, and the commercial and logistics areas. It will offer new spaces open to the public, promote the urban transformation of the area, and become the new center of the city's blue economy.

This new innovation center will put into practice the concept of the Port of Barcelona as a sandbox, offering companies that set up shop access to 50 linear meters of the Barcelona North Dock to experiment and test their prototypes before bringing them to market.

Launched in 2023, BlueTechPort and the BCN Port Innovation Foundation are the Port of Barcelona's big bet to boost innovation in the Barcelona port community and create synergies with the rest of the international innovation ecosystem. Having exhausted the space available at Tech Barcelona's Pier 01 in the Palau de Mar six months ago, 1,500 square meters were set up in the Sant Bertran warehouses by renovating former office space. To date, while awaiting the full transformation of the complex, eleven companies with around forty employees have already set up shop, including initiatives such as Ocean Ecostructures, Navozyme, BlueNetCat, and the Los Angeles-based blue start-up accelerator Braid Theory. 

"The concession of the Sant Bertran sheds to WTCB and the project we are presenting today is the final step in making the BlueTechPort of the future a reality. The success of the initiative is undeniable, as evidenced by the growing number of companies and institutions that have moved into the spaces currently available, and now it is time to take a qualitative and quantitative leap forward with the new BlueTechPort. This project places us at the forefront of initiatives to promote the blue economy in Barcelona and consolidates the city's leadership in this field at the European level," said José Alberto Carbonell, President of the Port of Barcelona.

"The BlueTechPort is a key part of the Port of Barcelona's innovation value proposition. The two years since its creation in Pier01 have confirmed the need for a space to host and promote innovative initiatives related to the blue economy, and the new BlueTechPort will be the fundamental pillar of this ecosystem. Not only will it create synergies between the actors present, but the Port of Barcelona will provide them with access to the port area and the Port Community as a sandbox for their projects. This will allow us to continue to be at the forefront of innovation," said Emma Cobos, Director of Innovation and Business Strategy at the Port of Barcelona.

"Working with the Port of Barcelona to promote the new BlueTechPort will mark a before and after for the World Trade Center as a real estate manager. This is the first real estate asset outside of Barcelona's waterfront that we have added to our portfolio and, in line with our strategic plan, we want it to be a starting point to continue growing and expanding our field of action with innovation, sustainability, and collaboration as our flagship," said Carles Anglada, CEO of WTCB.

Benchmark in sustainability

The new BlueTechPort will not only consolidate the Port of Barcelona on the map of innovation in Barcelona but will also be a benchmark in sustainability. Thanks to a design that prioritizes energy efficiency, the building's interior promenade will be naturally air-conditioned, using ventilation and light to regulate temperature and humidity. As a result, the building will use 60% less energy than an equivalent conventional office building, while almost half of the energy will be generated by solar panels on the roof, capable of producing 650 MWh per year.

The commitment to renovate the existing sheds while preserving the structure will reduce CO2 generation in the construction process by 20%. The choice of materials used in the renovation will also reduce this carbon footprint. BlueTechPort will also have a water reclamation and storage system that will meet all irrigation needs and allow for greywater recycling.

Source: Port of Barcelona