Interview with b_Tec: Josep escolano, a commitment to knowledge b_TEC manager

Barcelona, candidate for the Galileo navigation network office

Hutchison to manage the new terminal at Barcelona

good news summer 2006 nº 37 summary editorial

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barcelona barcelona barcelona b_tec technology flyes Barcelona equals knowledge Barcelona is making a decisive bid for knowledge as an element of the economic development of the city and its metropolitan area.

The need to strengthen links between the universities and the business world is the driving force behind experiences such as b_TEC or the Besòs Inter-university Campus –an area of 150,000 page 8 m2 destined to education, research, enterprise and innovation activities.

The b_TEC model is a type of cluster which has already been successfully developed in the UK, barcelona France, the US and other northern European countries, territories where scientific and technological communities come together with universities and companies in order to develop bioregion activities focused on the mainstays of knowledge. The so-called cities of knowledge are the paradigm of a local and international work network, where one can work and live and which is characterised by its interdisciplinary nature.

The b_TEC model’s knowledge mainstays are energy, water, mobility and architecture, urbanism page 9 and sustainable building. As well as the strategic importance of a space like b_TEC, from an economic point of view, it was necessary to select a space to develop a project of these characteristics: an area barcelona traditionally rejected within the municipal boundaries of Barcelona and Sant Adrià de Besòs, in the world adjacent to the Fórum. This is, therefore, an opportunity that must be taken advantage of to socially transform and economically develop a new urban area and to strengthen relations between the university and the city. A project that will soon become a reality, with the backing of the Barcelona and Sant Adrià councils, with the drive of the rest of the administrations, i.e. the Catalan Regional Government, the Barcelona District Council, the Barcelona Corporation or the State Government page 13 page 16 and the support of the Duty-free Area Consortium and the Metropolitan Transport Entity.

barcelona barcelona enterprises port

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barcelona 22@

“Spiralling Tower, b_Tec”. barcelona b_tec barcelona b_tec

besos campus: university and city, the driving Who is participating in b_TEC or the This latter building, designed by Zaha The existence of this scientific and forces of social transformation Besòs Inter-University Consortium? Hadid is to become the Campus’ technological cluster which will have room emblematic building. It will cover for students and companies alike, will In addition to the owners I have already 27,000 m2 and be the Campus place Barcelona in a key position. What is mentioned, the b_TEC Foundation gives building, with an auditorium and all that position with respect to other cities? The Besòs area of Barcelona will soon be entry to the Administration in global kinds of Campus-related offices, such equipped with a new transformed urban terms (both regional and state as ongoing training, management, In 2008, Barcelona will be in the front line area, which will become a new driving force Administration) and the three universities administration, IT, maintenance, etc. It with the Campus offering opportunities for innovation in the city. The Besòs Campus in Barcelona (Pompeu Fabra, the UB and is a spectacular building and Sant Adrià that up to now have been unheard of. It is is a new contribution to the area of knowledge, in an area that was traditionally the Polytechnic University of Catalonia). is very proud to be part of it. The next essential to note that at present there are seen as a rejected area. Finally, companies are also allowed to phase will be dedicated to the spaces only two projects of this kind underway in join this Foundation. for private companies and will be the whole of Europe. One of the first steps on this road is the transferring of the Barcelona University completed at the end of 2010. School of Industrial Technical Engineering (EUETIB) to the future Besòs Inter- b_TEC will cover a new surface area of The Industrial School will, in effect, change University Campus, located in the 22@ district, on the border between Barcelona 150,000 m2, distributed amongst the In this second phase you mention, is it installations and move into a new space that and Sant Adrià de Besòs. An agreement was signed by the three institutions different fields. How will the entire already clear which companies will be will offer it an opportunity for major involved (Barcelona City Council, Barcelona Polytechnic University and 22@) last surface area be distributed and how located on Campus? improvement. The change is also understood May to make this agreement a reality. much will the Besòs Campus to bring other new improvements. investment come to? The companies to be located on Campus The School, which forms part of the UPC (Barcelona Polytechnic University) will will be from the sector and will perform There will be new professors and a new be specialised in technologies of energy, mobility, water, architecture and urban The total investment is 192 million top level activities. It is as yet not clear plan of studies. However, the school’s development and will cover a surface area of 20,000 square metres in the new euros. With regard to the space itself, who these companies will be but so far capacity in terms of the number of Campus. 52,000 m2 will be for university centres; we can confirm that the ITER building students will not vary greatly. The new 25,000 m2 for research centres; 54,700 will be located on Campus and Endesa Industrial School premises could hold m2 for companies and 5,000 m2 for has shown interest in the park. 2,300 university students and offer four incubators. Student’s residences will degrees in the fields of electrical, interview with josep escolano, b_tec manager cover 4,000 m2 and the library, 3,000 Apart from major possibilities for mechanical, chemical, industrial and m2. Furthermore, 1,000 m2 will be for scientific and technological innovation, electronic industrial engineering. restaurants, 2,600 for commercial what will the creation of this major services and 1,000 for general services. Campus lead to? What consequences The Industrial School is to move in 2008 but The Forum enclosure, between Sant Here training of all levels will take will it have on the Besòs area and the the entire Campus will not be ready until Adrià del Besòs and la Mina from 2008 place, from technical engineering (the The work to create the Campus is city of Barcelona? 2010. Will the fact that the Campus has not will become a major technological first cycle of the current university already underway and is forecast to be yet been completed affect the School? campus that will transform one of the degree system) to higher degrees in complete by 2010. However, before that I think that this share project between the city’s impoverished districts into a engineering, to masters, post-grads and date a number of spaces are expected to Barcelona and Sant Adrià districts will 2008 will see the first inaugurations but space where teaching, research and doctorates. It is about scientific and be opened and running. What are the strengthen the project of change in la the second phase will not wait for the first companies will come together to form technological clusters with universities campus’ stages of construction? Mina and Besòs. At all levels, Besòs sees phase to end in order to begin. We have what is known as project b_TEC. What and local and international companies, a major opportunity in the Inter-university already taken into account that it will be Josep Escolano has been appoin- does this project involve? collaborating on activities focused on The first stage concerns energy and it is Campus. I don’t think there is any other essential to ensure that when the ted head of the b_TEC, also known four pillars of knowledge: energy, water, expected to be completed in 2008. type of urban transformation that could students are moved here they do not get as the Besòs Inter-University b_TEC is the brand name of a mobility and architecture, urban This first block is dedicated to have the same force as that of the the feeling that they are studying on a Campus Consortium. He is the consortium formed by four owners, i.e. development and sustainable building. universities and companies and involves university student and, at present, la Mina building site. Hence, we will aim to manager of this project, one that the Barcelona City Council, the Sant the creation of the Industrial School, needs a major transforming force and this surround the students with finished will give great international project Adrià City Council, the Barcelonès What are the main objectives of which is moving there from its current will be the Campus. Our intention is to buildings: the Spiralling Tower and the to Barcelona and that will trans- District Council and AEMB (Transport b_TEC? premises in Urgell street, to Sant create a students’ residence in the la Mina technology park will have been finished; form the Besòs area adjacent to Authority). The members of this Raimon de Penyafort; the energy park, area, as well as a professors’ residence so, if work is left to do, it will not be next the Forum into a major technologi- consortium own the land and b_TEC is b_TEC is organised around six basic residence and the Spiralling Tower. which will be located on Campus. to the Industrial School itself. cal park, with research, innovation the brand name by which the Besòs principles, the most important of which and training as its basic strong- Inter-University Campus is known. are sustainability and integration and holds. Escolano’s past experience connection with the surroundings. The so-called “Spiralling Tower” will become the Campus’ architectural highlight. The Barcelona Zona Franca Consortium also includes the management of This consortium is basically a project Everything undertaken on the campus This new building will join the Forum 2004 area with the Besòs Inter-University and the Besòs Inter-University Campus the Forum 2004 operations and dedicated to promoting technological has to be oriented towards making our Campus and the 22@ district, forming a spiral of superimposed floors. Each floor are the promoters of this project. the management of the University innovation. What else are the Besòs plant more sustainable. And integration will be rhomboid-shaped and their layout will leave several open areas in the form of Barcelona for 7 years and the Campus or Besòs Inter-University seeks for the Campus to be an open of atriums, terraces and hanging balconies. The Spiralling Tower, which will be built UPC for a further 2 years. Campus Consortium about? space, at the disposal of the city. The in steel and concrete will represent idea is for the city to know what is being The building will cover approximately 27,000 square metres, and 11 storeys above an investment of 28 million euros It is about a inter-university project of done on the Campus and that the ground, with a height of 48 metres. Two underground storeys will also be built and is designed by Zaha Hadid, knowledge, closely linked to the 22@ Campus counts on the city. Therefore, it covering a surface area of 7,000 m2 each, to be used as a car park. It has also been Pritzker Architecture Aware Winner district in reference to innovation and will be an open space in architectural planned to build an auditorium of 2,000 m2 and a shopping are of 1,000 m2. for 2004 and a world reference in the urban transformation. It is a space share terms and will also hold activities for architectural world. by universities, the Administration, people to come and participate. The The new installations will house the headquarters of the Besòs Inter-University society in general and companies, where other principles are the use of advanced Campus and offices for scientific and technological development companies, research and training can be done jointly technology, the creation of projects and creation and communication activities, studies, workshops and professional and and where there is also room for the use of real as well as virtual engineering offices. The university premises will be located in the lower storeys and companies. communication. the company offices in the higher floors.

4 5 barcelona technology barcelona flyes barcelona supercomputing centre and microsoft research more transoceanic flights from barcelona into the computers of the future Since last July, the company Singapore Also, since 14 May, the company Estonian Air has been running direct flights between The Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC) is to dedicate a team of 10 researchers The head of the Barcelona Supercomputing Airlines has been connecting Barcelona the Baltic capital and the capital of Catalonia, at a starting price of 80 euros per person for a minimum of two years (subsequently extendible) to looking into the development Centre considers that Microsoft is “the with Singapore with flights out of each way. With four weekly flights, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, of the computers of the future. The research will be carried out with the collaboration only company that can undertake this Singapore every Monday, Wednesday and Estonian Air operates these flights using Boeing Boeing 737-300 aircraft, with a 136- of Microsoft, which will invest almost one million dollars in the project. The agreement project” because it has “the capacity, the Friday and back out of Barcelona every seat capacity, 16 of which are Premium club class. The flight duration is 4 hours. between the BSC and Microsoft was presented at the Polytechnic University of will and the desire to undertake it”. The IT Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. All Estonian Air, which flies to 14 other European destinations from Tallinn, is making a Catalonia, where the BSC is located. The objective of the agreement is to research into director of Microsoft Europe, one of the flights do a one-hour stop in Milan, major bid for Barcelona, offering at very competitive prices, over 18,000 seats up to the what the computers of the future will be like, taking maximum advantage of the instigators of the agreement, highlights however, the airline does not technically end of 2006. possibilities offered by processors. that Microsoft’s project in Barcelona “is refer to this as a stopover since not aimed at developing a product” but it passengers boarding in Barcelona are not According to the vice-President of Estonian Air, Marte Relve, Catalonia and Barcelona According to the director of the BSC, Mateo Valero, “the challenge us how to use is a “general research project” in itself, a required to leave the aircraft. are a very attractive market for the company since “it has become a very popular tourist processors with 1,000 transistors” and enable them to “execute new applications” such “union of the best heads in Microsoft with destination amongst Estonians”. During 2004, approximately 19,000 Estonians visited as voice and image recognition or intelligent Internet searching. To attain this, it is the best heads in the BSC”. This journey is covered by Boeing 777- Spain. And in parallel, the number of Spanish tourists visiting Estonia has increased essential for coordination between hardware and software programs. 200ER aircraft, fitted with 225 tourist progressively since 2001, to reach 15,533 in 2005, 28% up on 2004. All of these The research project will also include the class seats and 30 in business class. factors have led the company to commit to the Barcelona-Tallinn route, which has installation of a set of Windows servers in Fares cost approximately 900 euros in shown an occupancy rate of 73% in its first year of operation. the UPC, based on Intel architecture. The high season. BSC was set up on 1 April 2005, is Founded in 1991, Estonian Air is Estonia’s flagship airline, flying regular lines between managed by a consortium made up by Furthermore, the airline’s representatives Tallinn and 14 other European cities. During 2005 it carried a total of 642,700 the Ministry for Education and Science in Catalonia highlight that “Singapore passengers. Its ownership is split between the Estonian Government, the SAS Group and (51%), the Regional Government of Airlines offers flights to the most Cresco Investment Bank. Catalonia (37%) and the UPC (12%) and important cities in Australia, New has an annual budget of 5.5 million Zealand, Bali, Manado, Phuket, Bangkok, At the beginning of June, the company AVIANCA also joined the list of foreign euros for the period 2005-2010. Manila, Hong Kong and Shanghai, companies offering direct flights from Barcelona. In this case, operating a direct route amongst other”. With this new flight, between Barcelona and the capital of Colombia, Bogotá. Barcelona has an important connection with South-East Asia. The broadening of the intercontinental flight offer out of Barcelona airport is the result of the work being carried out by the CDRA (Committee for Air Route Development) since January 2005 with the objective of setting up new long-haul international routes and strengthening Barcelona Airport as a major intercontinental airport.

Thanks to the creation of this committee of coordination between the Catalonia Regional barcelona designs “fusion for energy” for the iter Government, the Barcelona City Council, the Chamber of Commerce and AENA (managing entity of all Spanish airports), the capital of Catalonia has encouraged new airlines to set up intercontinental flights from Barcelona to ten different destinations. The European Consortium for the ITER Approximately 200 engineers will work at These flights have generated 100,000 new passengers, contributing to making El Prat and Energy Development, commonly the European Fusion Agency with the aim the most with the most significant rate of growth amongst Europe’s major airports. called Fusion and Energy, will commence of developing a nuclear fusion reactor, functioning officially in Barcelona in which will ultimately be set up in The CDRA’s activity concentrates on two strategies: establishing itself as a contact and 2007. In practice, it is already working Cadarache (France). Barcelona will be promotional body for Barcelona Airport with the airlines, acting as a bridge between the partially from its provisional offices in the home to the entire ITER organisation, Catalan institutions and backing the establishment of new intercontinental routes, whilst Diagonal Litoral Towers in the 22@ from the selection of industrial offers for sustaining the existing routes. The CDRA’s lines of action include performing market District of Barcelona whilst it awaits the building contracts to the ITER’s supplies research to identify attractive routes and holding promotions to encourage more airlines new buildings to be built on the Besòs and services, as well as research by to opt for and trust the potential of Barcelona Airport. Inter-University Campus within the next European staff for the reactor. The two to three years, as explained by the contracts to be channelled from here in director of the CIEMAT (Centre for the first ten years alone are expected to Energy, Environmental and Technological come to 2,000 million euros. The new Research), Joaquín Sánchez (interviewed agency will support scientific and on the back cover). technological research linked to the barcelona airport construction of this international project For the past year, a group of experts from to obtain nuclear fusion energy, involving ranks third in southern europe the European Commission (EC) the EU, the US, Japan, Russia, China, transferred to Barcelona have been India and South Korea. working, with the support of the CIEMAT Skytrax has ranked El Prat airport as the Barcelona airport is assessed as the best prices, migration controls, security delay –the body managing the Spanish nuclear third best in southern Europe. Skytrax is in its area, second only to Athens and time, departures and arrivals, luggage fusion program– on getting the project up an organisation that performs an annual Venice. Terminal comfort and cleanliness, trolley availability and smoking policies and running. study of the world’s airports and airline shopping areas and facilities, are some of the factors which have been services and awards the annual World entertainment and leisure installations, taken into account. Airport Awards. public transport, taxi availability and

6 7 barcelona bioregion barcelona in the world catalan biotechnology barcelona is a candidate for the galileo strengthens its links worldwide navigation network office

The Regional Government of Catalonia According to the Catalan Regional Government’s Minister for Labour and Industry, The city of Barcelona is a firm candidate According to the secretary of State, The secretary of state has encouraged the (Generalitat de Catalunya) leads the Josep Maria Rañé, it is important that for the EU to grant-aid a project that is outside to be the home of the offices that will Alberto Navarro, Barcelona is the Catalans to work to attain this demand international project Transbio, which is its territory in such a new and innovative sector as is biotechnology. According to Rañé, manage the Galileo system, the satellite- candidate city with the most and has recommended that those who aimed at facilitating technological this will benefit “the companies that work to improve matters such as medicine, food controlled navigation network that possibilities. Some other applicants are defend the use of Catalan in European transfers. Transbio has a budget of one and pharmacy”. represents one of Europe’s most Nordik (Netherlands), Athens (Greece), institutions should address a simple million euros and is 75% grant-aided by ambitious projects. Cardiff (UK), Strasbourg (France) and individual request to the Petitions the EU. As well as identifying companies for participation in the program, meetings will be held Rome (Italy). Commission, proving to the European between companies around Europe in order to build a joint offer and an integrated The candidature of Barcelona was officials that this has the people’s support. In Catalonia there are 138 biotechnological training plan shall be set up for the staff that work in the technology transfer support formally put forward by means of a letter The decision will be taken by the companies, employing 7,000 workers. To structures. A major congress of European, North American and Canadian companies is that the Ministry for Public Works, European Commission in the second half ensure these companies do not become also planned. Magdalena Álvarez, sent to Brussels on of 2006 at the latest. The Galileo isolated, the Government of Catalonia behalf of the Spanish government to the network could begin operations from wishes to put them in contact with their European vice president and Transport 2010, two years later than first counterparts in other EU countries and in authority, Jacques Barrot. expected. the US and Canada. This has been the been the driving force behind the Transbio In the letter the minister highlighted the The Galileo satellite-controlled navigation project. positive aspects of Barcelona as the system is intended to be an alternative to potential home for these offices. Aspects the GPS system, promoted by the United The project unites Austria, Bavaria such as its proximity to the French city of States, and the Glonass system, (Germany), Scotland (UK), Flanders Toulouse, central offices of the Galileo promoted by Russia. The budget for this (Belgium), Massachusetts (US), Quebec industrial consortium, and the experience system is 3,200 million euros and Spain (Canada), Sweden and Catalonia to of Catalonia in aerospace activities, which is one of the five countries that has coordinate development projects. have brought it to lead the Community of contributed most to this operation. Ariane Cities. This association, which Above all, Transbio aims to increase brings together companies, local Furthermore, Spain’s representation in technology transfer and collaboration governments and European institutions, Europe has undertaken to request that agreements relating to products and services was founded in 1998 with the objective Catalan be used as the official language between Europe and North America. of promoting the development of activities of conveyance in the European relating to air transport. institutions.

almirall prodesfarma, esteve and uriach take on the chinese market the european space agency opens an office in barcelona

The European Space Agency (ESA) is to According to the ESA’s representative in The three main For now, Almirall has no plans to open a set up an office for foreign relations in Spain, Vicente Gómez, one of the pharmaceutical production plant in China, unlike Barcelona, in charge of informing of its objectives of this office is to stimulate laboratories based on Laboratorios Esteve, which already has activities, promoting the entity and interest amongst young people for a Catalonia, Almirall Prodesfarma, Esteve two there. At its Chinese factories (located developing educational schemes. space of their own and to awaken and Uriach are determined not to miss in Yjwu and Shanghai), Esteve scientific vocations. It is expected out on the opportunities posed by the manufactures active agents for medicines planned that the new office will be set up Chinese market, with its 1,200 patients. which are sold on the local and export in the CosmoCaixa enclosure. For this Of the 23,500 million dollars that the market. Esteve operates in China through reason Vicente Gómez has shown his pharmaceutical market turns over a joint venture with the company Yjwu gratitude for “the opportunity that the ‘la worldwide, 5,800 correspond to Huayi Investment, an associate of the Caixa’ foundation has given us to show traditional Chinese medicine. Huadong pharmaceutical group. our work to the public”.

Almirall opened a commercial branch in The other major pharmaceutical The ESA is made up of 17 European China in 2005, after operating there laboratory in Barcelona, Uriach, has states, plus Canada, and has been since 1999 with the commercialisation of confirmed that it is studying the possibility working in space exploration and the Ebastine, an anti-histamine developed by of entering the Chinese market. According development of advanced technology their lab’s R&D centre in Spain. to company sources, in the medium term since the 1970s. It is capable of Uriach will either form an alliance with a undertaking Earth observation projects, Almirall recorded a turnover of 2 million Chinese partner firm, buy a company or manned flights and satellite launches for euros in China in 2005 and this figure is set up a factory of its own there. telecommunications and environmental expected to double this year according to watches. the general manager of its Asian branch, Robert Braithwaite.

8 9 barcelona in the world barcelona in the world the european space agency hosts the star2earth telecommunications company dimat makes a bid for the middle east The European Space Agency (ESA) has funding from the Dutch government, as The Catalan laboratory is also working to approved the installation of Star2Earth, explained by Ana Maiques, director of create a network of mobile sensors and in The telecommunications company Dimat has set up in Dubai in collaboration with the In the past Dimat’s sales were split 60% in the subsidiary of the Barcelona-based Star2Earth. “This can open more doors to the next five years will invest 500,000 COPCA (Consortium for the Commercial Promotion of Catalonia) and from there it intends exports and 40% in domestic sales. Now, company Starlab, in the ESTEC (European us in the ESA because this sensor can euros in this research. Moreover, Starlab to operate in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, however, this split has been inverted, thanks Space Research and Technology Centre), become an in situ calibrator of the spatial is working on a project for the ESA aimed Pakistan and the Lebanon. to the liberalisation of the electricity market. its company incubator, located in the altimeters in the satellites being put into at preventing tsumamis using 10 small Netherlands. This is the first time a orbit”, says Maiques. This has also satellites, capable of detecting the This Barcelona-based company is one of the top manufacturers of electricity distribution Dimat has invested an equivalent of 17% Spanish company takes it on. interested the Dutch authorities because “it tsunami phenomenon and alerting with network protection and control equipment. It supplies Endesa, Iberdrola, and Unión of its net sales in R&D and 30 of the 100 can complement or substitute the buoys enough time to enable evacuation. The Fenosa, amongst other companies. It currently operates in 50 countries and aims to reach staff working at its installations are Thanks to this, the Ocean Pal sensor, that measure the sea level and forecast system operates using Sterna satellites, 90 markets in three years. As well as approaching the electricity companies of the Middle dedicated to this field. developed by Starlab and in charge of tides, which are a problem for dykes”. situated at an altitude of 800 kilometres, East, Dimat also hopes to set up in Russia in order to cater for this market and reach measuring and controlling the state of the which receive the signal reflected on the other Eastern bloc countries. Dimat also has offices in Brazil and the United States; as Dimat was set up in 1967 as a family-run sea via satellite, has commenced its From a year now, an Ocean Pal has been sea and emitted by GPSs and compare it well as in Australia and France, where its main business volume is concentrated. The company founded by the father of the commercial expansion. The sensor is measuring the sea in the port of with the direct signal to determine the sea company recorded a turnover of 11.6 million euros in 2005, 5% up on 2004. And for current general manager. In 2003, the installed at points along the coast or in Barcelona and work has been level and long wavelengths. 2006 forecast turnover comes to 12.3 million euros. Basque group ZIV acquired a majority ports and the signals reflected in the sea commissioned from Brest and Miami. stake in the Barcelona company (55% of by the constellation of GPS position Contrary to the observation buoys, the the company’s share capital). satellites are used to accurately measure Ocean Pal does not need to be in contact the height of the waves and other with the water in order measure the state oceanographic data. Starlab is a research of the sea and, furthermore, it covers laboratory with its headquarters in the broader areas from points along the coast publishing company prous to open a subsidiary in china Fabra Observatory in Barcelona. and in ports. Ocean Pals are better in cost and maintenance too since the sensor The scientific Prous Science’s products are used by A characteristic feature of the company is The ESA’s European Space Incubator costs 20,000 euros, six times less than a publishing company pharmaceutical and biotechnical its innovation capacity, which has even led programme promotes new companies marine buoy or a coastal radar (which can Prous Science companies, public research centres, it to be required as a collaborator in certain that impulse the commercial use of space cost up to 200,000 euros). The Ocean continues evolving and, after entering regulatory agencies and all types of projects by its competitors in scientific systems and technologies that are not Pal is especially aimed at civil defence Japan, it is now preparing to open a branch scientific communities and institutions. publishing, for example the Elsevier or directly related with space. Star2Earth is and ports but its utility can be extended to in China. Founded by Doctor Josep Prous in Thompson groups. This innovation is very to receive an aid of 50,000 euros for the yachts and even oil rigs. 1948 as a publishing company dedicated According to the president of the company, closely linked to the demand for training first two years and it will be allowed to to offering professionals biomedical Josep Prous, the internationalisation effort currently imposed in medicine. access the ESA’s installations and Starlab has presented another project to information and communication solutions, undertaken has called for an investment of technicians in the ESTEC. the ESA to use the sensor as an automatic the company has moved on from the five million euros over the past few years, Another point that characterises the pilot on ships and optimise its routes: the classical editing model to the electronic which is justified by the “need to be close to company is its direct participation in Star2Earth has been registered as a Dutch ship would modify its course using the transmission of contents. Prous has the relevant centres for content development”. scientific research. In 2001, Prous set up company because it has also received wavelengths detected. confirmed its vocation as an international the spin-off Prous Institute for Biomedical entity with branches in Argentina, Brazil, This is why, after setting up the Japanese Research, located in the Barcelona Science Mexico, Japan and the US, as well as its branch, Prous Science Japan Kabushiki Park, with which it proposes to “generate barcelona provides distance training for european astronauts centre of operations, located in Barcelona. Kaisha, the company has announced its new knowledge and expert systems based intention to set up a subsidiary in China, on a combination of technologies, in order Inma Jubany and Josep Auferil are in charge of training the European Space Agency’s The solution is to diversity the clientele. Prous Science provides contents to all where “biomedical research avails of very to design new pharmaceuticals based on astronauts by distance through one of its Internet or e-learning teaching schemes. “We “We are currently developing low-cost professionals involved in discovering and good institutions, derived from the those already existing”. teach using online multi-media applications which cover all the astronaut’s training simulators, such as tactical radios for developing new pharmaceuticals and accumulated knowledge of traditional stages”, explains Auferil. And he adds “everything is controlled using an online tool, instance, which could be useful for NATO undertaking their clinical development. Chinese medicine”, says Prous. since the actors that we have are dotted all over the world”. or the UN. The trainers can set up a series of scenarios for soldiers and Auferil and Jubany prepare distance education programs for multinationals and monitor their behaviour. At the same institutions. Their e-learning programs “evaluate the engineer in relation to what he time, the system learns from their agrolés cooperative brings catalan oil to manhattan has to learn, creating lessons and then supervising the quality control of the different reactions”. Other projects underway at stages of learning”, says Auferil. Fra Mauro are the potential training of crew members of future manned Since September In addition to its US exports, the Auferil is 36 years of age and, after studying IT in Barcelona he went on the Erasmus missions to Mars and of the staff of 2005 the Catalan cooperative from Les Borges Blanques also programme to the UK to study neuron networks but there he came in contact with the medical multinationals. cooperative Agrolés, exports oils to countries such as Sweden, European Space Agency (ESA) and trained in space technologies. After that he went whose headquarters are located in Les Canada, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, to Cologne, home of astronaut training, and collaborated with the MIR space station Borges Blanques, has been selling its Australia, Norway, Denmark, the UK and and the Columbus for over six years. Finally, in 1997 Auferil set up his own company, extra virgin olive oil “Romántico” in the Andorra. Fra Mauro, the name of a Venetian monk who drew the first map of the world in United States. The product is distributed 1459, and also the name of a crater on the moon. Now the Agency contracts its under the “Catalan Gourmet” brand name The cooperative has 4,000 members, the training applications and the company depends on the space missions. and can be found in 30 specialised majority of which are from the province of gourmet stores. Sales are carried out Lleida, although there are also members “70% of the company’s turnover is attributable to the ESA; i.e. any stoppage in space through the company Agrolés USA, a from Aragón, la Rioja and Navarra. Agrolés missions strongly affects us. If manned missions are being held, every is multiplied by company set up in April 2005 in is specialised in natural handcrafted a thousand”, explains Auferil. conjunction with two local partners. The production of extra virgin olive oil and in cooperative holds 51% of this company’s almond farming. The average turnover is shares. seven million euros.

10 11 barcelona in the world barcelona enterprises catalan company solé diesel abertis and autostrade merge to create the largest reaches argentina and turkey motorway group in the world

The naval engine company Solé Diesel is to bring its engines to the Argentinean and The merger between companies plus the aggregate debt, which The management of the company will Turkish markets in 2006. The Catalan company, based in Martorell, was founded by the Spanish company totals 23,000 million euros. The merger is remain in the hands of Salvador Enric Solé Jorba in 1914 and started operations as a family company dedicated to Abertis and the Italian to be performed by a one-to-one share Alemany and the presidency will be carriage making. Later, it worked in car repairs and for 50 years it has been dedicated firm Autostrade has given rise to the exchange. However, in order to perform shared between Gian Marina Gros to manufacturing engines and accessories for boats. birth of the world’s largest motorway the exchange on a par, the shareholders of Pietro, president of Autostrade, and group, with a stock market value of Autostrade shall first receive a dividend of Isidre Fainé, president of the Spanish Solé Diesel is currently run by the grandson of its founder and has more than 100 25,000 million euros. The boards of 3.75 euros per share. company and general manager of “la points of sale in Spain and more than 250 throughout the world. Between 55% and directors of the two companies have Caixa”. The company will also have two 60% of its turnover (9 million euros in 2005) corresponds to export sales. Countries given the green light for this equal to The Spanish shareholders, led by the vice presidents, Florentino Pérez, such as Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Sweden are the driving force equal merger. The Spanish capital will building company ACS (with 12.5%) and president of ACS and Vito Gaberale, behind the firm, which operates using distributors. outweigh the Italian stake in this new “la Caixa” (with 11.7%), directly control CEO of Autostrade. company, which is to be called Abertis 29.9% of the new group’s capital, In order to strengthen its activity abroad, Solé Diesel has decided to make a bid to and is to be based in Barcelona, fronted although the top shareholder will be the improve its corporate image on the Internet and position itself amongst the top hits by Salvador Alemany as CEO. company Schemaventotto, the nucleus of in the main internet browsers. Moreover, Solé Diesel has launched a new website to the Autostrade shareholders (with reinforce its brand image and find new distributors to enable its entry into new The new Abertis will have presence in 16 24.9%). Nonetheless, Abertis holds the countries. countries and will manage the biggest toll 13.3% that it already held in motorway network in the world, covering Schemaventotto. 6,713 kilometres. The network will have a headcount of 20,000 and income of Barcelona will be home to the corporate approximately 6,000 million euros. headquarters whilst Autostrade will keep its corporate headquarters in Rome. The This union is presented as a friendly choice of the Catalan capital is in part for “merger between equals”, giving rise to tax reasons, since the legislation governing the barcelona-based school eserp sets up its latin a new group, valued at 48,000 million goodwill cushioning is more favourable in euros. This figure includes the stock Spain and, above all, because Barcelona is american base in chile market capitalisation of the new home to all of the Abertis business units. Abertis manages London's Lutton airport.

The Barcelona-based school For months, the Eserp training group has been negotiating with different education of higher education Eserp is groups funded with United States capital. According to Barquero, the organisation’s finalising the purchase of a intention is to create a joint venture to operate in the United States and specialise in building in the district of Las training tasks targeted at the Latin American public. roca buys half of an indian company and the bathroom Condes (Chile) where it intends to set up its Latin American branch. The purchase Las Condes is one of the 34 districts into which Santiago is divided and it concentrates fittings subsidiary of a chinese group would involve an investment of between 4% of the inhabitants of Chile’s capital. The luxury hotel chains Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt 240,000 and 300,000 euros. The funds and Marriot are located there and it is one of the areas of the city with lower would come from the 2.4 million euro criminality rates. Las Condes represents the commercial and financial axis of Santiago. The Catalan company top of the range and luxury segments budget Eserp has reserved for its growth Roca has purchased with its Laufen and Roca brands. in Chile, where it has been operating from the Indian since 2000 in Santiago, Concepción and company EID Parry 50% of its bathrooms According to Roca company sources, Antofagasta, through four universities in subsidiary for 50 million euros. According 2004 was a very positive year, paving the country. to Roca, this new joint venture will the way for a new phase of expansion. become “the world’s main manufacturer In total, a 29% increase in net profits The Catalan entity has joined a group of of bathroom products”. EID decided to was recorded and turnover reached local entrepreneurs to create a private transfer its bathroom fittings activity in 1,664 million, 6.3% more than in 2003. university specialised in business order to focus exclusively on its core Company representatives confirm that administration and public relations, the activity –the sugar business. the cash position brought liquidity “with same materials with which it set up in which to make other investments and Spain. “The Chile branch will not only Furthermore, the Roca Corporation has study strategic projects, such as joint serve to reinforce our position in Latin bought the bathroom fittings subsidiary of venture agreements and acquisitions of America, but will also give us credibility the Chinese group Eagle Brand. The other business companies”. Roca has and trust in the North American market”, transaction includes purchasing all the recently extended its production in confirms the general manager of Eserp, assets of the bathrooms division and several plants. José Daniel Barquero. keeping on the 800 workers and the Ying trademark, the main ensign of the Eagle group. With this operation, Roca broadens its activity to the middle of the range bathrooms market segment in China, after having consolidated its presence in the

12 13 barcelona enterprises barcelona enterprises the barcelona metropolitan area has 227 dogi builds its new international headquarters in el masnou services for innovation The company Dogi International Fabrics has started building its new headquarters in El Masnou. Dogi International Fabrics, manufacturer The work will go on for 14 months and will call for an investment of over 10 million euros. of elastic fabrics for the lingerie, swimwear and sports markets, has The Barcelona metropolitan area has Of the 227 initiatives counted, 158 belong to the Barcelonès district, 47 to Vallès The new building, with a surface area covering 25,000 square metres, will be the group’s production plants in Spain, Germany, 227 infrastructures, initiatives and Occidental and 11 to Baix Llobregat. The main services for innovation are research and main production centre and will enable Dogi to accomplish improvements both in logistics China, the Philippines and Thailand, services aimed at innovation. These are development centres (137), venture capital (18), business parks (15) and scientific and production processes. These 25,000 square metres shall be split 17,000 for and sales offices in 11 countries around mainly concentrated in the city of estates (11). production facilities, 4,000 for storage and 3,200 for office space. the world. Its production capacity Barcelona and the districts of Vallès exceeds 34 million metres of elastic Occidental and Baix Llobregat. This has In the metropolitan area as a whole there are 137 research and development centres, The Catalan company Coperfil Group is in charge of building the new premises, which has fabric per year, distributed under the been demonstrated in the results of a 100 of which are university and public initiatives (70%), 12 belong to the CSIC and been designed under climate-efficient, power management and water treatment criteria. “Dogi” and “Penn Elastic” brands. study carried out under the Barcelona 13% are private initiatives and consortiums between public and private entities. Lastly, Metropolitan Region’s Industrial 18% are social initiatives. Dogi highlights that its R&D team, made up of 25 people, shall be based at this new Agreement (Pacto Industrial de la Región headquarters, where all of its products shall be developed “products that will mark the Metropolitana de Barcelona) in Furthermore, the research activities of the 11 Catalan universities are mainly future of the elastic fabric worldwide”. collaboration with the CIDEM (Centre for concentrated in their respective campuses, although some are developed on separate Business Innovation and Development). premises, such as hospitals or specialised research centres.

The study identifies for the first time the The study concludes that “the presence of the business sector in activities and bayer to manage its accountancy services for the us innovative potential of Barcelona’s initiatives more closely linked to knowledge and to basic research is scarce”. Contrary metropolitan area, taking in all the to what happens in other countries where the major companies promote R&D centres, and canada from sant joan despí relevant initiatives linked to innovation in in the metropolitan area of Barcelona the model that prevails is based on research the area as a whole. centres coming from university initiatives. The chemical and pharmaceutical group Bayer’s business in Spain saw a 3.8% Bayer is striking a bid for Catalonia, by drop in profits in 2005, recording 57.8 inaugurating the headquarters of its million euros. The Vice President of the accounting subsidiary in Sant Joan Despí. group in Spain, Francisco Belil, has Up to now, its centre for international admitted that the results were not good accountancy, which began operating in and claims that the fallback was due both 2001 and was designed for 200 workers, to the impact of the purchase and catalan women, only dealt with European countries. Now it integration of the Roche group’s business the second most enterprising in the eu is also catering for the US and Canada and and to the drought. Particularly, the lack of is planned to reach a headcount of 420. rain has had repercussions on the Bayer Cropscience division, which is specialised According to the GEM scheme (Global In Catalonia, the percentage of the The new Sant Joan Despí headquarters in plaguicides and crop protection. Entrepreneurship Monitor), the women surveyed public that had set up a have called for an investment of 20 million of Catalonia are the most enterprising in business project in the last 42 months euros, cover a surface area of over 14,000 On the other hand, the group’s sales in the EU, second only to the Irish. The came to 4.9%. 2,000 women were square metres and is equipped with the Spain, where Bayer has five R&D centres, profile of the Catalan entrepreneur is a surveyed in Catalonia and 16,000 in most modern technological advances. grew by 7%, reaching 690 million euros. 40-year-old woman with higher-degree Spain as a whole. In the European education, who dedicates all of her Union, the Catalan community is only working time to her entrepreneurial beaten by Ireland, where 5.5% of the project. The main characteristic that surveyed individuals had set up a the technological company gtf consolidates its positions distinguishes Catalan entrepreneurial business project. women from men is that what motivates in barcelona them to take on the adventure is not the According to Anaís Tarragó, head of the need or desire to increase their income economic area of the Barcelona Institute GFT, the German technology firm Overall, the multinational turned over 121 million euros in 2005. –in over 81% of cases, it is to secure for Regional and Metropolitan Studies –a specialised in developing programs for their economic independence. GEM collaborator–, the fact that companies, has converted its centre in GFT made a commitment to specialising in the banking sector as a response to Catalonia records a higher level than its Sant Cugat del Vallès into the economic globalisation and due to tradition. The company stemmed from the Deutsche The GEM scheme was launched 9 years neighbours in central and northern headquarters of its banking division. The Bank finance department, which spun it off into a separate firm and later sold it. ago by the London Business School and Europe is attributable not only to its Sant Cugat centre has a headcount of 300 Babson College and 34 countries greater business and entrepreneurial and its growth has been mirrored by a Currently GFT competes with giants such as Accenture, DMR and IBM and stands up currently take part. Spain joined this culture, but also to its social structure. drop in the company’s activity in Germany, to them, offering more competitive prices. In Spain GFT has clients such as “la Caixa”, research network through the Instituto “In other countries such as the since production and labour costs are Sabadell Atlántico and Deutsche Bank. Apart from Barcelona, GFT has offices in de Empresa (Business Institute). GEM Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, the lower in Spain. However, according to Madrid, Valencia and Zaragoza, with a total headcount of 1,100. performs a series of surveys amongst the existence of a strong welfare system and Carlos Eres, general manager of GFT adult population, comparable amongst better protection of women in the labour Iberia, this is also to do with banking The Sant Cugat centre will be in charge of starting up a subsidiary in Brazil. The entry different countries, regarding business market do not bring them to develop tradition. “We are capable of offering into the Brazilian market goes hand in hand with a major contract with the Bradesco projects set up by the people surveyed their professional experience by setting better prices with the same quality, but, bank and will take between two and three years of work. The team is made up of over during the previous 42 months. After 42 up their own businesses, which is what not only that, the most efficient European 50 Spanish professionals, all trained at the Barcelona centre. months have elapsed, we no longer refer occurs here”, says Tarragó. banks are Spanish”, says Eres. to a mere project but to an enterprise or The Brazilian subsidiary shall be GFT’s port of entry into the rest of Latin America and, company. In two years, GFT has grown 33% in even the United States. According to Carlos Eres, the company already manages some Spain, to reach a turnover of 37.3 million projects for New York from its centres in Spain and London. In the future, the company euros. does not discard the idea of setting up in Eastern Europe countries also.

14 15 barcelona port barcelona port the chinese group hutchison disney sets up its european cruise to manage the new terminal at barcelona port line base in barcelona

The port of Barcelona has awarded the management of its new container terminal to the For Coello, the winning offer is the best, From the summer of 2007, Disney Cruise According to Joan Madrid, marketing and company TERCAT (Terminal de Catalunya), which is 70% controlled by the Chinese both in economic terms and in terms of Line, the cruise division of the United sales director of the Port of Barcelona, the group Hutchison Westports Limited, world leader in port traffic. TERCAT belongs to the its strategic planning for the future. States multinational is to set up its tickets “are selling very well”. Mestre group and has undertaken to invest 500 million euros in machinery and 160 in Although Dubai Ports and TCB were European base in Barcelona. The Disney civil works for the new port terminal. favourites in the public bidding process, Magic cruise ships, 300 metres in length Disney Cruises was founded in 1996, is TERCAT was ultimately awarded the and with a capacity for 2,600 passengers, based in Port Canaveral (Miami) and is This adjudication also means that Barcelona will become Hutchison’s centre of tender to run the new terminal for 30 will operate four Mediterranean routes, all specialised in family tourism. Its intention operations for the Mediterranean. According to Charles Baker, the company’s years. Hutchison is the world leader in of which do a stop in Barcelona. is to offer the client some of the services development manager, the future management of the new port terminal by the Chinese container management. In 2005 alone it a theme park offers, with fiction group has influenced in the decision to set up the centre of operations in the city. handled more than 51 million It is calculated that, during its first year of characters (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck containers. Mestre, on the other hand, operations, the Disney theme cruises will or Goofy, amongst others) walking about It is planned that the new terminal, which will cover 93 hectares and a pier line of almost has 50 years of experience in the sector do 9 stopovers in the Catalan capital, on board. The boats have certain areas a kilometre and a half, will commence operations at the beginning of 2008. The new and is already present in the port of bringing a total of 23,400 passengers to reserved for children only and others installation will generate an annual turnover of 300 million euros and allow for the Barcelona, which it will now have to the port of Barcelona. reserved for adult passengers. creation of 600 direct jobs and 2,000 indirect posts. abandon.

According to the president of the Barcelona Port Authority, Joaquim Coello, this is “the most important decision taken regarding the port of Barcelona in recent years” since it will covert it into the main port in the western Mediterranean and will place it in the first division in European ports. The 2.2 million containers currently passing through Barcelona port will reach 4.5 million in 2013, thanks to the contribution of new lines of traffic with Asian ports. barcelona 22@ azertia commences operations in the 22@ district According to Hutchison, 50% of the traffic in the Barcelona terminal will come from Asian ports by 2010. This is precisely one of the reasons why The IT multinational Azertia has commenced its business activity in the 22@ business Hutchison has won the tender, due to district. The company offers technological consulting services and solutions targeted its significant presence in the main towards business and aimed at companies and organisations from the public sector, ports of China, South Korea, Indonesia banks and insurance, utilities, telecommunications, industrial and distribution and Malaysia. Moreover, the Chinese companies. group is one of the main operators in the port of Rotterdam, thus facilitating Azertia has a team of over 3,300 professionals distributed throughout Spain, Portugal, Barcelona’s conversion into the the US and Latin America and its decision to start operations in Barcelona’s 22@ infrastructure of reference in Europe. district is due to its desire to promote the development of new services and solutions.

Azertia’s main clients include: Agbar, Amena, Arbora Ausonia, Banc Sabadell, BBVA, Bic Graphic, Caja Cataluña, Caixa d’Enginyers, Caixa Penedès, Iberdrola, Gas Natural, the port of barcelona forecasts a turnover of 1.4 million cruisers Azertia commences business activity in the 22@ district. Generalitat de Catalunya, Mutua Universal, Selecta Vidal and Universidad Ramon Llull.

The port of Barcelona expects to receive cruises, which are concentrated in the Mediterranean, owned by Royal Caribbean, 1.4 million cruise passengers in 2006, months of May and October. This is not one of the world’s most important cruise 14% more than in 2005. The growth in the case in the Caribbean, where activity companies. This ship has the capacity to cruisers and passengers has been remains constant throughout the year”. In hold 3,800 passengers and 1,100 crew the corporate headquarters of nominalia moves climbing continually, with the port this regard, we would stress the increase members. recording 1.2 million passengers in 2005 recorded in the number of cruises in April to the 22@ district (20% up on 2004). 2006, concentrating 78,000 passengers, Also, the Norwegian Jewel has Barcelona in contrast to the 60,000 recorded in April as its base port, from where it departs According to Josep Oriol, the general 2005. each Sunday. The Spanish companies Nominalia, Spain’s main supplier of Internet domains, is the latest manager of the Barcelona Port Authority, Pullmantur and Costa Cruceros will also be technological company to set up in Barcelona’s 22@ district. the objective is to “grow annually by The Barcelona Port Authority also wants to operating new boats in the port of According to company sources, its new corporate headquarters are 10%, reaching 2 million cruise increase transits with origin or destination Barcelona. And one of the novelties for located in one of the buildings in the Torres Diagonal Litoral complex. passengers per year in 2010”. So far, 1.4 in Barcelona, as opposed to stopover 2007 will be the arrival of a cruise ship million passengers are expected for 2006, points, since travellers whose journey with the Disney hallmark. The transfer of the company’s headquarters forms part of Nominalia’s corporate growth from 715 different stopovers (24 more begins and ends in the city generally stay strategy for the forthcoming years and its research into synergies with R&D companies than in 2005). “Barcelona thus ensures for 2 or 3 days, whilst stopover passengers All of this cruise ship movement involves in the field of new technologies. itself European leadership in this segment only stay for a few hours. the remodelling of the terminals in the over the coming years”, adds Oriol. Adossat Wharf, calling for an investment of Nominalia was founded in 1997 with the aim of providing companies and private Amongst this season’s new routes we 25 million euros in new installations, individuals with Internet domains and it is a supplier of reference in the field of Internet Josep Oriol also states that the port will would highlight the arrival of the Voyager funded by the Port Authority, Cruceros del infrastructure services in Spain. work “to cut down on the seasonality of of the Seas, the biggest vessel in the of Puerto de Barcelona and Costa Cruceros.

16 17 barcelona 22@ business notes barcelona opens a new hotel in the 22@ district The Barcelona tourist offices speak 21 languages

The company MedGroup has commenced building work on the Express by Holiday Inn The municipal informers at the According to Anna Orozco, coordinator Apart from working at information points, hotel, which is planned to open to the public before the end of 2007. Located in the Barcelona Tourist offices deal with of the Barcelona Tourist offices, in some of the Barcelona Tourism employees city’s 22@ technological district (on the corner of Pallars with Llacuna), it is the tourists in 21 different languages: many cases “the mother or father of work until the early hours of the company’s fist hotel in the capital of Catalonia. English, French, German, Italian, the informer is foreign. This benefits morning in conjunction with the Police Russian, Chinese, Polish, Swedish, the quality of the customer services to help foreign tourists to file reports in The councillor for the Sant Martí district, Francesc Narváez, lay the first stone of the Arabic, Galician and Basque are just offered”. the event of theft or any other offence. six-floor 186-room hotel, which will call for an investment of 17 million euros. some of the languages used. During 2005, three million tourist Barcelona’s tourist offices employ a The MedGroup hotel chain currently has six Express by Holiday Inn hotels in operation Only 5% of the information agents are queries have been recorded at the 20 total of 70 people, working six shifts, and a further six under construction, representing a joint investment of 180 million foreign and the majority of the workers information points dotted across the every day of the week. From May euros. speak three or four languages. city. Of these 30.8% came from onwards, with the onset of the summer Spain, 12.6% from the UK and 8.4% tourist season, this headcount is from Italy. extended to 130.

business notes Direct train route shortens Barcelona-Madrid travel time by 33 minutes

From 17 May the train journey between being replaced with Albia trains, the new generation of trains manufactured by CAF- Custo makes a bid for franchises Barcelona and Madrid can be done in Alsthom, which can change rail width instantaneously. These new convoys take only 33 minutes less thanks to the direct 8 seconds to do this change, whilst the current trains take 20 minutes. The other The Custo Barcelona fashion company “Now the time has come to go make a bid for franchises and the objective is to open train between both major cities. The improvement has involved cutting out the stop at Zaragoza. has decided to opt for the franchise ten throughout Europe and Asia within the year”, explains Carlos Sagalés, general train leaves Sants trains station every model in order to extend its business. manager of the firm. day from Monday to Saturday at 3.30 Renfe’s objective has been to launch a first offer to customers travelling in business The company, which recorded a pm and leaves Atocha at 3.20 pm. After class who may have attended a meeting in the morning in one of the two cities and turnover of 72 million euros in 2005, After several pilot trials in Spain, Dubai and Bahrain, Custo Barcelona has chosen a total travel time of 4 hours 20 minutes wishes to return at midday, having a leisurely meal aboard the train and saving forecasts growth at a rate of 14% in this business model for two reasons. The first being that Custo is already present “in the trains are at their destination. money on the airline shuttle service. For family trips at weekends there is also a 2006. the best multi-brand stores” –says Sagalés– and through points of sale the firm direct train, with a different timetable: leaves Sants every Friday and Sunday at 7.30 “cannot grow much more because opening new stores requires a lot of funding”. The This 33-minute reduction in travel time pm and Atocha at 7.20 pm. The Dalmau brothers founded the second reason is that their collections “now go far beyond t-shirts, but cannot be has been achieved thanks to Custo firm in 1980 and now have over fully displayed in multi-brand stores”. improvements. On one hand, the Although the new Albia train model is designed to reach 250 km/h, with peaks of 3,000 points of sale across the globe. current Talgo Altaria trains used to up to 270 km/h, they will not be allowed to exceed 200 km/h until they are certified Five years ago Custo started to open The firm’s own stores provide 20% of the sales of this designer company and fabric cover the Madrid-Barcelona route are to circulate with the ERTMS system, a process which will take a number of months. its own stores and now has 27 dotted distributor, that recorded a turnover of 72 million euros in 2005 and expects to across Spain, the US, Paris, Rome and reach 82 million in 2006. This forecast also includes the opening of a fourth Milan. establishment in Barcelona, to be located in the Rambla, and seven own stores in the US, where there are a further seven in operation already. The US is Custo Barcelona’s top market, concentrating 20% of its sales. The Irish investment group Catalonia exceeds the European average per capita income rate Quinlan buys Diagonal Mar by 17.5% for 300 million euros

Muji chooses Barcelona to open its first shop in Spain 300 million euros is the amount that Catalonia has a gross domestic product (GDP) per inhabitant that is 17.5% higher the Irish investment group Quinlan has than the European Union average, according to a comparative report prepared by The Japanese company Muji, which has The main characteristic of Muji’s paid for Diagonal Mar, the largest Eurostat, the EU’s statistics organ. Catalonia’s GDP for 2003 (the latest year made the absence of a brand on its products is that they have no brand shopping centre in Catalonia. This has available) came to 25,541 euros. In Spain, the GDP was close to the EU average products the key to its success, has name, as the company’s full name states been the largest transaction ever in (97.4%), coming to 21,174 euros. opened its first store in Spain. The store (Mujirushi Ryohin) which in Japanese Spain to purchase a sole piece of real is located in Rambla de Catalunya in means “no tag, quality product”. estate. In 2002, the German fund Deka Madrid is Spain’s autonomous region with the highest level of income, 28.013 per Barcelona and is associated with the paid 240 million for the centre and now inhabitant, equivalent to 128.8% of the EU average. This is followed by Navarra Catalan Andreu family, which has “Muji was created in 1983 from within it is selling it for 60 million more. (123.1%) and the Basque Country (120.7%). Catalonia is the fourth autonomous provided the necessary funding to open the Seiyu department store organisation, region in terms of income level (117.5%). Other regions with a GDP above the EU the establishment. as a means of attracting customers who Diagonal Mar covers a surface area of average are the Balearic Isles (111.6%), La Rioja (107.3%) and Aragón (104%). liked the idea of personalising their own 88,000 square metres and houses the The poorest are Extremadura and Andalusia, with a GDP per inhabitant of 13,871 There are currently 1,701 Japanese products”, explains Tadamitsu Matsui, largest mega-supermarket (an Alcampo and 16,107 euros, respectively, equivalent to 63.8% and to 74.1% of the people living in Barcelona. This president of Muji. store covering 27,100 square metres) European average. migratory movement has introduced new and the largest underground car park Asian-influence products and customs Muji has a thousand suppliers in Japan (with 5,000 parking spaces split over The richest region in the EU is London, with a GDP per inhabitant of 60,342 euros, onto the Spanish market. Sushi, and 500 throughout the rest of the world. five storeys). The acquisition of this 277.6% above the EU average. The other richest areas are Brussels (237.6%), kimonos, manga or tatamis are some of 50% of its production is done in Japan, shopping centre is Quinlan’s first Luxembourg (233.9%), Hamburg (184%) and Paris (173.3%). the products of oriental inspiration that 30% in China and the remaining 20% to transaction in Spain. are most in fashion in Europe. Eastern European countries.

18 19 interview with joaquín sánchez director of the national laboratory for magnetic confinement fusion

Joaquín Sánchez is the director of the National Laboratory for funded by the European Commission with 2,000 million euros. Magnetic Confinement Fusion. This laboratory comes under the From here, all contracts and technical specifications will be drawn CIEMAT –Centre for Energy, Environmental and Technological up, contracts will be put out to tender and monitored and receptions Research– the body that is to run the ITER in Barcelona, a project and deliveries from the ITER is performed. Some scientists will that in the future shall create the first commercial purpose fusion also be based here, although the staff will mainly be engineers. reactor. Joaquín Sánchez studied Physics and specialised in plasma-measuring systems. In 1990 he was responsible for You are the director of the National Laboratory for Magnetic creating two measuring systems for the TJ2 prototype in the Confinement Fusion and have been involved in the ITER project CIEMAT; in 2000 he led the Yet prototype project and in 2004 he through the CIEMAT. What is the CIEMAT’s role in the ITER became head of the fusion laboratory. project? The European Fusion Agency will commence functioning as such The initials ITER stand for International Thermonuclear in the first quarter of 2007, approximately. However, the European Experimental Reactor but what exactly is the ITER? Commission wanted to start work for the ITER in Barcelona as The ITER, on one hand is a major technological experiment with soon as possible and so it reached an agreement with the CIEMAT, an investment of 4,500 million euros, in which half of humanity which is Spain’s representative in the European Fusion Programme, itself participates, meaning the governments representing half of to offer a work infrastructure and for the Commission to begin the planet Earth, in terms of population. In terms of objectives, sending experts to work for ITER. The CIEMAT rented an office ITER is a project aimed at demonstrating the scientific viability of in Diagonal Litoral and there is now a group of people working hydrogen fusion as a massive power source. For years now fusion there, on one hand, for ITER, doing security work and preparing has been studied and now ITER is the machine that demonstrates the location and, on the other hand, to prepare the infrastructure that using fusion we can make more energy that we spend, in of the European Fusion Agency. When the Fusion Agency becomes other words the project is economically profitable. a legal entity, this office will fall under the CIEMAT since it reports directly to the general manager of the Agency –in other words, It would seem that the project that the ITER reactor wants to it will become an autonomous entity. launch is now starting up and the scientific and technological feasibility of nuclear fusion will be demonstrated. However, the Being the managing body of ITER will bring changes to the idea of researching into fusion energy came about quite some city in terms of economy and international renown. What will time ago. When was it decided to impulse this project? having this centre mean for Barcelona? A meeting was held between Reagan and Gorbachov in the year On the one hand, it will mean having an office with 200 workers, 1986 to seek meeting points and, since there were no possibilities which in itself is a driving force for the economy. At present, the of agreement in other matters, they decided to collaborate in the office we have in Barcelona, with only 15 employees, already field of fusion energy research and agreed to set up the ITER has an operating budget of several million euros a year. The project, which was immediately backed by the US and Japan. operating cost already represents a major economic activity. It Since then, the ITER has developed slowly. Until 2002 no proposals is also inevitable that if energy is being generated and R&D were put forward for a headquarters for ITER, until Spain presented studies are being contracted, the companies and universities in a candidacy, with Vandellós. Finally, in 2005 an agreement was the area will be in a privileged position. It is clear that although reached for the machine to be made in Cadarache, France. Now, all the public tenders will be carried out on an equal opportunities in May 2006, the in-depth agreement has been signed. basis for all of Europe, nearby centres have an advantage when it comes to establishing collaborations. So who currently forms the ITER and how does each partner participate in the project? As you have already said, the ITER reactor aims to demonstrate The ITER is a project involving seven major partners. On the one the potential of fusion as an energy source. Could you explain hand, the EU, which acts as a sole country, and on the other what fusion is? the US, Russia, Japan, Korea, India and China. Each one of Fusion is an energy source based on a nuclear type reaction which these member contributes, as a membership fee, contributions consists of joining two small atomic nucleuses to form a nucleus in kind. In terms of investment by each member, since Europe with a greater atomic weight, thereby forming energy. Up to now is the member that houses the experiment itself on its soil, it has we have been more familiar with fission nuclear energy, which a higher contribution and has to build components to the value is the inverse process, consisting of taking a much larger nucleus of 2,000 million euros. Europe thus contributes 2,000 million and breaking it into much smaller particles to create energy. euros and each of the other members contributes approximately 450 million euros. What are the advantages of fusion over fission, which is currently the most used energy source? Europe’s contribution is higher because the reactor is to be built The fusion reaction is much safer. Fission occurs almost in Cadarache. But France is not the only European region that spontaneously and the job of fission plants is basically to control will be important to the functioning of the project. What is being this reaction. Fusion, on the other hand, is a slower reaction and done for the ITER from Barcelona? to make it happen, great care must be taken, providing constant The European Commission signed the ITER agreement but it does stimulus and injecting energy into the system to maintain it because not have the appropriate management tools. This is why a if anything goes wrong, it turns off. Therefore, nuclear accidents management agency was created. This agency could be in in a machine like this are practically impossible because there is Cadarache (France), where the machine is located, but in order no energy stored in the system in the long term to continue to avoid giving Europe a very dominant position in the project, it maintaining the reaction. This is the advantage but, at the same was determined not to do so. Although the other members have time it is a disadvantage because the required reaction is so the management agency located in their own country, it was exquisite, so difficult to maintain, that it is very difficult to accomplish. decided that Europe would not use Cadarache, but rather Spain, To do so we have to manage to bring certain gases to temperatures and specifically Barcelona. It is an office employing 200 people, of ten million degrees and keep them stable.

good news summer 2006 nº 37 copyright registration number: B-23-422-2005

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