0123456789 <#X#> 6 MINS DID YOU KNOW... • The Basque tongue, Euskera, is the oldest living language in Europe and completely incomprehensible to non- Basques. It was banned under TRAVELTHE INSIDE STORY FOR BUSINESS TRAVELLERS Franco, but is enjoying a resurgence in both business and daily life. It’s estimated that 85 per cent of Basques under the age of 25 will speak Euskera by the mid-2030s. • It’s said that Bilbao has BUSINESS CITY GUIDE two cathedrals, one of them – possibly the better attended – being San Mamés, the football stadium that’s home to BILBAO Athletic Club Bilbao. • Most Bilbainos have a close-knit group of a dozen or BASQUE so friends, their kuadrilla, to whom they stick loyally through thick and thin for life. IN GLORY Northern Spain’s industrial port • Google Maps uses Basque has turned into a booming tech street names, while most powerhouse. By Sorrel Downer tourist maps use the Spanish ones. It’s a Bilbao’s so-called ‘Guggenheim effect’ is a complicating factor worth handy catch-all for the city’s ‘starchitecture’, bearing in mind when resurgent art scene, culture, gastronomy, setting off on foot for a new tourism and civic pride in the wake of meeting. Frank Gehry’s gloriously alien museum, which opened here 20 years ago in the • Bilbao has its own version of Biscay (Bizkaia) capital. It’s also a metaphor the mappa mundi, which for an equally surprising and radical shift positions the city at the centre in economic strategy by the Basque of the world. It’s the second government around the same time. Faced most popular picture in bars with a collapse in heavy industry, and with – after the Athletic Club indicators hinting at a looming economic Bilbao team photo. crisis, it opted to invest in building an entrepreneurial culture based around innovation and high technology – industry 4.0. As a result, Bilbao now has one of Europe’s most holistic and strategic startup ecosystems, particularly for hi-tech initiatives in the traditional sectors – auto, energy, aeronautics and machine-tool engineering – but also biotech. “We work hard in the area of coordination between private and public bodies, between universities, technology centres, government offices and big companies, and INSIDE it’s a main factor in our success,” says Ainara Basurko, director general of Beaz, the Biscay Flying to the government department dedicated to edge of space advanced technology startups. Beaz is the gateway to comprehensive support, Meet hotelier from seed funds and angel investors, to Bill Walshe mentoring, incubators, product design, accelerator programmes and advanced services, such as access to lawyers, News and offers consultants and marketing. from British Airways 0123456789 “We put them in touch with Basque organisations and professionals so they can see the possibilities in coming back to the Basque Country or they can start business relationships through our job intermediation service.” The scheme, also open to talented non-Basques, ensures an influx of new and worldly entrepreneurs with international perspectives. For Bilbao’s startups, international exposure often reinforces a sense of confidence in the innovative work Addimen benefits from well-equipped that’s underway locally. There are new incubation space at the Bizkaia Science companies here that are literally reaching and Technology Park, the first tech park in for the stars. Startup Satlantis has received Spain (created in 1985) and the largest after a €2.3m contract from the European “It’s a relationship that doesn’t finish,” says Barcelona. It’s a hub for the most innovative Commission for a binocular camera, Basurko. “There are now more than 1,200, startups in bio-nano, clean technologies effectively a micro-satellite weighing some in early stages, others now big firms, and advanced manufacturing. just 12kg and capable of taking images and, in partnership with universities, tech “There are companies that started from at a fraction of the cost of an Earth centres and private businesses, we constantly scratch in the incubator that are now Observation Satellite. It’s due for design services to meet their growing needs.” among the leaders in their launch in the second quarter It works: of the 183 startups assisted by sectors,” says Cristina of 2019. CEO Juan Tomás Beaz between 2011 and 2015, the survival Andrés, the Park’s Hernani says, “I am from rate was 85 per cent, creating 950 jobs. director of innovation. Bilbao Talent Bilbao but have worked ”Bilbao is one of the best places for Regarded as a model in Madrid, Sweden, the startups in Spain,” says Leire Atxa of for entrepreneurial scours local UK and done intense Noismart, the company behind Noisense, development, the Park universities travelling around the a traffic light alarm system to detect and boasts more than 8,000 world in general. That regulate ambient noise in closed spaces. innovative professionals, for future has produced a feeling After initial funding and co-working space with around a quarter of how tiny we are, and from her local town council, she was able to working in R&D. It’s one entrepreneurs how humble we have collaborate with the Faculty of Engineering of six multi-disciplinary to be to approach a at the Universidad del País Vasco and was campuses in the Basque world market. At the same given access to workspace and advice via Country Technology Parks network, time, I realise that in our small the university’s Zitek programme, as well created 20 years ago to exploit land, we have a supply industry for as Seed Capital investment, financial advice, synergies between entrepreneurs. precision mechanics and advanced and help recruiting staff. “Beaz then helped New blood is also important for sustaining electronics, engineering talent, serious with the company registration, the innovation, and the organisation Bilbao institutions, financial capabilities and, development of the technology, and Talent not only scours local universities moreover, a culture of work, delivery and launching into market, and they are now for future entrepreneurs but, explains seriousness in the context of an equal one of the bodies helping us take the first managing director Ivan Jimenez, seeks out society. And this is a tiny uniqueness that steps in internationalisation,” she adds. highly-skilled Basques working overseas: can make the difference.” The practical ‘to market’ element of support for startups with strong products Extended reach sets Bilbao apart. The links between academia The Guggenheim Museum. and workplace are strong, and mutually Above: making new beneficial cooperation underpins an annual discoveries at CIC bioGUNE acceleration programme, Bind 4.0. Industry in the Bizkaia Science giants (Google, Siemens and Microsoft and Technology Park among them) identify areas for potential collaboration – recently, cyber-security, additive manufacturing, robotics and artificial vision – and startups from around the world at the cutting edge of these specialist fields pitch for an opportunity to work fully paid for 24 weeks in a supplier-client relationship with a company, trained and mentored through the acceleration period by Baez and hosted in a Bilbao incubator. Startup Addimen specialises in the additive manufacture of metal parts and was partnered with Mercedes and Repsol/Petronor, and is now an official supplier to both with a growing client list. “Bind provided a framework for relationships with leading companies,” says Addimen’s Jon Urrutikoetxea. NOVEMBER 2017 0123456789 Nature’s finest San Juan de Gaztelugatxe hermitage at dusk, Euskadi; <#X#> Josean Alija at Michelin- TRAVEL starred Nerua and vermouth at flea markets in Zorrozaurre (an area earmarked for a development designed by the late Zaha Hadid), and every Sunday, boisterous crowds gather in Plaza Nueva. Even if you don’t need the antique coins, canaries or football cards peddled by its vendors, it sits at the heart of the Casco Viejo, its narrow streets lined by some of the region’s best pintxos bars. WHERE TO STAY LOCAL VIEWS ALL THE HOTELS BELOW “‘The area all around the CAN BE BOOKED AT Guggenheim is an example BA.COM* of the city’s transformation. It was totally different 25 MELIA BILBAO years ago – grey with Like a microcosm of Bilbao heavy industry. Now it’s itself: solid, bold, discreetly green and brilliant.” luxurious and inherently arty, Anaira, Beaz this hotel, designed by Mexican architect Ricardo lively bars and restaurants of Legorreta, is all warm, dark “Visit the old port of Getxo, boho hipsterville, Bilbao la tones, with a spectacular in Algorta, where you can Vieja, across the river. Dando la atrium lit by a towering lamp of taste informal, typical Brasa serves up hearty food and alabaster blocks, and good Basque food in a charming has the best soundtrack in town. location flanked by the Nervión old fishing village.” and Doña Casilda Iturrizar park. Leira Atxa, Noismart OUT AND ABOUT The Guggenheim is a must, GRAN HOTEL DOMINE “Go for a bike ride from the although many people secretly Tasked with designing a hotel Maritime Museum to the prefer the exhibitions at the opposite the Guggenheim, Arriaga Theatre, and finish Museo de Bellas Artes in the Javier Mariscal embraced his with bacalao al pil pil at Doña Casilda Iturrizar park. arty brief boldly, creating this Sorginzulo, in Plaza Nueva.“ There is so much art and arty light, airy hotel filled with nods Charly Rodriguez, Lluvia architecture in the city – from to 20th-century art and topped de Bilbao FOOD the Philippe Starck designed with a splendid roof terrace bar. Exquisite, inventive gourmet cultural centre Azkuna Zentroa “Visit San Juan de food in the form of pintxos, (formerly the Alhóndiga) to PETIT PALACE ARANA Gaztelugatxe, on the coast bite-sized edible sculptures of Norman Foster’s snail-shell Metro A modern, well-equipped and at Bermeo.