What will the new Enciclopèdia Catalana be like?

BarcelonaFundació Enciclopèdia Catalana has announced that it is beginning a new phase two and a half years after going through a delicate moment, which resulted in a reduction of staff through an employment regulation file (ERO) to dismiss 15 people. After managing to overcome the latest crisis, and coinciding with its sixtieth anniversary, the editorial conglomerate has made public its new business strategy, which bets "on education, on knowledge in Catalan (also in digital environments) and on the international projection of the catalog".

Once the internal transformation process is complete and with a new business plan, the objective is "to consolidate itself as a knowledge infrastructure in this language in an environment marked by digitalization, artificial intelligence and new learning habits", according to statements from Enciclopèdia Catalana. Its intention is to ensure that "rigorous knowledge in Catalan is present, accessible and relevant both in schools and online".

Among the conglomerate's strategies is the promotion of a "digital knowledge ecosystem" which, according to data provided by the entity, has more than one million articles and 9.2 million annual visits to three of its main portals: Enciclopèdia.cat, Diccionari.cat

and Divulcat.cat. Another novelty from Enciclopèdia Catalana is the launch of the new imprint Llegint, which will begin during the next school year, as well as the promotion of programs such as the Public Speaking Reading Competition, or the international opening of the Enciclopèdia Art catalog with a new online sales channel, activated in April.

The new project also aims to strengthen the governance of the historic institution, with the incorporation to the board of Mònica Casabayó, professor in the Marketing department at Esade and at Ramon Llull University; Maria Garganté, academic specializing in art history and professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona; Josep Martínez Vila, economist and former CEO of Saba Group; Francesc Pedró, expert in global educational policies and professor in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at Pompeu Fabra University, and Manel Vallet, businessman, director of Fira Barcelona and co-owner of Catalonia Hotels & Resorts, under the presidency of businessman Xavier Cambra.