The i2Cat technological center invests 10 million euros in a new headquarters at Pier01

BarcelonaThe public center for technological research and development i2Cat presented its new headquarters this Wednesday. Located at Pier01, the Palau de Mar space managed by the technological employers' association Tech Barcelona, the new facility has an area of approximately 2,000 square meters. The relocation and adaptation of the offices and laboratories involved an investment of around 10 million euros, mainly from the European Next Generation funds. According to the center's director, Sergi Figuerola, the move serves to unite i2Cat with "the digital ecosystem of Tech, to generate synergies with a hub of reference in Southern Europe".

The new headquarters will bring together the more than 250 professionals working at i2Cat, more than half of whom are fully dedicated to research in various fields. One of the most prominent is satellite communications, with 6G networks as the protagonists.

In fact, i2Cat has also confirmed an investment of over two million euros to launch 6GStarlab, Europe's first open 6G laboratory in orbit, an initiative they believe "positions Catalonia as a key player in this field". Beyond connectivity, the center will also explore artificial intelligence applications, cybersecurity solutions, and frontier technologies, such as quantum or intelligent sensing. Thus, according to Figuerola, the new offices leave the center "prepared to lead the future".

Technological transfer

The institutional presentation of the new offices was attended by various local and national authorities. The Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, praised i2Cat's ability to be a "driver of frontier research and applied research".

In this regard, Dalmau urged both the research world and companies to "understand each other", as well as the administration, to guarantee Catalonia's role in the European path to technological sovereignty. "We want to be at the forefront of the race for AI, but to do so in our own way: ethically and generating economic fabric in our own country", said the minister, who highlighted the center's role in this cause.

In a similar vein, the fourth deputy mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Vall, valued i2Cat's "fit" with the technological ecosystem established at Pier01 and the port of Barcelona. The synergies that will be generated there, he assured, help to "put technology at the service of people". For his part, the president of Port de Barcelona, José Alberto Carbonell, offered the infrastructure to "be the sandbox where innovation is tested in real conditions", especially in the field of the blue economy.