The consortium behind the project for Móra la Nova (Ribera d'Ebre) and San Fernando de Henares (Madrid) to host one of Europe's artificial intelligence (AI) gigafactories boasts unanimity. This Wednesday, Pedro Sánchez's government convened in Moncloa the representatives of who, for now, forms part of the consortium that has sponsored the project's candidacy for its first official family photo. For the Spanish government, the company that has been established for this technological project to become a reality in the State is an example of the "importance" of public-private collaboration, and it takes on even more "relevance" when considering that the companies that make up the consortium, and which hold the majority, are "leaders in their sectors," Moncloa highlighted in a statement.

Sateliot appeared at the center of Catalan public life in 2021, thanks to InfoK. The company, created three years earlier by a group of veterans from the telecommunications industry, was one of those responsible for Enxaneta, the first Catalan nanosatellite. At that time, it was still difficult to explain the idea of going to space to connect to the Internet of Things and send one message a day to receiving devices. Half a decade later, the company is already an aerospace benchmark, and aspires to fill space with 5G connectivity satellites for security forces, defense units, and strategic infrastructures. The executive director, Jaume Sanpera, receives Empreses in the company's brand new offices to talk about dual-use technologies, satellite constellations, and how to become friends with Elon Musk again.

The space industry claims its economic impact, beyond the mysticism and symbolic weight that have traditionally surrounded it. "We have gone from planting flags to building markets, this is the great change," said the general director of Indra Space, Miguel Ángel Panduro, this Tuesday in Santander. The executive defended that "space has become a critical infrastructure for the economy" because it facilitates the operation of many other sectors, among which he highlighted the energy, logistics, and financial sectors.

Edició de Premsa Periòdica Ara SL develops Goita Barcelona, an artificial intelligence agent from Diari ARA designed to help users discover cultural, gastronomic, and leisure plans in Barcelona based on selected sources, context, and editorial criteria.

Philippe Aghion (Paris, 1956) won last year the Nobel Prize in Economics for his research on the impact of technology and innovation on economic development. Aghion, a professor at the prestigious Collège de France, Insead, and London School of Economics, currently focuses his work on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in growth and how Europe can improve its policies to reduce dependence on Chinese and American tech giants.

The winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics, Philippe Aghion, has championed from Barcelona the effects of artificial intelligence on the economy. According to the expert's calculations, AI can add more than one percentage point to total productivity over a decade. The new contributions, however, are conditional on countries' ability to "build the right institutions" to regulate and promote it. "AI has great potential, but we need to adapt our policies to take advantage of it," he argued at a conference held this Tuesday at the headquarters of the Cercle d'Economia.

"Everyone needs a computer". This idea, a triviality at first glance, is at the core of the business model of a young Catalan startup that has managed, without raising external capital, to be profitable in just four months of activity. This is Walter!, a start-up founded by entrepreneurs Marc Ginjaume, Carlos Andion, and Juan Dávila that centralizes and handles all IT demand from clients, mainly other startups and tech companies. From the supply of computers and other technological devices to cybersecurity, including the maintenance of broken products, Walter! equips teams in "hypergrowth phase" of between 50 and 1,000 employees. And it does so – the crux of the matter – in less than 48 hours and in more than 150 countries.

What is the impact of digital environments on children and adolescents? Everyone has an approximate idea of the effects that early or intensive exposure to electronic devices can have, but until now there was no study with such an important and representative scope as the one just published by Unicef Spain, in collaboration with the University of Santiago de Compostela, the General Council of Computer Engineering and the entity Red.es, and which was presented this Friday at Palau Macaya in Barcelona.From the report, titled Childhood, Adolescence and Digital Well-being. An Approach from Health, Coexistence and Social Responsibility it is inferred that the presence of mobile devices is important. The first mobile phone is acquired on average at 11.02 years old, which means that between 5th and 6th grade, almost 40% of children have a smartphone. A figure that doubles in three months and rises to 78.3% the summer before starting secondary school, as if it were a kind of transitional ritual towards secondary school.

The Generalitat has authorized a new loan of 10 million euros to Openchip & Software Technologies, the Catalan company specialized in the design of high-performance microprocessors. The financing is added to the 25 million that the Generalitat already granted it in March, bringing public support to 35 million. The objective is to guarantee the continuity of the company's research and development programs while an investment round with private and institutional actors is closed.

The European Commission has announced that it is giving Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, five working days to open access to competing companies in the sector and allow other artificial intelligence (AI) assistants to provide services on this messaging application. In this way, the Community executive says in a statement released this Tuesday that it will prevent the US technology company from committing "irreparable harm" to competition in a rapidly expanding sector. "There is a risk of harming competition at a key moment for the development of this market, where smaller players and new competitors can challenge large established companies," the Community executive points out.

The Mobile World Congress (MWC) had an economic impact on Barcelona of 588 million euros in its twentieth edition held this 2026 and generated 14,016 part-time jobs, according to data from GSMA, the organizing company of the congress.

The Mobile World Capital Barcelona foundation, the entity linked to the MWC technology congress that manages its legacy in the city, now has new leadership. The foundation's board of trustees has appointed journalist Laia Corbella as the new general director. Corbella takes over from Francesc Fajula, who left the organization in May to lead the artificial intelligence gigafactory project in Móra la Nova.

We live in an era marked by immediacy. We answer messages while walking, constantly check notifications, and often end the day feeling like we've been busy all the time without really connecting with ourselves. Speed, hyperproductivity, and the need to always respond immediately are part of a culture that leaves less and less room for emotional rest. Gaby Hostnik, a specialist and trainer in applied neuroscience and emotional intelligence, author of the book The future is what you do today (Bruguera, 2026), talks about this contemporary malaise.

The adoption of artificial intelligence in the Catalan technology sector is already beginning to take a toll on the workforce, especially among the youngest. According to the latest report "Digital talent overview, developed by the Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation, the offers for junior workers among ICT companies in Barcelona fell by nearly 27% in 2025 The survey, it should be noted, coincides with the digital talent director's assessment: professionals in the sector are using AI to carry out tasks traditionally assigned to new hires. More than 74% declare using chatbots to draft documentation related to code; a similar rate to those who use them to elaborate explanations of already operational code. They also highlight assistance in development or making small additions to developed applications and websites.

In Europe, the debate about children, adolescents, and technology is intensifying. There is increasing pressure to limit access to social networks and strengthen age verification mechanisms. This shift responds to a legitimate concern. But, even so, the question remains too simple: how many hours do they spend in front of a screen? Reducing the problem to a sum of hours is convenient, but it distances us from what truly matters.

The executive president of Telefónica, Marc Murtra, has pointed out the "gigantic weaknesses" that Europe suffers from in a time of technological revolution. In his speech at the 41st Meeting of the Cercle d'Economia, the leader of the state's leading telco lamented that European administrations "do not have the capacity" to regulate North American technology companies. In the executive's view, the Twenty-Seven suffer from "extremely dangerous vulnerabilities, and which are very real" with respect to the planet's major technological powers. To face them, he calls for "making decisions." "All reports lead down the same path, but now we must execute," he stated.

Factorial continues to expand its growth capacity. The Barcelona-based platform specializing in general management for companies has raised a Series D investment round of 150 million dollars —129 million euros—. With this new operation, led by the North American fund General Catalyst, the Catalan tech company multiplies its valuation to 2.5 billion dollars —2.2 billion euros—.

Nvidia wants to fight all battles. The most valuable company on the planet, until now specializing in the production of graphics memories (GPUs), has kicked down the door this Monday to the market for processors for personal computers. In its intervention at the Computex technology conference, held in Taipei (Taiwan), the CEO of the tech giant, Jensen Huang, revealed the new RTX Spark Superchip, a microprocessor dedicated to consumer laptops. With this technology, designed to process the latest artificial intelligence applications and agents, Nvidia enters fully into the battle with processor manufacturers, such as Apple, Intel, or AMD.

Barcelona has already built a digital workforce that rivals any ecosystem in the region. According to the latest Digital talent overview, elaborated by the Mobile World Capital Barcelona foundation, the country's capital already concentrates more than 135,000 information and communication technology professionalsThe calculation of the purchasing power of digital employees is more favorable in Barcelona. If the cost of living in all cities is equated, the country's capital is located just below the European average, which drops to 54,000 euros per year. Some environments, such as London, fall several positions due to the progressive increase in the cost of housing and consumer goods. This, in the words of the director of digital talent at MWCapital, Jordi Arrufí, creates a balance that makes Barcelona more attractive than other competitors. "Salaries are competitive, which is an ambiguous word. They are attractive for companies compared to Northern Europe, but the worker has a significantly higher standard of living than the city average," considers the expert. That is, "with lower salaries, digital workers in Barcelona live better".

All advances and new technologies generate concern and fear. We have seen this throughout history. And this is what is happening with artificial intelligence (AI). There are many studies pointing to the loss of hundreds or thousands of jobs, and the potential of this new technology is still in its infancy. But we have already seen many headlines like that of the weekly The Economist a few days ago, "The jobs apocalypse". The impact it can have cannot be denied, and not just on repetitive and low-value-added tasks.