"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 clear that the presence of mobile devices is important. The first mobile phone arrives 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 transition ritual towards secondary education.

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.

Pere Mier (Figueres, 1952), a prominent figure in the technology world, with origins in the family business Mier Comunicacions and former president of employers' associations Ametic and Proespacio, among other roles, has been president for a few days of Open Cosmos, the company founded by a Majorcan, Rafel Jordà, and two Catalans, Aleix Megías and Jordi Barrera, and dedicated to the design, production, and operation of satellites. Mier explains from the company's headquarters in the Sant Andreu neighborhood of Barcelona that his role will consist of consolidating a group that is "among the fastest growing in Europe," based on "the democratization of access to space" to make it easier and cheaper. He adds that he will also play a role in the development of the defense and security industry within the Old Continent's objective of gaining strategic autonomy, because "space technologies are dual by definition."

The Culture section of ARA receives an email from a company representing a high-ranking Catalan executive requesting to change a photograph from an old news story to a current one. Behind that curious request is 202 Digital Reputation, a consultancy specializing in digital reputation. Industrial engineer Carlota Gatius took advantage of COVID to train in digital business and swapped a job at Deloitte for this personal project, with a partner (Ruben Gálvez) and her own capital. Five years later, at 202, they work with big brands and top executives, mainly to weather reputational crises on the internet. In the era of LinkedIn, Instagram, and AI, the image we project online may be as crucial as the work we do.

The Catalan technological ecosystem receives its accolades at the 19th edition of the EmprènXXI awards, the accolades from CaixaBank DayOne and the state entrepreneurship financing company Enisa dedicated to the best emerging companies. The entity's entrepreneurship financing segment has awarded the start-ups Second Hundred, Aridditive, and AtomH2 in three of its eight sectoral challenges of the year, while it has granted the biomedical company Polar Nanopharma one of the two honorable mentions, dedicated to the initiative with the greatest capacity for social impact. The four companies from the principality have prevailed in a process that received more than a thousand applications.

The 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 technology 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 have involved an investment of around 10 million euros, coming mostly from European Next Generation funds through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. 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 digital economy continues its expansion in Barcelona, also in the labor market. According to data from the latest Digital talent overview report, the annual study by the Mobile World Capital Barcelona foundation that details the state of the ICT professional network in the country's capital, the Barcelona technology sector has already surpassed 135,000 workers, 6.5% of the city's total employment. Last year, the local ecosystem added nearly 6,300 professionals, a year-on-year increase of 4.85%; triple the rate of the general Barcelona labor market, which grew by 1.73% compared to 2024.

One day after Pope Leo XIV put artificial intelligence (AI) in the spotlight of his first encyclical, the most relevant papal document, the Spanish government has sent the organic law for the good use and governance of AI to Congress. The Council of Ministers this Tuesday gave the green light in a second reading to the text that adapts Spanish legislation to the European AI regulation approved on March 13, which seeks to ensure an ethical, inclusive, and beneficial use of artificial intelligence and to enable users to clearly differentiate which content is real and which is virtual.