Barcelona Maritime Technology Park
Civil society has embraced the scientific community’s message of “Our ocean, our future, our responsibility” (Lisbon Statement, UN 2022), which calls for science-based innovative projects to mitigate the ocean emergency. Public investment is crucial for the development of research infrastructure that facilitates knowledge transfer to the business sector and the general public.
The Barcelona Maritime Technology Park (PTMB) is part of the city’s strategy for becoming a world leader in this field. This project will provide technology and educational facilities not found anywhere else in the Mediterranean, which are scarce in Europe, thereby addressing growing international demand for solutions to the challenges of global change.
Barcelona is cementing its place as a leader for analysing and detecting innovation and entrepreneurship opportunities, cornerstones of the city’s socio-economic progress. The success of these initiatives, with a clear social return, relies on having an industrial economic network committed to major technological transformations, as well as an integrated R&D&I ecosystem that promotes knowledge transfer to the private sector and encourages shared responsibility between the private and public sectors.
The PTMB is part of the 2018-2028 Strategic Coastal Plan, the city’s Promotion of the Blue Economy strategy, and the Barcelona Port Authority’s 2021-2024 Blue District Innovation Plan. It’s also part of the Spanish government’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
This maritime technology facility will strengthen innovation as a driver of job creation and socio-economic progress, contributing to the sustainability of the production network linked to Barcelona’s blue economy.
Barcelona City Council is leading this project to address the growing demand for specialised services in the Mediterranean region, with a model that combines public and private assets and encourages collaboration. The PTMB’s facilities will include:
- Hydrodynamic test pool
- Towing channel
- Wind tunnel
- Sailing and manoeuvring simulator
- Entrepreneurship and innovation services
- Teaching activity
- Employability and skill-building services
It will also have innovation laboratories equipped to:
- Improve the efficiency of hydrodynamic and aerodynamic designs in maritime transport
- Model coastal infrastructure in climate change scenarios to strengthen its resilience
- Develop prototypes that improve energy sovereignty with renewable marine energy sources
What are we doing?
Within the framework of the Government Measure for Promoting Barcelona’s Blue Economy, we’re making progress on building the PTMB:
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The construction project establishes spaces suited to the needs identified in the feasibility plan, with a collaborative distribution of uses among the organisations that will operate the facilities through a comprehensive management model, in a facility with a surface area of 16.500 m² devoted to innovation and entrepreneurship.
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S’han elaborat el Pla de finançament, el Pla de negoci i el Model de gestió per garantir la viabilitat de la inversió pública, assegurant un retorn econòmic i social òptim de la inversió.
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Els acords amb la Generalitat de Catalunya, la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, el Port de Barcelona, la Fundació Barcelona Capital Nàutica i l’Estat es formalitzen en protocols i convenis de col•laboració que garanteixen els recursos i compromisos de finançament i de gestió eficient.
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The Port of Barcelona, in its September 2024 Board of Directors meeting, passed the Special Urban Development Plan to start the administrative procedures for construction in the Nova Bocana area.
