The 22@Barcelona area, the technological district of the city, is on the verge of carrying out a new project. It will be Barcelona’s inspiration as the model of a smart city and the developer of the “Internet of Things“.
The historical Ca l’Alier building, located in the centre of the 22@Barcelona district, formerly Poblenau, will be the epicentre of the future technology hub which Cisco Systems and Schneider Electric want to develop in the city.
Cisco’s new 1720m2 innovation centre will we the fifth of the global centres which the multinational enterprise owns around the world. Currently they have others in Songdo (South Korea) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and they are just about to add another two in Toronto (Canada) and in Germany.
As part of the concept of the Smart City Hub, we will see one of the most advanced technologies in existence, which affects the interconnection of various electronic devices connected to the internet. This is the so-called “Internet of Things”.
Barcelona is the internation leader and point of reference for all other smart cities. A Mobile World Capital, which has also recently been recognised as European Capital of Innovation.
With these two multinational firms choosing Barcelona as the city for their latest venture, it has consolidated its position as the model city of innovation and advanced technologies. It’s also bringing back into play a symbolic building of the old Manchester of Catalonia, as Poblenou (now 22@) was known at the end of the 19th century.
Universities, too, have opted for this area as their base: the UPF’s communications campus is based here and the UB will follow with a future university campus in Can Ricart.
The revival of the Ca l’Alier will take place between January 2015 and summer 2016, and as of then the building will house not only both of these companies but also the Barcelona Institute of Technology for the Habitat and a set of start-ups.
The financing of the project is yet to be accounted for but one must bear in mind that this future stage of the global network, the “Internet of Things”, is estimated to be on course to have a global value of 14.5bn euros by 2023.
This is a future with technological importance and sources of income, but it also comes with the commitment of sustainability for the reduction of costs and the optimisation of the process.
This is a new jump into the future for Barcelona and one of Europes leading models, 22@Barcelona.
