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The i2CAT research centre has announced the relocation of its corporate headquarters to Tech Barcelona‘s Pier01, situated in the Palau de Mar, a landmark building on Barcelona’s seafront that houses one of the most dynamic technological and digital hubs in Europe. After 20 years at the Campus Nord of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), the move is part of i2CAT’s strategy to establish new synergies within the digital ecosystem.
This change will result in a 30% increase in the centre’s current facilities, which will exceed 2,000 square metres. Part of these new spaces will become laboratories for research and innovation in advanced digital technologies, including 6G, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum technologies, and satellite communications.
The new i2CAT facilities will be distributed across the basement, first, and third floors of the Pier01 building. They will feature open and flexible office spaces, adapted for collaboration and innovation, as well as new high-performance laboratories for technological research. Additionally, a multipurpose room will be available for hosting events and workshops. The Catalan architectural firm VIVIM Studio will carry out the interior refurbishment project, which will answer to the criteria of sustainability, energy efficiency, and accessibility.
Recreation of the future offices of i2CAT. VIVIM Studio
The relocation was approved last January by the centre’s board of trustees, chaired by Albert Dalmau, Minister of the Presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya. The works will begin this June, and i2CAT is expected to open its new headquarters at the end of 2025. This Friday, the Secretary for Telecommunications and Digital Transformation of the Government of Catalonia, Albert Tort, the director of i2CAT, Sergi Figuerola, and the Port of Barcelona’s Deputy Director General for Organisation and Internal Resources, Catalina Grimalt, visited the new headquarters just before the start of the adaptation works, accompanied by the CEO of Tech Barcelona, Miquel Martí.
From left to right: the Managing Director of i2CAT, Joan Manel Martin; the CEO of Tech Barcelona, Miquel Martí; the Secretary for Telecommunications and Digital Transformation of the Government of Catalonia, Albert Tort; the director of i2CAT, Sergi Figuerola, and the Port of Barcelona’s Deputy Director General for Organisation and Internal Resources, Catalina Grimalt. Photo: i2CAT
The secretary, Albert Tort, said: “The move of i2CAT to Pier01 is a key step in the Catalan Government’s strategy to strengthen the country’s digital ecosystem. This new headquarters consolidates the presence of a strategic player in the technological heart of Barcelona and creates the optimal conditions to attract talent, promote applied research and foster collaborative innovation”. Furthermore, “i2CAT is a key player in making Catalonia’s digital transformation a reality. With this new headquarters, the centre gains the capacity to apply innovation to the great social, economic and technological challenges we face as a region”, said Tort.
“With this change of headquarters, i2CAT begins a new stage that will allow us to consolidate the growth of the organisation, expand and improve our laboratories and research and innovation spaces, and provide all the workers of the organisation with modern spaces adapted to their needs, with collaborative and co-creation environments. And all of this while strengthening our connection with the city’s digital and entrepreneurial ecosystem,” explains the centre’s director, Sergi Figuerola, PhD.
Integration in the Tech Barcelona ecosystem
The move of i2CAT’s headquarters reinforces the strategic alliance with Tech Barcelona, a private non-profit association that, with 1,500 members and 110 partners, promotes one of the most potent digital and technological ecosystems in Europe. Pier01, Tech Barcelona’s headquarters since 2016, is home to nearly 90 companies and organisations from the technology ecosystem, including startups, technology hubs of major international corporations, investment vehicles and institutions such as ACCIÓ and Mobile World Capital Barcelona. Currently, nearly 1,000 professionals work in its facilities, creating an ideal environment for knowledge transfer and collaborative innovation.
The Palau de Mar, built initially as a port warehouse in 1890 and refurbished for the 1992 Olympic Games, is today an emblematic building on Barcelona’s seafront and a benchmark space in the technological sphere in southern Europe, as it is home to a significant part of the entrepreneurial and digital ecosystem in the city of Barcelona.
At the same time, it is an environment situated in the vicinity of the Ciutadella del Coneixement. This project aims to transform the Ciutadella Park and its surroundings into a leading node of knowledge, dissemination, research, and innovation in Europe. Barcelona City Council leads the initiative in collaboration with the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Ministry of Science and Universities, the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the Universitat de Barcelona, the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, the Pasqual Maragall Foundation and the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology.
According to the CEO of Tech Barcelona, Miquel Martí, “the arrival of i2CAT at Pier01 of Tech Barcelona is one of the major milestones of the year for the technological and digital ecosystem of the city. It is a clear sign of commitment to growth to promote a collaborative model of innovation, which connects and brings, this time also physically, research closer to the world of entrepreneurship and business, transforming knowledge into solutions with real impact on the economy and people’s lives. Its integration into Pier01 will favour this interaction between researchers, startups, corporations and public and private institutions, generating an optimal environment for the transfer of technology and applied innovation”.
“The new i2CAT headquarters will become a pole of attraction for digital research and technological talent, and will consolidate the presence of our centre in the heart of digital innovation in Barcelona, where we collaborate strategically with Tech Barcelona to generate impact”, concludes Sergi Figuerola.
