Additional year of activities to mitigate the effects of COVID 19 on traditional enterprises has jet again led us to Barcelona for third Interregional Learning Event. Partners have gathered to present their final proposed policy changes and to visit different support ecosystems for (digital) development & fostering innovation of SMEs in post COVID-19 times.
Between 28th and 29th June TRINNO project partners and their stakeholders gathered for third Interregional Learning Event. On first day, we had the opportunity to visit Ca I’Alier and BIT Habitat. We got acquainted with Grants for Innovation that BIT Habitat is offering, the Urban Challenges initiative and the recently launched Urban Innovation Laboratory, presented by Isabella Longo (BIT Habitat projects director). Our first stop included a walk around Ca I’Alier, an old, rehabilitated textile factory from 19th century, now an intelligent building part of the 22@ District. The BCN district of innovation. We also got the opportunity to listen to good practices and lessons learned from Alfons Cornella (Institute Next), that has helped dozens of SMEs to improve their innovation processes.
Afternoon visit led us to Citilab, a centre that, for 2 decades, acts as a Citizen Laboratory, working under Living Lab concept to democratize social and digital innovation. Citilab is involving citizens, entrepreneurs and start-ups. We were introduced by Javier González, Managing Director, and Roser Santamaria, Project Manager. We had the opportunity to listen to first-hand experience of entrepreneurs, Júlia Micaló, Founder & CEO of LocalProductos, and Hector Zapato (Funder & CEO Tetravol), tenant of Citilab that has adopted digitalization as a tool for their increased competitiveness.
On second day TRINNO’s workshop and steering group meeting took place at “Barcelona Science Park”. Interregional workshop was dedicated to policy change proposals presentations. We also learned from the experiences of Creacció, the city of Vic local development agency, presented by Núria Macià, (Creacció Director) and discovered the IE SMARTY project, presented by Sergio Martinez (Generalitat de Catalunya).
All project regions presented their final proposals for policy change and expected next activities, together with involved stakeholders. Project will conclude at the end of September 2022, stay tune for final results.
