Barcelona, first city in the world to implement Science and Technology Diplomacy strategy

More than 150 professionals from the worlds of science, politics and diplomacy have submitted a manifesto to make Barcelona the first city in the world to implement a Science and Technology Diplomacy strategy. The ‘SciTech DiploHub’ project seeks to position Barcelona as a benchmark in the field of science and technology and make it sustainable economically in the middle term.

In addition to consolidating the Catalan capital as an influential geopolitical player, the initiative seeks to promote dialog between science, business and society to design a joint strategy. Plus, a network will be created so that all of the Catalan scientists working abroad can cooperate internationally.

According to IrsiCaixa Director Bonaventura Clotet, "scientific diplomacy will allow us to raise funds to attract Catalan and foreign researchers in order to bring innovation to patients."

This civil initiative is supported by Biocat, Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BCN-CNS), Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), Barcelona Tech City and ACCIÓ, among others. Thus, in addition to tackling collaboration in science and technology, it will also cover issues like global health, refugee crises and the impact of artificial intelligence on human rights.

Cities, center of influence

Cities, which are becoming increasingly powerful compared to nations, will play a key role in the future. According to Hannah Abdullah, a researcher at the Barcelona Center for International Affairs (CIDOB), “70% of the global population will live in urban areas by 2050 and that will transform cities, above all in terms of influence and generating talent and innovation."

This is why, according to President of La Salle Technova Innovation Park Josep Miquel Piqué, new jobs will be created and destroyed easily in the future.