The Olympic Stadium will be home to a 1,100 m2 incubation facility, and become the first step towards completing a sports and technology hub in Barcelona
The adaptation work, which will begin in the second half of 2022, has a budget of nearly €2.8 million
The incubator will be launched in 2023, at the end of the first quarter, and it will enable its users to have a privileged relationship with the surrounding sports ecosystem
This February, Barcelona de Serveis Municipals (B:SM) will begin a tender process for adapting the areas of the Olympic Stadium that will be home to the city's first sports start-up incubator, turning the Olympic Ring into an innovation hub for sports and technology.
The project, promoted by B:SM with the collaboration of the Barcelona Institute of Sports and Barcelona Activa, will be located in the former office area located on the southern side of the Olympic Stadium. With a budget of €2.8 million, the space will have a constructed surface area of 1,100 m2 and, among other things, it will be home to a large pre-incubation facility and up to twelve interconnecting work modules. It will also have meeting rooms and other communal spaces for participating companies and entrepreneurs.
The project also includes the adaptation of a 400 m2 outdoors relaxation area. It is located just in front of the offices, and is conceived to help create synergies among the various companies and enable the organisation of outdoor get-togethers and co-creation activities.
The work is scheduled to start during the second half of this year, and finish at the end of the first quarter of 2023. The future management model will be defined during this period.
The physical transformation of the space: the first step towards structuring the Barcelona Sports Hub
The Olympic Ring technological incubator will be the first facility to form part of the Barcelona Sports Hub. The Barcelona Sports Hub is a joint Barcelona Institute of Sports and Barcelona City Council initiative, which aims to provide support for sport as a key area for innovation and one of the city's emerging economic sectors.
The overall objective of the project is to make Barcelona an international benchmark for the exchange of knowledge, talent, resources and innovation skills in the world of technology and sport. The Barcelona Sports Hub will be made up of large corporations, institutions, start-ups and other technological stakeholders that develop projects for the transformation and improvement of the management and practice of sport, including projects related to eSports. With a total budget of €3 million, the hub will be maintained on a digital platform. However, in the future, it is foreseen for it to have physical head offices at the Palau Municipal d’Esports.
The Olympic Ring and Montjuïc: a strategic environment for sports innovation
The Olympic Stadium incubator aims to promote and support the creation of innovative businesses, fostering growth and facilitating the positioning of companies in the city’s business network.
Among other services, it will offer company support and acceleration programmes. It may also act as the promoter of activities in the surrounding sports facilities.
The Olympic Ring offers a strategic environment linked to the practice of sport at a local, national and international level. The companies installed in the incubator will be able to learn and work alongside the sporting events that take place at this privileged location (83 in 2019, before the start of the pandemic).
Furthermore, they will be able to use the Olympic Stadium's facilities to carry out studies, sports tests and experiments, or even hold informative activities and presentations.
They will also be working in an environment where there are major facilities linked to sport, including the Palau Sant Jordi, the National Institute of Physical Education of Catalonia (INEFC), the Olympic Museum and the Piscines Picornell swimming pools, among other sports installations located in Montjuïc.
