The Marina of Valencia became something else when the America’s Cup sailboats began to sail its waters. Then, it was the Formula One cars, and when the big events faded away in times of corruption and economic crisis, the ships that remained there found other tenants. La Marina ended up becoming the reference entrepreneurial space in València, with the undeniable boost given to it by Lanzadera, Juan Roig’s business accelerator since 2013, together with its annexed EDEM study center or the Angels investment vehicle, also with its own office. , which together make up the so-called Business Navy.
Opposite, waters through, Innsomnia since 2016, as well as the Telefónica Tech cybersecurity center, the strategic analysis and data management consultancy Zeus or the headquarters of the Valencia biotechnology hub. In a few months, this space will be joined by the Valencia Innovation District by opening the doors of the old maritime station now converted into The Terminal and, soon, the Marina de Empresas will expand next to the Atarazanas, while the recently inaugurated Harinera is underway just a kilometer away.
It is the landscape of the entrepreneurial Navy, a consolidated model that the Generalitat Valenciana advocates for replicating in the other Valencian capitals. According to sources from the Department of Innovation, the aim is to provide “added value” to attract companies and investment, following the Valencia model. The idea is to replicate this business concentration based on technological innovation in the ports of Castellón and Alicante, promoting each of their specialties.
Thus, there is interest in promoting the aerospace cluster based on the experience already had with the Elche-based PLD Space. “We have drone companies, remote control companies, etc., very interesting firms that we can attract to create synergies in these places and thus attract talent to develop these accessory technologies,” explains Jerónimo Mora, regional secretary of Innovation.
In Alicante the model would be based in its port, for example, in the old Amaro warehouses, where Mora explains that work is being done to implement Telefónica’s Campus 42. A project that the technology company already presented in Alicante during the pandemic and that the then government of Ximo Puig endowed with three million euros and even presented its own website, now inactive.
The current Valencian government takes up the idea and is committed to implementing this programming academy in Alicante, as Mora explains, who assures that “we are in the initial steps, but we are moving forward to ensure that we have that innovative 42nd campus in the port.” , he maintains. This is where the regional secretary insists on the importance of public-private collaboration, since “the Administration alone cannot do it, but with the help of the private muscle, co-participating in the initiatives, it is possible,” he defends.
It will not be the only training center that the port area of ??Alicante will have, since recently the Alicante Chamber of Commerce and the CEU Cardenal Herrera University presented the CEU Chamber Campus, a training project that will also be located in the port, in the old Panoramis cinemas and now business center. The project has public investment, since of the budget, more than three million euros, half is contributed by the Generalitat Valenciana.
These spaces are joined by the Digital District, the main headquarters of the Ciudad de la Luz film studios, which the Department headed by Nuria Montes seeks to turn into “something more” than a coworking space rental service. From the Project Society for Digital Transformation they work to attract internationalization projects and attract companies that provide added value to those technological hubs that the Generalitat Valenciana has planned in the ports of Alicante, València and Castellón. “We want to build a space where companies want to be,” explains Jerónimo Mora.
In Castellón, the Consell walks hand in hand with the Association of Technological Companies of Castellón (Xarxatec), who recently signed an agreement with ValgrAI, a foundation supported by the Generalitat Valenciana and the Department of Education, Universities and Employment, to promote the expansion of technology companies through cooperation between the different agents of the ecosystem and the development of qualified talent in the field of artificial intelligence.
The Consell is working on an agreement that will enable a space for the Castellón hub, in which research within the framework of the ceramic cluster and green energy will have a “determining” role.
