The mayor of València, María José Catalá, has announced that the new innovation strategy, the València Innovation Capital, will generate an investment in the next three years of more than 100 million euros, thanks to the collaboration between public administrations and private companies.
The municipal innovation strategy “will promote more than 50 programs from which more than a thousand emerging companies will benefit. Our objective is to generate quality and highly qualified employment in Valencia. Thanks to the fact that our commitment is firm and credible, the city once again generates trust and expectations,” stated the mayor during the visit to the new La Harinera del Grau complex. There it has announced that the space will be the headquarters of two of the seven European consortiums of digital infrastructures promoted by the European Union: the European Consortium of Digital Infrastructures Digital Twins and Citiverso and the European Consortium of Digital Infrastructures on Imaging for Cancer Treatment, the infrastructure that will become the European Digital Health Consortium.
For the mayor, the innovation strategy of the Valencia City Council is framed within the urban strategy of Innovative Valencia, “a comprehensive strategy that aspires to transform our city, our economy and our society through innovation and knowledge. Valencia Innovation Capital will highlight the city’s innovative district, formed by the complex of La Marina, the university area and the complex formed by La Harinera and Las Naves. “A real example, furthermore, of public-private collaboration, in which the City Council will work hand in hand with the innovative ecosystem, represented by Startup València, and all the agents that make it up,” said Catalá.
In this sense, this collaboration will be divided into seven strategic areas: Sustainability, Artificial Intelligence, Health and Wellbeing, Video game and entertainment industry, Diversity, Smart city and GovTech, and Innovative and sustainable tourism.
Another of the announcements made by the mayor is going to be “an unprecedented regulatory novelty, Urban Sandbox, an instrument highly demanded by the sector itself,” Catalá detailed. València will be one of the first cities in the world to offer public spaces and events so that the innovative ecosystem can test its innovation projects in real environments, so that its products successfully reach the market.
Designed with the aim of being a catalyst for one of the ecosystems of innovation and emerging companies, together with Las Naves it brings together 10,000 square meters that will be the innovative epicenter of València. The Valencian Association of Startups will be located on the ground floor of La Harinera, an entity that will soon open its The Terminal in the port of Valencia, for which it has already announced its director, Paloma Mas. In addition, the venue will welcome entities and projects that have been beneficiaries of the Pre-seed program and will house the València Game City and Cybersecurity programs.
The Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM) program is installed on the first floor, which has left Munich for the first time to begin its expansion throughout Europe. Invest in Valencia has also been installed, the office of the Valencia City Council and the Chamber of Commerce to attract investments, which will manage the Softlanding programs for international companies that come to Valencia and contact, through this building, both the agents of the City Council as well as with the local ecosystem.
Also the Asian Development Bank, which plans to strengthen its IT capabilities in Europe, will temporarily locate specialized resources in La Harinera within the InnEurope Hub in order to connect with the European innovation ecosystem. In addition, the space will house Valencia Game City, an innovation program that seeks to reinforce leadership in the video game and eSports industry of the Valencian Community.