BNEW, the most disruptive B2B hybrid event of the 4.0 economy to celebre its more face-to-face edition

• From October 3rd to 6th, Barcelona will become the new capital of the new economy, thanks to its 180 hours of content, divided in 130 conferences, sessions, and debates, expecting 12,000 attendees.

• Organized by the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona, BNEW 2022 will be covering 7 verticals: Digital Industry, Invest, Sustainability, Mobility, Real Estate, Talent, and Experience.

• The event will take place on-site in the DFactory Barcelona building seeking to create networking opportunities, although it will also be possible to follow it through an online platform.

Barcelona, September 28, 2022.- El Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (CZFB) presented this morning in a press conference the third edition of the Barcelona New Economy Week (BNEW) taking place in the emblematic DFactory building. From October 3rd to 6th, this event will transform Barcelona again into the global capital for the new economy.

For four days, the BNEW will gather 600 speakers, who will offer up to 180 hours of content distributed in 130 panels, sessions, and debates. Moreover, in this event there will be more that 12,000 professional attendees from 100 different countries. This successful format encompasses seven main sectors key to this global transformation: Digital Industry, Invest, Sustainability, Mobility, Real Estate, Talent y Experience.

The media have received a special welcome from Peper, a humanoid robot from the company Alisys, which has offices in DFactory, the ecosystem fostering the promotion and development of the digital industry in Europe, as an example of the state-of-the-art advances taking place in this building. Following this, both Pere Navarro, Special State Delegate in the CZFB, and Blanca Sorigué, CEO at CZFB, have addressed the present media to explain the importance of commissioning this event as the organization enabling the new economy 4.0. Furthermore, they presented the different verticals and contents that will be addressed during these days. This presentation has also been followed by many means of communication through streaming thanks to the online platform provided by the CZFB.

As Pere Navarro explained, “BNEW’s aim is bringing together all the industry of the new economy under a same banner for creating together the roadmap for the future”. The Delegate has also affirmed that “the CZFB is working to drive the transformation of the productive framework and reinforcing the projection of Barcelona and its metropolitan area on an international level”.

Blanca Sorigué, for its part, has stated that “the 7 selected verticals have also been approached in a transversal way; thereby we can find topics such as sustainability, digitalization or equality in any of them”. She has also emphasized that “these panels have been specifically selected according to the most current trends and exploring multiple aspects related to new opportunities and the rapid economic and technological transformations we are experiencing”.

The 7 verticals of the new economy

In BNEW Digital Industry the possibilities offered by the digital world will be addressed, as well as the metaverse in the smart manufacturing model, cybersecurity in Industry 4.0 and the key role of women in technology. One of the innovations in this edition will be the study of new investment trends around the world, as part of the vertical called BNEW Invest, emphasizing on the risks and opportunities of the current economy and the investment in renewable energies or cryptocurrencies.

BNEW Real Estate will bring together the main players and companies under themes related to commercial real estate, sustainable architecture, smart cities and Proptech. In the BNEW Mobility vertical, the private and public sectors will meet to showcase a series of solutions and proposals in terms of mobility, study the new challenges regarding the future of the railway, Smart ports and the designation of green aircraft.

Although sustainability will be transversal through its presence in the rest of the verticals, the CZFB is committed to achieving the SDGs set out in the 2030 Agenda through BNEW Sustainability, addressing issues related to sustainable consumption, the importance of the circular economy and waste management in important sectors such as fashion and food. The panel called BNEW Talent is another of the most interesting verticals, as it will focus on the major challenges facing the sector, such as education, equality and the new profiles being created by Industry 4.0.

Among the speakers who will participate in these panels are Daniel Setó, CEO of ALISYS; Maria Camila Moreno, Executive Director of the Free Trade Zones Association of the Americas (AZFA); Javier Burón, Head of Housing at the City Council of Barcelona; Sara Aagensen, Secretary of State for Energy at the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge; Josefina Lindblom, Policy Officer at the European Commission; Raül Blanco, Secretary General for Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism; and Conxita Font, Head of European Funds at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the EU.

One vertical that stands out from the rest will be BNEW Experience, focused on showcasing the leisure and cultural offerings of Barcelona. There will be culinary events, with wine, chocolate and gin tastings organised by Damm, Fever-Tree, Barcelona Chocolate Tours, Bodega Miquel Jané, El Bandarra, Fliwer, Boqueria 180, Penedès Denominació d’Orígen, Xerigots; showcookings hosted by prominent chefs such as Nuria Gironés of Ca’l Isidre; Paco Pérez of the Miramar Restaurant; Hideki Matsuhisa of the Koy Shunca Restaurant; and Romain Fornell of the Koy Shunca Restaurant; Hideki Matsuhisa of the restaurant Koy Shunca; and Romain Fornell of the restaurant Caelis; technological and immersive experiences with Cubiart, Alisys, Innovae or Pintura Mural Barcelona; or even sculpture, painting and fashion exhibitions by LAB Barcelona + B, Taller d’Art, Areny, Vito Thiel.

The BNEW will also organise the Inspirational Speakers sessions, where personalities such as Josef Ajram, stock market and market specialist, or Laura Rojas-Marcos, doctor in psychology, will talk about their own experiences in the sector. Moreover, on October 5th, the Start-up Best Innovation Awards will be presented as part of the BNEW StartUp Innovation Hub, which will recognize the work of the most disruptive start-ups in each of the verticals, and where the 50 candidates will have the opportunity to present their project to an audience of investors, companies, clients, potential partners and specialized audiences from all over the world.

DFactory, the cutting-edge venue of the CZFB

After two years marked by the restrictions due to the pandemic, this year’s CZFB will be held on-site. The modern DFactory building will be the main venue for all the conferences, panels, and experiences. This state-of-the-art centre also serves as a tool to drive the transformation of the Spanish productive framework and supports companies during their digitization process, thereby promoting the creation of an ecosystem for attracting talent, technology, and investment. In fact, in its short lifetime, it already has an occupancy rate of 50%, with 30 companies and 500 people working in a unique 17,000 square metre building.

However, the CZFB is still opting for a hybrid event thanks to its digital platform where all the activities can be followed from anywhere in the world, both live and recorded.

In order to register, the BNEW has an official website with information about the event, whereas on its  Twitter and Linkedin profiles, the CZFB is announcing the participating speakers and companies.