BNEW will focus on the opportunities of seven key sectors for the new economy

·         Proptech and Health are the two great novelties of the fourth edition of the event, which will focus on the new economic opportunities through the application of new technologies and innovations in key sectors such as real estate or health.

·         The CZFB presents the I Observatory of the New Economy BNEW 2023, a study with the participation of 1,129 professionals that presents revealing data on the relationship of companies and startups with the new economy.

·         The observatory carried out within the framework of the BNEW confirms that 77.5% of the startups interviewed plan to increase their workforce in the next year.

Barcelona, September 27th, 2023.- The Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (CZFB) has presented this morning at a press conference a new edition of the Barcelona New Economy Week (BNEW), which will be held from October 2nd to 5th. The event, which repeats as a stage the unique DFactory Barcelona building, will once again turn Barcelona into the world capital of the new economy.

In its fourth edition, BNEW will bring together more than 350 top speakers who will offer up to 140 hours of content distributed in 100 panels, sessions and debates. The event maintains its hybrid character being able to follow all the content telematically from anywhere in the world, through a state-of-the-art digital platform. Thus, it has a forecast of 12,000 attendees, who will be able to enjoy a complete program of content structured in seven key verticals: Digital Industry, Proptech, Mobility, Talent, Sustainability, Health and Experience.

One of the main novelties are the two new verticals: Proptech and Health, which ratify the innovative nature of the event that continues to adapt to the most current trends, exploring multiple aspects related to new socioeconomic opportunities through the application of new technologies and innovations in key sectors for the economy such as real estate or health.  among others.

As a innovation, also, the panels and activities corresponding to the verticals Digital Industry, Mobility, and Sustainability will be held on October 2nd and 3rd, while the conferences and debates corresponding to Proptech, Health and Talent will take place during the following two days, October 4th and 5th. The only vertical that will take place over the four days and in person will be the BNEW Experience, which seeks that those attending the event know the leisure, cultural and gastronomic offer of the city of Barcelona.

Proof of the hybrid and resilient nature that characterizes BNEW is also the new format chosen for this morning’s press conference, in which augmented reality graphic resources have been used to illustrate the most outstanding figures of this fourth edition, as well as the protagonist sectors of the new economy that encompasses the event.

I Observatory of the New Economy

At the press conference held this morning, the special delegate of the State in the CZFB, Pere Navarro, and the general director of the CZFB, Blanca Sorigué, presented the I Observatory of the New Economy BNEW 2023, a study carried out by the CZFB in order to probe the interests and concerns of the companies and startups participating in the event,  in which a total of 1,129 professionals have participated (79% companies and 21% startups).

In terms of investment, this study reveals that 77.5% of the startups surveyed plan to increase their workforce in the next year. 31.2% of them plan to hire between one and two people, while 25% expect to add between 3 and 5 people to their team and the remaining 21.5% trust that they will be more than 5 people.

Likewise, the Observatory points out that 58.8% of the participating companies will invest up to 100,000 euros in the next year to adapt to the new economy and 12.9% expect to exceed one million euros of investment for this purpose.

Another of the outstanding conclusions of the study is that 61.1% of those interviewed affirm that their companies lead some sustainability initiative and that 16.7% have planned it, while the remaining 12.2% neither do not have it planned.

Regarding the alliances, 60.1% of the people who participated in the study said that their companies collaborate on open innovation issues with other technological agents and/or other companies in the sector; 17.8% plan it, and 15.1% say they would like to, but do not know how to do it. The special delegate of the State in the CZFB, Pere Navarro, has pointed out that “BNEW represents an opportunity for all those companies that are willing to build collaboration ties with other economic agents, as well as for all those people who understand that alliances are fundamental, perhaps not to walk so fast, but to go further. Even more so in terms of innovation and new technologies.”

In this sense, the I Barometer of the New Economy BNEW 2023 reveals that 30.5% of respondents consider that AI and Machine Learning are the technological tools that provide greater value to the development of their company; 27% advocate automation, and 21% prefer Big Data.

Outstanding presence of startups

The BNEW Startup Innovation Hub will have the participation of about 80 emerging companies, which will have a leading role in their corresponding verticals. These startups will be able to network through face-to-face B2B meetings and the BNEW platform with professionals from different economic sectors, industries, companies, administrations and institutions, as well as access specialized knowledge of the sector with free tickets.

All submitted projects will be candidates for the BNEW Best Startup Award 2023, which will be awarded in each vertical. The awards ceremony will take place at a gala dinner that will take place at DFactory Barcelona on Wednesday, October 4th from 7pm.

Blanca Sorigué, general director of the CZFB and BNEW, confirmed that “BNEW will ratify in the fourth edition its positioning as a reference event of the new economy in southern Europe and the Mediterranean, being the meeting point where large and small companies, startups and institutions can discuss the challenges and opportunities of the new economy and present their latest developments. In addition to connecting, networking and establishing collaborative ties between them”.

In this regard, it should be noted that the Barcelona New Economy Week (BNEW) has its fourth edition in 2023, consolidating itself in a reference event that has positioned the city as capital of the 4.0 economy, as confirmed by the 12,368 registered from 107 countries in its last edition in 2022.

To register, the BNEW has a web page with information about the event and a registration link, while in the profiles of X and LinkedIn the CZFB is making known the different speakers and participating companies.