“The District 4.0 aims to be a global technological attraction hub”

• Pere Navarro participates in the Barcelona Tribuna, a colloquium organised by Amics del País, and highlights the key role that Barcelona plays as an international hub of industrial innovation, thanks to initiatives like District 4.0 driven by the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona.

• The special delegate of the State in the CZFB assures that “Barcelona has fertile ground that makes this commitment work and explains why it happens here and not elsewhere in the world.”

• The Zona Franca de Barcelona is expanding the DFactory, the neurological centre of District 4.0, which by the end of 2026 will have 60.000 m² of space dedicated to Industry 4.0 and is expected to reach up to 100.000 m².

Barcelona, 26 May 2025.- The special delegate of the State in the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (CZFB), Pere Navarro, was the main speaker yesterday evening at the Barcelona Tribuna, an initiative of the Societat Econòmica Barcelonesa d’Amics del País, a forum for plural and international opinion and debate that periodically brings together prominent figures from the economic, social, cultural, and scientific sectors. During the event, which was presented by the president of Amics del País, Miquel Roca Junyent, and moderated by La Vanguardia journalist Gabriel Trindade, Navarro presented District 4.0, one of the key initiatives of the CZFB to promote the digital transformation of industry. “We used to be an industrial estate and now we are District 4.0 because we want to evolve. A district in a city is the place where things happen but which are intimately linked to the overall functioning of the city, and in the case of Barcelona to the metropolitan environment and much beyond. That is why we wanted to transform this industrial estate into District 4.0”, stated the special delegate of the State in the CZFB. Pere Navarro added that “District 4.0 wants to be a global technological attraction hub because the companies that are there and those that will be, are related to new industry and new logistics. And we want to be a global benchmark, not just the District 4.0 of Barcelona but of the world.”

District 4.0 is transforming the activity of the Zona Franca de Barcelona with highly innovative and technological projects, attracting leading international and national companies, generating new jobs, capturing and retaining top-tier talent, and creating a conducive environment for collaboration and the development of innovative solutions. “This doesn’t happen in Barcelona by chance. We have fertile ground that makes this commitment work and explains why it happens here and not elsewhere in the world. Barcelona is the second city in the world for attracting talent; people want to come here to work and live. It is the fourth city in the world – the first that is not a capital – in terms of the number of congresses, we are the fifth digital hub in the European Union, we have many prestigious research centres, institutes, a culture, a city history… which makes all this emerge in the metropolitan area of Barcelona” stated Pere Navarro.

The neuralgic centre of District 4.0 is the DFactory Barcelona, the international reference ecosystem for Industry 4.0 driven by the CZFB. It currently has 40 companies related to Industry 4.0 and is at 90% of its capacity. “The DFactory is the heart of District 4.0; it is the symbol of the place where we decided in 2019 to create the landing strip for Industry 4.0. At this moment, we have 40 companies installed in robotics, sensors, AI, IoT, 3D printing, Blockchain, virtual and augmented reality, nanotechnology… And they all use the same language because they are collaborating with each other and generating joint projects,” commented Pere Navarro. At the same time, he assured that “many of the companies we have at the DFactory are growing a lot and need to occupy more space. That is why we are already tendering to expand the current space – 17.000 m² – to reach almost 60.000 m² with open and transparent spaces that facilitate collaboration, manufacturing areas, digital centres, and laboratories. We also want to incorporate other activities related to the world of health or agriculture.”

The CZFB wants the philosophy of DFactory Barcelona to permeate all the activities of District 4.0, which already has very relevant projects, such as the reindustrialisation carried out with the incorporation of Ebro and the Chinese manufacturer Chery, not to mention the connected mobility laboratory and the 4.0 logistics and 3D printing incubators driven by the CZFB.

All this has led the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona to become a world reference, as demonstrated by the recognition it has recently received. by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Pere Navarro explained that “we have received this certification from the OECD, which accredits us as the first free zone in the world to present the highest standards of security and transparency in international trade. Worldwide, there are free zones that do not have the best image because often they have been synonymous with a lack of transparency or illicit trade, and that is why an international body, such as the OECD, decided to create a certification to identify those free zones that are an example of transparency, democratic governance, lawful trade, and good practices.” Navarro also concluded by saying that “we all know who the first people were to land on the moon, but no one remembers the second. We have been the first in the world to receive this OECD certification and we feel very proud.”