The metropolitan area of Barcelona is committed to strengthening social cohesiveness by establishing itself as a leading territory in the fields of economic, technological and social innovation.
The plan is for local authorities to act along with universities, companies, centres of excellence and other economic and social stakeholders to establish cutting-edge, specialised innovation centres that function as spaces of creativity. These initiatives will be founded on the exchange of good practices in innovation in the field of economic promotion and on the training of "innovation agents" who will work to spearhead the projects.
In order to help make these new projects a reality, financing has been provided via an investment fund under the name "1st opportunity". This fund will help create prototypes and carry out pilot programmes in fields such as sustainable construction, the development of technological tools and transport.
The initiatives in this field also seek to attract young talent to the area. That is why there is a programme to provide guidance and mentorship to young entrepreneurs. MetròpolisFPLab is intended to act as a nexus of companies and vocational training centres and to help stimulate entrepreneurship, teamwork, experimentation and the growth of key competences. Along the same lines, metropolitan Innobús works to foster new challenges and projects, in this case among university students and graduates under 40 who are unemployed.