Barcelona is consolidating itself as a scientific and innovation hub on an international scale. The city will host another edition of the City and Science Biennial (from 18 to 23 November), which will once again insist on frontier research, the latest and most disruptive. A commitment that connects with the moment that the Catalan capital is experiencing, which has already become  a global benchmark in science, technology and innovation.

Quantum mechanics will be the thematic axis of the 2025 Biennial, as a paradigmatic example of cutting-edge research and the set of social and ethical challenges it poses. The choice of this area symbolizes the desire to place the most modern research at the center of the citizen agenda.

European scientific leadership

Barcelona is already an internationally recognised scientific and innovation hub. This has been made clear, for example, with the latest grants from the European Research Council (ERC), with the award of seven Starting and Consolidator grants to research staff from some Barcelona centres in different disciplines such as astrophysics, artificial intelligence, biomedicine and digital humanities. A recognition that positions the city as a European benchmark in frontier research.

Likewise, the Catalan capital is showing sustained growth in strategic sectors. In the last year it has incorporated more than 7.400 professionals from the ICT and digital sector, qualified jobs, and has reached a historical maximum of women representing 31,6% of the sector, increasingly specialising in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and cybersecurity. In parallel, the fields of biomedicine and biotechnology continue to consolidate Barcelona as a benchmark, with a concentration of more than 1.500 Catalan companies and a total of 93 scientific institutions, becoming a benchmark in European scientific research.

This drive is supported and contemplated within institutional programs such as the Strategic Plan for Science and Innovation or the Ciutadella Knowledge Hub, which seek to integrate research and innovation into the economic, cultural and social development of the city, while generating new opportunities and diversifying the economy.

The Biennial wants to be the speaker of this collective drive, bringing frontier research closer to the public and projecting Barcelona as a city of science on the international stage.