A delegation from the Government of Catalonia and the Port of Barcelona is travelling to Canada this week in order to foster joint projects and partnerships with the powerful blue economy sector based in the province of Quebec and on Canada’s east coast. The members of the delegation of the Government of Catalonia are the Secretary for Mobility and Infrastructure, Marc Sanglas; the government’s Director General for Ports, Annabel Moreno, and the Director General for Maritime Policy and Sustainable Fisheries, Sergi Tudela.

The schedule for the delegation is based on the recently renewed bilateral collaboration agreement with Quebec, which fulfils one of the key areas of Catalonia’s Maritime Strategy – strengthening relations in the field of maritime policy. As a result, the trip will focus on areas including sustainable fishing and coastal management, with representatives from the oceanographic institute of Catalonia (ICATMAR) and the R&D&I maritime network (BlueNetCat), as part of Catalonia’s Maritime Agenda and the country’s 2023-2026 Maritime Strategy.

Meanwhile, the Port of Barcelona’s delegation is made up of its president, Lluís Salvadó; the director of Innovation and Business Strategy, Emma Cobos; the director of Communication, Núria Burguera, and the head of the President’s Office, Agustí Filomeno. Carles Anglada, the director of World Trade Center Barcelona, the company responsible for the management of the Sant Bertran facility where the future BlueTechPort will be located, is also participating.

This trip, organised by the Quebec Office in Catalonia, takes place after the agreement reached between the Port of Barcelona and Novarium, the Quebec-based innovation campus dedicated to the blue economy, which was signed on 9 November. The purpose of the agreement is to undertake joint projects and to enable start-ups supported by Novarium to access the Blue Sandbox that the Catalan port provides within the BlueTechPort project in order to perform tests there.

Visits to companies and institutions

Today, the Catalan delegation will visit the Port of Halifax (Nova Scotia) and its innovation centre, The Pier, which focuses on developing disruptive solutions for the logistics chain. It will then move on to the Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE), which is home to around sixty companies working on maritime technology.

On Tuesday, the delegation will travel to Montreal, which is considered the international capital of artificial intelligence (AI) applied to the blue economy. It will visit its port and its port-city, which has a Port Center – an information centre like the one that the Port of Barcelona wants to open in the Portal de la Pau building after the restoration work there has been completed.

In Montreal, the delegation will also visit Investment Quebec (IQ), the government agency focusing on encouraging foreign investment, the Innovation Centre of the technology services company CGI; MT Lab, the incubator for start-ups and tourism, culture and entertainment projects, and the companies SAF, SIMCO, Enerkem, Premier Tech and Dimonoff. The Generalitat delegation will also have a working lunch with the Government of Quebec, which will also be attended by the Deputy Minister for International Relations, Alain Sans, and the Assistant Deputy Minister for Europe, Indo-Pacific and Institutional Affairs, Elisa Valentin.

On Thursday 13 June, the delegation from the Port of Barcelona and the Government of Catalonia will visit Rimouski (Quebec), where Novarium, the blue economy innovation campus dedicated to generating synergies between entrepreneurs, research centres, investors and industry in the region, is based. The town is also home to the Institut des Sciences de la Mer de Rimouski (ISMER), a leader in training and research on marine ecosystems and climate change, the impacts of human activity on ecosystems, the development of marine bioresources, marine geology and natural hazards.

On Friday morning, Marc Sanglas and Sergi Tudela will meet representatives of the Government of Quebec. They will first meet the Minister for Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Pascal Couillard