“If Catalonia is not able to improve its innovation in the public and private sector, it can hardly compete to be a region with high income.” Jaume Guardiola, thus defended the usefulness of the initiative for productivity and innovation (IPI) in the presentation act of this think tank This Tuesday. The day has been attended by the general director of the Circle, Miquel Nadal, and the economist and member of the entity’s Board of Directors, Xavier Vives, who will assume the presidency of the IPI.
The initiative for productivity and innovation aims to place Catalonia as one of the leading European regions in these areas by 2030. In addition, it aims to promote the transition to a more efficient, innovative and sustainable productive model to guarantee the welfare state. As Nadal has indicated, the IPI will have the work method think tank. It will also act as action tanksince it will focus on involving both the public and private sector to promote “the collaboration and exchange of ideas between them.”
The plan wants to address the innovation gap that Catalonia has with respect to the rest of Europe, as well as Catalan productivity, which has been seen in decline since 2015, according to the entity. This is because innovation is one of the main productivity engines, which, as Vives highlighted, “is closely related to per capita income, which in turn is the basis of a welfare state.” In this sense, Guardiola has lamented that both Catalonia and Spain between the causes that explain this gap between Catalonia and Spain with the rest of Europe, the circle has identified the following: the dependence on services with low value added, the assignment (and reallocation ) inefficient of capital, and a low investment in research and development.
The IPI will be headed by an advisory council formed by experts from the economic, industrial and academic fields, which will be responsible for marking strategic lines and supervising the development of the initiative. Among the members of this are José Luis Algell (Pear VC), Oriol Aspachs (CaixaBank), Elisenda Bou (entrepreneur), Albert Bravo (Innovation Growth Lab), Clara Campàs (Asabys Partners), Xavier Ferràs (ESADE), Teresa Garcia -Milà (UPF I Barcelona School of Economics), Josep Maria Martorell (Barcelona Supercomputing Center), Núria Mas (IESE), Andreu Mas-Colell (Bist), Pedro Mier (Ametic), Miquel Puig Raposo (Economist), Pau Relat ( Mat Holding), Lluís Torner (ICFO), and Mariona Vicens (CaixaBank). The initiative is funded by the Foundation for Industria and the Santander Bank, and also has a technical secretariat. In addition, it provides for the creation of an institutional council whose representatives will not be known until “April or May”, as Nadal has indicated.
