Sant Cugat Town Council, Sant Cugat Empresarial and thirty companies and academic, technological and research institutions, including La Salle-URL, sign the Sant Cugat Innovation Alliance, an agreement that was born with the aim of promoting an interconnected ecosystem to turn Sant Cugat into a benchmark for innovation and entrepreneurship at national and international level. As the Mayor of Sant Cugat, Josep Maria Vallès, declares: "The goal is to create an interconnected ecosystem that promotes innovation, promotes talent and attracts investment. At the same time, it seeks to generate a positive impact on the quality of life and the economic and sustainable development of the city".
La Salle Campus Barcelona, a founding member of the Universitat Ramon Llull, is one of the institutions that signed the pact aware of the importance of establishing strategic alliances between the public administration, the business fabric, research centers, universities and others relevant actors to promote innovation. In the words of the general director of the campus, Josep M. Santos: "Innovation is one of the backbones of La Salle-URL and underpins all our university, training, research and knowledge transfer activity. We are connected to the environment through the understanding between industry, academia and public institutions, based on the triple helix innovation model. We want to be a key agent in this alliance that we are now starting for the benefit of Sant Cugat as a pole of innovation and in favor of the development of local communities".
The signing ceremony, which took place in the Plenary Hall of Sant Cugat Town Hall, was conducted by a virtual presenter created by the technology company GFT and included the interventions of the mayor, Josep Maria Vallès; the Councilor for Business, Innovation and Internationalization, Albert Salarich; the President of Sant Cugat Empresarial, Eduard Torres; and the Executive President of the La Salle Campus Barcelona innovation park, La Salle Technova, and Doctor in Innovation Ecosystems from the Universitat Ramon Llull, Josep M. Piqué.
The 32 founding members have signed the pact through a technological system that has allowed it to be monitored in real time. On the other hand, the name with which the alliance has been announced at national and international level is Barcelona Innovation Valley Alliance (BIVA), with the motto 'Sant Cugat is BIVA'.