April 22, 2010
New business success formulas will be highlighted at the next innovation forum
The world of technological innovation, investment and entrepreneurship will meet up at Hit Barcelona
The second Hit Barcelona, global technological innovation summit with a unique format that integrates spaces dedicated to knowledge, ideas and business opportunities, will be held in Fira de Barcelona's Montjuïc exhibition centre on the 16th and 17th of June. For two days, it will bring together business leaders, innovators, investors and entrepreneurs to share ideas, promote projects and redefine the keys to business success. HiT Barcelona 2010 is part of BizBarcelona, a platform aimed at promoting various initiatives related to innovation, entrepreneurship, company growth and internationalisation, which is hosted by the city of Barcelona.
The first day will be dedicated to knowledge and will consist of a Plenary Congress, a forum for sharing ideas and discovering the mechanisms that transform a good idea into a solid business, in which the people behind some of the most recent business success stories will explain the keys to their achievements and discuss the main challenges for the future; and the Symposium on Urban Clusters and Parks featuring the urban development expert, Richard Florida, in which the elements that enable territories to create innovation ecosystems to boost business competitiveness will be analysed.
The second day will be dedicated to business opportunities and ideas with the most future. The first block, Ideas & Investment Marketplaces, will focus on more far-reaching economic sectors and will feature experts and companies that operate in the spheres of clean and renewable technologies, telecommunications, information technology, communications media and health and biotechnology sciences; and some of the leading corporate and venture capital investors.
In the second block dedicated to the most promising ideas, the Global Entrepreneurship Competition will present international projects in the early stages selected by a committee of experts as those with the most growth potential. The top 25 business plans will compete for funding and the opportunity to present them to investors at the event.
Major investment potential
After the success of the first edition and the high quality of the projects, the investment world has positioned HiT Barcelona as one of its international events. The list of investment firms that have already confirmed their presence in HiT Barcelona 2010 includes Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers; Telesoft Partners; Pine Brook Road Partners ,Atlas Ventures; Hasso Plättner; Alta Partners; CMEA Capital; and Nauta Capital.
The company acquisition and technology divisions of leading multinationals will also be at HiT Barcelona. Some of them that have shown interest in meeting the creators of the projects present at the show are the pharmaceutical company Novartis; the specialist in energy sustainability Gamesa; the technology firms Intel and Nokia; and the multinational Siemens.
New success formulas
The show features new ways of achieving business success and meeting the challenges of the current panorama faced by entrepreneurs and companies, and the Plenary Congress will be a reliable reflection of this spirit. The list of speakers includes representatives of Foursquare, a location service-based social network application that many experts are calling the next best thing in the field of Social Media.
HiT Barcelona is an initiative of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, the Catalan Generalitat, Barcelona City Council, Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and La Caixa, and is organised by Fira de Barcelona and the Pla Estratègic Metropolità de Barcelona. Last year, 2000 business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs attended the first edition of the event.
BizBarcelona
HiT Barcelona is an event dedicated to technology innovation, investment and the promotion of new projects integrated into Biz Barcelona, a joint project led by the Barcelona City Council, the Catalan Generalitat, the Barcelona chamber of Commerce, the Diputació de Barcelona and La Caixa to position Barcelona as a national and international zone of innovation and entrepreneurship. From this year onwards, the annual Entrepreneur's Day, HITBarcelona, Entrepreneur XXI and Fòrum Tecnio will be held in the same week under the new brand name BiZ Barcelona. The presentation of this project will be made over the next few weeks and other events about innovation and entrepreneurship being held in the city have already expressed interest in forming part of it and joining forces to promote the city's potential.
Barcelona, 22nd of April 2010
Folc Lecha
+34 93 233 3555
flecha@firabcn.es