The Port of Tarragona hosted, on June 2, at the Teatret del Serrallo, the 2nd Metropolitan Innovation Day of the Camp de Tarragona, an event in which the Metropolitan Innovation System of the Camp de Tarragona (SIM) was presented, as well as a program of presentations focused on challenges and opportunities of territorial development and innovation.
2nd Metropolitan Innovation Day of the Camp de Tarragona
The event brought together institutional representatives, innovation ecosystem agents, technology and economic development experts, with the aim of advancing the consolidation of a metropolitan innovation model oriented to knowledge generation, collaboration among actors, and territorial transformation.
Attendees
The Metropolitan Innovation System of the Camp de Tarragona (SIM) is an initiative promoted by the Chair University and Knowledge Region of URV and the Tarragona Provincial Council. Its purpose is to boost innovation and strengthen coordination between administrations, universities, research centers, and businesses, promoting collaboration and the generation of strategic projects with territorial impact.
The Metropolitan Innovation System of the Camp de Tarragona aims to structure a more articulated, collaborative, and efficient innovation ecosystem, allowing the alignment of territorial capabilities with the needs of the productive and social fabric.
It is a metropolitan innovation network, alive and cooperative, that acts as a continuous collective action for the common good. It connects knowledge, research, business, administration, and citizens to improve quality of life, reinforce competitiveness and sustainability of the territory, and consolidate Southern Catalonia as a development engine.
Its main lines of action include strengthening coordination among innovation system agents, knowledge transfer towards applied projects, talent attraction and retention, and promotion of strategic initiatives in areas such as industry, logistics, sustainability, and digitalization.
Presentation of SIM by Jordi Duch, Director of the Chair University and Knowledge Region
SIM “Living innovation forest, cooperative and oriented to territorial impact in Southern Catalonia”
In this initial phase, priority action lines include mapping innovation assets in the territory, consolidating public-private coordination spaces, and developing applied innovation pilot projects.
The Port of Tarragona and SOM-INN PORT have actively participated since April 2025 in the development of the Metropolitan Innovation System of the Camp de Tarragona, contributing to its definition and consolidation as a cooperation space among main ecosystem agents.
This involvement reinforces the positioning of the Port of Tarragona as a reference logistics, industrial, and technological hub, promoting the connection between knowledge, applied innovation, and the generation of new economic development opportunities for the territory.
During the Day, a program of presentations was carried out that addressed different dimensions of innovation, territorial competitiveness, and the construction of collaborative ecosystems:
- From the node to impact: Logistics, territory, and opportunities, by Genoveva Climent, Head of the Commercial and Business Development Department of APT, analyzing opportunities arising from the integration of logistics activity, territorial development, and economic value generation in the metropolitan environment.
- Innovation, engine of progress: Building ecosystems that work, delivered by Esteve Almirall, Professor of the Department of Data, Analytics, Technology, and AI at Esade, explaining key factors for designing and consolidating effective innovation ecosystems, based on collaboration among actors and knowledge transfer.
Esteve Almirall, Professor in the Department of Data, Analytics, Technology, and AI at Esade
- The ants: Imagine, connect, and transform, by Àurea Rodríguez, strategy and innovation expert and Corporate Director of EURECAT, who presented a short film based on her book El liderazgo de las hormigas, addressing leadership and collaborative innovation dynamics using the metaphor of complex organizations. The book and short film pose the essential question: Are we ants trapped in a system controlled by algorithms and oligarch drones, or will we manage to build a decentralized model where innovation and cooperation are the keys to future leadership?
Àurea Rodríguez, strategy and innovation expert and Corporate Director of EURECAT
- From concept to action: The metropolitan innovation system, delivered by Jordi Duch, Director of the Chair University and Knowledge Region at URV, presenting the operational approach of the Metropolitan Innovation System, aimed at structuring coordination among agents and turning strategy into concrete projects.
Speakers of the 2nd Metropolitan Innovation Day of the Camp de Tarragona
The day concluded with a networking space that facilitated exchange among the different participating agents of the territory’s innovation ecosystem.
June 22, 2026
Department of Innovation and Blue Economy