Eduard Martín Lineros, Head of Innovation, the Knowledge Society and ICT Arquitecture at the City Council of Barcelona, and IESE professor Joaquim Vilà last Friday presented an innovation plan for the city, within the context of the program entitled “Translating creativity and innovation into reality.” It is thanks to this project, which was developed using Professor Vilà’s innovation model, that Barcelona received the iCapital Prize for European Capital of Innovation.
On March 11, the European Commission announced that Barcelona was the winner of the European Capital of Innovation Prize, “thanks to its implementation of new technologies intended to bring the city closer to its citizens,” according to European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. An independent jury decides on the winner from among the top major European cities that are promoting innovation and quality of life.
Barcelona’s City Council in September 2011 created a project that uses new technologies to strengthen economic growth and improve the wellbeing of its citizens. The project’s subdivisions include initiatives to promote public information, energy and mobility, sustainability, social innovation, the creation of alliances between universities and public and private research centers as well as the improvement of services.
According to the city council, “innovation and development of ICT is one of the city’s strategic focus points. In fact, the city’s urban transformation depends on the practical application of this model.”
Professor Joaquim Vilà
Joaquim Vilà is a professor in the Department of Strategic Management at IESE, and an expert in innovation. Vilà holds a PhD in Strategic Management from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He has worked as a researcher at Reginald Jones Center for Management Policy, Strategy and Organization at Wharton School.
His research is focused on managing solid and sustainable innovation. He has published numerous studies on innovation, strategy development and company restructuring. He specializes in strategies for innovation, organization and an integrative approach towards building a culture of innovation.
Over the years, he has worked as a consultant for over 50 national and international companies, including Roche Diagnostics, Amgen, Telefónica, Henkel and Nestlé. He is currently Director of Innovation on the board of directors of several Spanish companies.
IESE Insight magazine has published an in-depth article on his innovation model.