ESADE becomes an academic partner of Ecommerce & Tech Barcelona

ESADE will become the business school partner of Ecommerce & Tech Barcelona under a new agreement signed by the school’s director general, Eugenia Bieto, and the president of the cluster, Miguel Vicente. Ecommerce & Tech is an initiative that brings together the leading digital companies in Barcelona and the surrounding area.

With this alliance, ESADE becomes the sole business school on the cluster’s panel of global partners, reaffirming the school’s commitment to the digital world and its ties to the business community while also reiterating its support for the burgeoning digital entrepreneurial ecosystem. According to Dr. Bieto, ESADE is dedicated to "guiding digital entrepreneurs throughout the growth process and strengthening their executive and leadership skills". The new agreement, she noted, will facilitate "a mutual, ongoing learning process" through a study of the impact of digital entrepreneurial initiative in Spain and the development of academic case studies featuring projects undertaken by Ecommerce & Tech’s entrepreneurs.

Mr. Vicente remarked on the role played by business schools in consolidating Barcelona’s digital and tech sector: "Business schools are a major source of new entrepreneurs that combine technological knowledge with solid training in business skills. As a global partner of Ecommerce & Tech that is committed to the tech and digital sector, ESADE will play an extremely important role in consolidating the businesses of today’s entrepreneurs as well as future generations of even better prepared entrepreneurs."

The main provisions of the agreement signed by ESADE and Ecommerce & Tech are as follows:

• The two institutions will undertake a study of the digital entrepreneurial sector and publish the findings in a joint report.
• ESADE will develop new educational offerings specifically designed to strengthen the executive and leadership skills of digital entrepreneurs.
• A selection of case studies on Ecommerce & Tech’s digital companies and entrepreneurs will be developed for use in ESADE’s classrooms with the participation of the executives themselves.
• Ecommerce & Tech will collaborate with ESADE to organise open activities to be held on ESADE’s premises.

Ecommerce & Tech is a cluster led by the main players in Barcelona’s entrepreneurial tech sector – including LetsBonus, Privalia, Groupalia, Anuntis, eDreams, Trovit, Softonic and Ulabox – as well as investment funds, business angels and business accelerators such as Nauta Capital, Caixa Capital Risc, Active Venture Partners and Iveready Technology Investment Group. Through Barcelona Activa, Ecommerce & Tech enjoys the full support of the Barcelona City Council.

Launched approximately a year and a half ago, Ecommerce & Tech now has more than 170 associates and represents more than 250 Barcelona-based companies in the tech and digital sector. The cluster has been joined by some of the city’s most important initiatives, including the Mobile World Capital Foundation. Ecommerce & Tech aims to triple the number of companies in the sector by 2018, thereby achieving a critical mass of more than 15,000 professionals and a sector-wide aggregate turnover of more than €6 billion. "It’s a luxury to have reached this agreement and to be partnered with an institution of ESADE’s international standing for training and support for Barcelona’s digital sector," said Mr. Vicente.

Dr. Bieto declared that ESADE "shares the aspirations of Ecommerce & Tech Barcelona". She noted that there is a "unique opportunity" to consolidate Barcelona as a worldwide leader in the digital economy, adding: "The sort of public-private collaboration promoted by this cluster is the best way to achieve this."