DFactory Barcelona, a project of the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona, operates as a living space where industry 4.0 develops in real time. Designed to connect companies, technology centers, and talent, the hub promotes collaboration and turns knowledge into concrete applications within an open and highly technological environment.
The Catalan company faces a historic opportunity. The increase in defense spending opens the doors to growth in dual-use technologies, those with both civilian and military applications, leveraging the strength and experience of the local industry in other areas. The leap would allow it to put itself on the defense map, where it has traditionally not been very visible. With notable challenges, stability and returns once inside serve as incentives.
Innovation is rapidly transforming healthcare, opening new opportunities for patients and health systems. Marta Moreno, Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Market Access at AstraZeneca Spain, analyzes the role of science, Spain’s positioning, and the challenges of access to new treatments.
The transformation of the pharmaceutical industry is not measured only in terms of molecules, clinical trials, or patents. It is also measured by its appeal to incorporate hybrid profiles, highly qualified, and capable of connecting science, technology, and data management. In attracting talent. In this race, Spain has gained weight and Catalonia, specifically, appears as one of the strategic hubs of the sector in Europe.
The workers’ assembly at the Pascual plant in Gurb has decided to call a strike on May 11 in response to what they consider a lack of dialogue from management. The workers denounce that the company has been refusing for months to open a collective bargaining process, while still failing to clarify how the planned closure for July will be carried out.
Sanoma, a Finnish group in education and media, has acquired the historic publishing house Vicens Vives. The transaction had been in the works for months due to the delicate situation faced by the family business, which for decades has been a benchmark in the Catalan educational world. According to a statement to the Helsinki Stock Exchange, the operation is valued at around 40 million euros and takes into account the value of the net debt, which would be close to 30 million euros, market sources indicate.
The CEO of Repsol, Josu Jon Imaz, has accused the market and competition regulator, CNMC, of “not doing its job” when it comes to identifying those responsible for the blackout that Spain suffered on April 28, 2025. “The regulator has chosen to spread confusion and open investigations into all companies for situations that are not even related to what happened with the blackout, and the only thing that has done is create confusion,” he said during the conference with analysts that the executive held this Thursday to present the company’s first-quarter results.
BBVA obtained a profit of 2.989 billion euros in the first quarter of the year, 11% more, after having managed to raise its profitability to 21.7% in terms of ROTE, which places it among the banks with the highest performance in one of the variables to which the sector pays the most attention.
The Catalan steel company Celsa considers its darkest period closed. This was confirmed by its president, Rafael Villaseca, and its CEO, Jordi Cazorla, during the presentation of the 2025 results held this Wednesday in Barcelona. After a 28-month transformation process, in which the court ordered the Rubiralta family to exit the capital and hand over the shares to the creditors, the group returned to profitability for the first time during the first quarter of this year 2026.
It’s the “paradox of effort.” This is how Marta Alcega, a member of the Associació Professional de Tècnics Tributaris de Catalunya i Balears (APttCB), summarizes it. In the income tax return, a self-employed person with an annual income of 10,000 euros faces a tax bill of 558 euros in the personal income tax settlement, while an employee with the same income pays nothing.