NEWS

From September 19 to 21, the city of Girona will once again become the epicentre of the cycling world with a new edition of Sea Otter Europe Costa Brava Girona by Garmin - Shimano, one of the most prominent international festivals in the sector. In this 9th edition, five member companies of INDESCAT and the Barcelona Sports Hub will participate in the cluster’s exhibition space within the Expo Zone, reinforcing their presence and visibility in a strategic event for the sports industry.

For the third consecutive year, INDESCAT is collaborating with the festival's organisers through a strategic partnership aimed at enhancing the competitiveness and international projection of Catalan companies in the sports sector.

This Wednesday, July 16th, the 4th edition of Passem Pantalla was held, an annual event promoted by the Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya and organized by the Taula del Videojoc alongside the Catalan videogame ecosystem. At INDESCAT, we’ve been actively involved over the past few months in drafting the Strategic Plan, thanks to the knowledge and expertise of the members of our eSports Working Group.

The Grass-Twin project offers an innovative solution based on functional printing and smart monitoring for the maintenance of sports surfaces.

Grass-Twin is an industrial research project launched with the aim of addressing a common challenge in the management of sports surfaces—whether natural, hybrid, or artificial turf: the lack of advanced technological solutions for efficient and tailored maintenance.

This Wednesday, July 9, INDESCAT and the AMBIT cluster held a key session at the Eurofitness Perill sports center, where we presented the first results of the project “LIVINGLAB-FIT: Reinventing fitness spaces.” This is an initiative driven and led by both clusters with the support of ACCIÓ, as part of the competitiveness support program. The project, a pioneer in its field, aims to respond to the need of companies in the sector to redesign sports spaces to make them more attractive, inclusive, and efficient, taking into account the diverse profiles of the centers' users.

Thanks to the European I3-INSHAPE initiative, INDESCAT, the sports industry cluster, has secured direct grants for Catalan companies amounting to more than €570,000. In the first phase, €329,240 was awarded to Onalabs, Eurofitness, Sevenmila, Berrly, and Tot per l’Esport — all members of INDESCAT. In a second phase, nine interregional collaborative projects involving innovative SMEs from various EU regions — including Catalonia — received a total of €244,000 in direct funding for eight Catalan companies: Barcelona Zero Limits, Factual Consulting, Improfit, MyPlay, Neorg, North 3, Placenet, and Rockfit, four of which are cluster members. All of these projects focus on innovative solutions in the fields of sport, technology, and healthy lifestyles.

In a context shaped by digital transformation, demographic shifts, and a constantly evolving sports industry, the training of future professionals requires educational models adapted to today’s realities. Escola Vitae emerges as an innovative proposal within the educational sector, offering programs focused on a direct connection with the job market and the challenges of the future.

We speak with Roger Saladich, Co-CEO of Vitae, a school specialized in the fields of sports and health, which has been offering official and in-house qualifications for over fifteen years through an immersive pedagogical approach. We explore the origins of the initiative, how they integrate technology and personal competencies into their programs, and the steps they are taking to establish themselves as a leading institution in shaping the next generation of professionals in the sector.