PRESS OFFICE @ NEWSLETTER ISSUE 17 – JUNE 2007 INDEX @ TOPIC OF THE MONTH: DISTRICLIMA HAS FINISHED IMPLEMENTING THE SECOND PHASE OF THE DISTRICT HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEM IN THE 22@BARCELONA DISTRICT @ START UP OF THE SEVEN KILOMETER DISTRICT HEATING AND COOLING NETWORK FROM THE FÒRUM TO UOC HEADQUARTERS IN THE 22@BARCELONA DISTRICT @ A TOTAL OF 170 STUDENTS AND 42 ELDERLY PEOPLE FROM THE SANT MARTÍ DISTRICT PARTICIPATED IN THE “VIRTUAL MEMORY OF THE ELDERLY” INITIATIVE @ 22@BARCELONA FACILITATES INTERNSHIPS FOR 124 STUDENTS FROM SANT MARTÍ IN 39 COMPANIES IN THE INNOVATION DISTRICT, THE MAJORITY MEMBERS OF THE 22@NETWORK @ MORE THAN 1,200 PEOPLE PARTICIPATE IN THE MOST IMPORTANT WORLD-WIDE EVENT IN THE ENERGY AND WATER SECTOR: THE BARCELONA TECH SUMMER SESSIONS @ INAUGURATION OF THE EUROPEAN JOINT UNDERTAKING, FUSION FOR ENERGY, WHICH WILL MANAGE THE ITER PROJECT @ 22@BARCELONA, THROUGH THE LANDING PROGRAM, COLLABORATED IN THE “SHENZHEN IN BARCELONA” SEMINAR, WHICH INTRODUCED THE CHINESE SILICON VALLEY TO THE CATALAN BUSINESS SECTOR @ NEW TECHNOLOGIES APPLIED TO THE MEDICAL SECTOR, FOCUS OF THIS MONTH’S 22@BREAKFAST PRESS OFFICE THE TOPIC OF THE MONTH: 1. DISTRICLIMA HAS FINISHED IMPLEMENTING THE SECOND PHASE OF THE DISTRICT HEATING AND COOLING SYSTEM IN THE 22@BARCELONA DISTRICT Districlima has finished implementing the second phase of the district heating and cooling system, connecting cold and hot water service from the plant located in the Forum area to the Catalonia Open University (UOC) in the 22@Barcelona district. The district heating and cooling project implanted in the 22@Barcelona district is more sustainable, affordable and efficient than traditional systems because it combines the generation of heat and cold with more specific technologies that minimize energy loss in order to save energy and reduce CO2 emissions by 50%. This system generates heat and cold centrally, using alternative energy, gas and/or electricity, and then distributes it to surrounding buildings through a network of hot and cold water pipes. The heating and cooling system Districlima is developing is being implemented in three phases: the first was finished in 2004 when they started service to the Forum area using their sustainable hot and cold water system, pioneer in Spain. The second phase has consisted in installing an underground heating and cooling network to connect the Districlima plant, located at the Fòrum, to the UOC’s headquarters in the 22@Barcelona district. This allows them to provide service to both business and private residences that are interested in connecting to the system. The third phase of the network, which will be started on soon, consists in crossing Diagonal Avenue and constructing a second Districlima plant on Tànger Street, which will broaden the service area. NEWSLETTER ISSUE 17 – JUNE 2007 2 PRESS OFFICE Principles, workings and advantages of the system The district heating and cooling system offered by Districlima creates hot and cold water from the following primary energies: o Steam: Obtained from the TERSA waste incineration plant, transferred to the Districlima plant through subterranean conducts. o Electricity: Helps the motors and pumps work. Also helps create cold if there is a lack of steam. o Natural Gas: An alternative to steam that can be used to cover peak load demand. The transformation takes place in Districlima’s plant in the Fòrum area and is distributed throughout the 22@Barcelona district. For this reason the facilities are structured in three modules: o Production module: The plant in equipped with heat exchangers, gas- absorption refrigerators, cooling compressors and a cold-water tank. o Distribution module: Consists of two distribution networks, one for cold water and the other for hot water. Each network is made up of two subterranean pipes, with their corresponding pumps connecting them to the power plant and the substations located in users’ buildings. o Supply module: The users receive service through substations located in their buildings that are connected to the plant by a fiber optic network, which is used for remote supervision and control. The district heating and cooling system has numerous environmental, economical and operational advantages for the user: o Environmental advantages: Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions because the energy used comes from steam produced by the waste incineration plant, because big groups are more efficient and because of the simultaneous effect many users have. Management of the equipment by professionals also allows for a decrease in CFC emissions. NEWSLETTER ISSUE 17 – JUNE 2007 3 PRESS OFFICE Elimination of Legionella contamination: By eliminating refrigeration towers both in the users’ buildings and in the plant, which uses seawater, the risk of Legionnaires’ disease disappears. The system also entails substantial savings in drinking water consumption. Decrease in noise and vibrations: The buildings connected to the network don’t have conventional boilers or refrigeration systems, so the contamination produced by these items disappears. Elimination of visual contamination: The roofs of buildings no longer have to house the equipment necessary to produce hot and cold water, as this is provided by Districlima directly from the plant. o Economic advantages: The consumption and maintenance costs of the equipment are lower than that of equivalent traditional systems. o Operating advantages: District heating and cooling systems are characterized by their simplicity, reliability and flexibility. Districlima, the beginning Districlima was founded in 2002 in order to create, for the first time in Spain, an urban network to distribute heat and cold that could offer heating, cooling, domestic hot water and refrigeration. Districlima has a number of different stockholders like Elyo Ibérica (SUEZ group), Tersa, Barcelona Water Company, the Energy Diversification and Conservation Institute (IDAE) and the Catalan Energy Institute. NEWSLETTER ISSUE 17 – JUNE 2007 4 PRESS OFFICE 2. START UP OF THE SEVEN KILOMETER DISTRICT HEATING AND COOLING NETWORK FROM THE FÒRUM TO UOC HEADQUARTERS IN THE 22@BARCELONA DISTRICT Francesc Narváez, Sant Marti Councilor, Miquel Barceló, 22@Barcelona President, Juan Alfonso de Molina, Districlima President and Òscar Aguer, UOC Director, have started up the district heating and cooling network that transports hot and cold water service from the plant at the Fòrum to UOC headquarters in the 22@Barcelona district using seven kilometers of underground pipes. This connection finalizes the second phase of this system’s implementation in the innovation district. The first phase was the construction of a plant in the Forum area, which provides these services to buildings in that area. The district heating and cooling system currently provides service to 200,000 square meters. An estimated one million square meters will be connected by 2010. Districlima will soon start on the third phase of the project, which consists in crossing Diagonal Avenue and constructing a second plant on Tànger Street, which will broaden the service area. NEWSLETTER ISSUE 17 – JUNE 2007 5 PRESS OFFICE 3. A TOTAL OF 170 STUDENTS AND 42 ELDERLY PEOPLE FROM THE SANT MARTÍ DISTRICT PARTICIPATED IN THE “VIRTUAL MEMORY OF THE ELDERLY” INITIATIVE A total of 170 students from different primary and secondary schools in the district and 42 elderly people from community centers in Sant Martí have participated in the second edition of “Virtual Memory of the Elderly” promoted by 22@Barcelona, the Sant Martí district, the Barcelona Educational Consortium and Barcelona Television. The objective of this initiative was for students to recover the elderly citizens’ personal experiences using new technologies. Through interviews and Internet communication, groups of students researched and collected information to create biographies of the district’s elderly volunteers, which were later published on the Internet. The project also included a program of activities for the elderly in multimedia rooms, which gave them the opportunity to learn the basics of how to use the Internet and allowed them to begin using this tool to improve their communication with the world around them and to look for resources to help them in their daily life. The initiative has brought about the creation of an educational project using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT); it has introduced the elderly to the Internet and ICT; it has recovered a vital part of the district’s memory, the personal experience of the elderly; and it has promoted multigenerational collaboration. On the other hand, it has also helped create synergies between local agents to share the benefits of ICT with the general population. For the students, “Virtual Memory of the Sant Martí Elderly” allowed them to use different programs and multimedia resources to correspond with elderly people and work on their research project. The students were organized in groups of reporters, historians and camera operators, each having a program of work and resources from the Pedagogic Resource Center in the Sant Martí district. This program provided students with a webquest, which is a web page where students can choose between 8 different modules of activities, such as NEWSLETTER ISSUE 17 – JUNE 2007 6 PRESS OFFICE biographies, roots, daily life, historical events, architecture, image interpretation, oral literature, work and industries. For the elderly, the initiative provided an opportunity to remember their anecdotes and experiences, to share them with the students and learn to use the Internet. The project was based on sharing photos and other materials in order to transfer values and customs to the students. Throughout the initiative, from September 2006 to October 2007, the elderly participated in weekly activities in the multimedia room nearest their house. There they learned to use new technologies and discovered the world of possibilities they offer. They worked on activities to help achieve the goal of the project: scanning photos, telling stories, sending email to the students and finding web pages related to their places of birth. This initiative also took place in the 2005-2006 school year. In that case, 160 primary and secondary school students and 32 elderly people from community centers in Sant Martí participated. In the first edition the students did documental, photographic and video projects analyzing topics like biographies, daily life, historic events in the district, migrations, work and industry, urbanism and architecture in the district. NEWSLETTER ISSUE 17 – JUNE 2007 7 PRESS OFFICE 4. 22@BARCELONA FACILITATES INTERNSHIPS FOR 124 STUDENTS FROM SANT MARTÍ IN 39 COMPANIES IN THE INNOVATION DISTRICT, THE MAJORITY MEMBERS OF THE 22@NETWORK 22@Barcelona sponsors the Educational Project, an initiative that has facilitated internships for 124 students from 14 Professional Training centers in Sant Martí with 39 companies in the district, the majority of them members of 22@Network, the Association of Businesses and Institutions in 22@Barcelona. The majority of the students that participated in the project are studying Computers and Administration. However, some of the students are from other departments like Food Industry, Commerce and Marketing, Construction and Civil Engineering, Personal Image, Maintenance and Production and Manufacturing. The companies that participated in the project are mainly from the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, the majority of them members of the 22@Network, the Association of Businesses and Institutions in 22@Barcelona. The following are just some of the participating companies: Barcelona Digital Foundation, GPO Engineering, T-Systems. The 22@Barcelona Educational Project was started in order to foster a continuous interaction between professional training centers and companies in the surrounding district. The goal of this project is to help create a positive impact on the Sant Martí district and surrounding areas by promoting innovative and open professional training, striking a balance between training offered and real demand, facilitating social and professional integration of young people, sponsoring school-to-work transition projects, showing companies the type of training offered by centers in their area and allowing the centers to discover what specific types of training these companies need. NEWSLETTER ISSUE 17 – JUNE 2007 8 PRESS OFFICE 5. MORE THAN 1,200 PEOPLE PARTICIPATE IN THE MOST IMPORTANT WORLD- WIDE EVENT IN THE ENERGY AND WATER SECTOR: THE BARCELONA TECH SUMMER SESSIONS The b_TEC Foundation is organizing the Barcelona Tech Summers Sessions (TSS) for the second year. TSS is a series of seminars on the problems facing energy, water and sustainability. From June 25 to July 13 the b_TEC foundation will bring together the top experts in these fields. The TSS, which will take place in different locations around Barcelona and Sant Adrià de Besòs, has become an essential meeting place for companies, universities and administrations to share their knowledge. Internationally renowned energy and water experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will attend MIT will collaborate in the TSS this year, along with the best and most prestigious international universities and the most innovative companies in the energy and water sector. TSS is a multithematic and multiform event, giving participants a global vision of the existing situation in the energy and water industries. Over 1,200 participants TSS is addressed to a diverse audience related to the energy and water sectors, from directors and executives who are responsible for business strategies of companies in this sector, to engineers working on technological development and undergraduates wishing to acquire further training in close contact with business and industry alike. For three weeks more than 1,200 people from ten countries (Poland, USA, Denmark, Germany, France, Slovakia, Israel, UK, Canada and Spain) will participate or have participated in one of the following events that analyze the topic of energy (specifically, wind, photovoltaic and fusion energy) as well as the topics of energy efficiency, sustainability and water technologies: NEWSLETTER ISSUE 17 – JUNE 2007 9 PRESS OFFICE 1. International conferences for executives in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): June 28 and 29, prestigious professors from the Industrial Liaison Program at MIT together with European experts analyzed and reflected on the strategic challenges in energy and water and the responsibilities of the industry. Guest speakers, chosen jointly with MIT, presented the latest business strategies and market trends as well as the energy costs and challenges that will bear an impact in the near future. 2. Seminars for specialists given by renowned national and international experts: Specialized seminars aimed toward highly qualified technicians in collaboration with universities from USA, Denmark, France and Germany among others. These seminars will present the latest technological developments and are addressed to engineers, technological development directors and technicians working in government agencies, technology centers and universities. The seminars deal with the following topics: Wind energy, Photovoltaic solar energy, Fusion energy, Energy efficiency, Sustainability, Water. 3. Courses directed by the UPC and the UB for international undergraduates on topics related to renewable energy and water technologies. 4. Technical visits to innovative facilities in Catalonia: Participants from the different courses and seminars will be able to visit innovative facilities in Catalonia. NEWSLETTER ISSUE 17 – JUNE 2007 10 PRESS OFFICE 5. Networking lunches with presentations by collaborating companies: Meeting points to get to know other attendees. 6. Cultural events and spreading scientific knowledge to the non-expert audience, including: a. Exhibition for young students (7-14 years old): The youngest children can participate at the La Mina Civic Center, where an exhibition will be held to explain new knowledge about energy and water to this group. b. Round tables open to the general public: The general public and citizens can ask expert guest speakers their questions in these round tables where anyone who wants to can speak. c. Cultural events for the public: Culture, art and music have their place among the different leisure activities. B_TEC, Barcelona Technological Innovation b_TEC, Barcelona Technological Innovation, which is developing the Besòs Campus in the Fòrum area, is a new model of knowledge space where different interrelated teaching, research, development and business activities take place, within an innovative and entrepreneurial atmosphere. b_TEC, which is sponsored by the Government of Catalonia, the City Councils of Barcelona and Sant Adrià de Besòs, and the Barcelona County Government, is an important part of the 22@Barcelona project. NEWSLETTER ISSUE 17 – JUNE 2007 11 PRESS OFFICE 6. INAUGURATION OF THE EUROPEAN JOINT UNDERTAKING, FUSION FOR ENERGY, WHICH WILL MANAGE THE ITER PROJECT The third Deputy Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi William Carnes, the Catalonia State Councilor for Finance, Antoni Castells, the Minister of Education and Science, Mercedes Cabrera, and the European Commissioner of Science and Research, Janez Potocnik, inaugurated Fusion for Energy, the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the development of Fusion Energy. ITER is a joint international project that aims to generate energy from nuclear fusion through the synthesis of hydrogen. The thermonuclear fusion reactor will be constructed in France. The European Joint Undertaking will manage the 2.5 billion euros the EU is contributing to the ITER project. The European Joint Undertaking offices are located provisionally in the Torres Diagonal building but they will be moved to the b_TEC building, linking the project to the future Besòs Campus. The ITER project is the second most important scientific project in Europe in terms of investment (only surpassed by that of the international space station) and the first in the number of participating countries. It will be very important for the city in its promotion and projection as a center of investigation. NEWSLETTER ISSUE 17 – JUNE 2007 12 PRESS OFFICE 7. 22@BARCELONA, THROUGH THE LANDING PROGRAM, HAS COLLABORATED IN THE “SHENZHEN IN BARCELONA” SEMINAR, WHICH HAS INTRODUCED THE CHINESE SILICON VALLEY TO THE CATALAN BUSINESS SECTOR The “Shenzhen in Barcelona” Seminar took place June 7 at Barcelona Activa, introducing the city that is known as the Chinese Silicon Valley to the Catalan business sector. The seminar, organized by the China Hi-Tech Fair, together with Economic Promotion for the Barcelona City Council and the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, with collaboration from the Landing Program, sponsored by 22@Barcelona, the UPC’s Innova Program and La Salle Park. The seminar was presided over by the director of Economic Promotion for the Barcelona City Council, Mario Rubert, who was accompanied by the People’s Republic of China’s Consul General to Barcelona, Wang Shixiong; a representative from the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Quinhua; and the President of the Internationalization Commission from the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, Joan Canals. The seminar introduced participants to the city of Shenzhen, which has an important high-tech industry. Its more than 3,000 companies specializing in high-tech manufacturing make it one of the most important information and communications technology (ICT) zones in China. The seminar was given by the Vice-Secretary General of the Municipality of Shenzhen, Gao Guohui; the Sub Director of the China Hi-Tech Transfer Center, Kang Yongkui; and the President of 22@Barcelona, Miquel Barceló. Also present at the event were Chinese companies that exchanged experiences with the Catalan companies that attended. NEWSLETTER ISSUE 17 – JUNE 2007 13 PRESS OFFICE 8. NEW TECHNOLOGIES APPLIED TO THE MEDICAL SECTOR, FOCUS OF THIS MONTH’S 22@BREAKFAST 22@Barcelona, in collaboration with the leading telemedicine company, Telemedicine Clínic, organized June’s 22@Update Breakfast. The act was presided over by the President of 22@Barcelona, Miquel Barceló, with the participation of Dr. Lluís Pareras, Director of Innovation, Technology and Project Development at the Spanish Medical Association, who explained the benefits of applying new technologies in medicine and how this innovation creates new business opportunities. After than, as part of the “Innovator of the month” program, Dr. Henrik Agrell, co-founder and Marketing Director of Telemedicine Clínic, pioneers of the telemedicine field, gave some examples of remote medical diagnosis and follow-up, like home assistance for the elderly or treatment for people living in isolated places or far from health centers. To finish up, as per usual, the president of 22@Barcelona, Miquel Barceló, presented the news from the 22@Barcelona district. At this meeting 22@Barcelona helped make people aware of important innovations in the medical field in order to promote their biomedical cluster and encourage the creation and growth of companies related to this sector. NEWSLETTER ISSUE 17 – JUNE 2007 14 PRESS OFFICE QUOTES: Abraham Arcos, “Our location in the 22@Barcelona Director district has been very important. We Cecot Foundation for Innovation want to foster the development of innovative projects here at Cecot. Locating our new offices in the innovation district wasn’t a coincidence. It was a choice based on objective criteria, looking for synergies in the ICT and business innovation fields. NEW COMPANIES IN THE 22@BARCELONA DISTRICT: Electrostocks Dimension Data Onho TST Firement Novare TIC Solutions Helix Consultora For more information: 22@Barcelona Press Office: F&A Tel: 93 419 19 86 - 93 507 35 00 • E-mail: filloy&filloy.com NEWSLETTER ISSUE 17 – JUNE 2007 15