The world’s first city-led science and technology diplomacy - Observatory of Public Sector Innovation

SciTech DiploHub is a pioneering nonprofit public-private partnership backed by leading research centers, universities, non-profits, startups, corporations and public institutions that deploy Barcelona's science and technology diplomacy strategy. It has the mandate to elevate the role of science, technology, and cities in foreign policy and make Barcelona a more influential player on the global stage through its contribution to sustainable development and the global public good.

Innovation Summary

Innovation Overview

SciTech DiploHub, the Barcelona Science and Technology Diplomacy Hub, is a pioneering nonprofit public-private partnership backed by leading research centers, universities, non- profits, start-ups, corporations and public institutions that positions Barcelona as a global lab in science diplomacy for cities around the world. It has the mandate to elevate the role of science, technology, and cities in foreign policy and make Barcelona a more influential player on the global stage through its contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

It was launched with the support of over two hundred world-class professionals, including university deans, research center directors, former ministers and mayors, CEOs of leading startups, directors of think tanks, business organizations, and the city’s top scientists, engineers, and international relations professionals both at home and abroad.

Major changes in the international scene over the last three decades have dramatically altered the actors having a say on international relations. A new global order is emerging around cities and their markets, beyond nation-states and their borders. New challenges from climate change to health, migrations, water and food security, together with rapid developments in areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and gene editing require strong interactions between scientific communities across borders. Cities cannot turn a blind eye to the current global challenges. They are critical in implementing the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda, turning it from a global vision into a tangible reality. The Barcelona Science and Technology Diplomacy Hub has thus the global mandate to make Barcelona an influential global player through science, technology and innovation and its contribution to tackling the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The five main missions of SciTech DiploHub are the following:

-To consolidate Barcelona as an innovation capital, ready to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through science and technology.
-To position the city as an influential geopolitical actor and reliable partner through science diplomacy.
-To promote a sound and inclusive multi-stakeholder dialogue through partnerships among the scientific community, startups, policymakers, NGOs, the diplomatic corps, the private sector, and civil society.
- To empower a global network of top scientists and technology experts educated in Barcelona to foster international cooperation, showcase its scientific strengths abroad and help us to better understand and interpret key global issues.
- To become a world-class think tank where scientific expertise and innovation can be harnessed in support of an evidence-based local and foreign policy.

SciTech DiploHub is bringing together consulates, international organizations and the city’s innovation ecosystem to enhance collaborative projects; empowering the global diaspora of scientists and technology experts educated in Barcelona, the Barcelona Alumni network, and organizing top-notch events to connect Barcelona's ecosystem with other global hotspots in science and technology. It is also training the next generation of science diplomats around the world, delivering policy advice for local city councils and partnering with international organizations, working as a think tank where scientific expertise can be harnessed in support of the evidence-based policy.

We believe that our innovation can contribute to more effective implementation of the SDGs through science diplomacy by mobilizing a wide range of institutions and professionals related to both science and innovation as well as foreign and local policy formulation. Cities must become global laboratories for solutions to challenges that respond to a global logic but manifest themselves at a local level.

In 2018, Barcelona's science and technology ecosystem came together to launch a comprehensive strategy to put the city's pioneering approach to human-centered technologies and open science at the service of citizens from around the world. Now it aims to pave the way to many more cities to come. With this goal in mind, SciTech DiploHub is launching a Global Alliance for City-led Science Diplomacy that will aim at bringing together major metropolises and international organizations in science advise and foreign affairs in order to position cities as legitimate actors in science diplomacy, run pilot projects, and exchange best practices.

Innovation Description

What Makes Your Project Innovative?

Barcelona is the world’s first city to implement a comprehensive Science and Technology Diplomacy Strategy. SciTech DiploHub is a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership that brings together the leading research centers, universities, corporations, and institutions to deploy its science diplomacy strategy. It represents and promotes Barcelona’s knowledge and innovation ecosystem worldwide, thus making the city a more influential player on the global stage: a reliable partner ready to harness science and technology for the sustainable development goals. This means bringing together many different stakeholders to the conversation, helping them view scientific issues through a different lens and aligning diverse interests in support of a joint roadmap for the city's ecosystem abroad. This confluence of interests must be in the benefit of both the scientific endeavor as well as the legitimate broader geostrategic and societal objectives.

What is the current status of your innovation?

SciTech DiploHub is implementing a comprehensive action plan, which includes:

1. The Barcelona Science and Technology Diplomatic Circle: periodic visits and encounters between the 100+ diplomatic missions and international organizations serving Barcelona and leaders representing academia, government, and private sector which shape the innovation ecosystem of Barcelona.

2. Barcelona Alumni: empowering the global diaspora of scientists and technology experts educated in Barcelona.

3. Barcelona Innovation Days: top-notch events to connect our ecosystem with other global hotspots in science and technology.

4. Science diplomacy Summer School: a first-of-its-kind program that trains the next generation of science diplomats around the world.

5. Global Policy Lab: delivering policy advice for local city councils and partnering with international organizations, working as a think tank where scientific expertise can be harnessed in support of the evidence-based policy.

Innovation Development

Collaborations & Partnerships

SciTech DiploHub’s Ecosystem Board co-designs and supports Barcelona's science diplomacy strategy. It includes the leading organizations of the science, technology and international relations ecosystem:

 Barcelona City Council
 Barcelona Supercomputing Center
 Vall d’Hebron Research Institute
 Barcelona Tech City
 Biocat
 ACCIÓ-Agency for Business Competitiveness
 Fundació Catalunya-La Pedrera
 Fundació Banc Sabadell
 Itnig
 Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation

Users, Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

SciTech DiploHub is leading, promoting and monitoring new collaborative efforts between the science and technology community, policymakers, the diplomatic corps, international organisations and civil society. It is opening new avenues of exchange and opportunities for the public and the private sector to set cooperative linkages. In the long run, this will benefit the city of Barcelona by increasing its resilience, influence, and capacity to face local, national and global challenges.

Innovation Reflections

Results, Outcomes & Impacts

Leading research centers, universities, corporations, startups, and institutions, together with +200 signatories, came together to make Barcelona the first city to develop a science and technology diplomacy and an influential global player through its contribution to the SDGs. Barcelona is bringing together consulates, international organizations and the city’s innovation ecosystem to enhance collaborative projects; empowering the global diaspora of scientists and technology experts educated in Barcelona, the Barcelona Alumni network, and organizing top-notch events to connect our ecosystem with other global hotspots in science and technology. It is training the next generation of science diplomats around the world, delivering policy advice for local city councils and partnering with international organizations, working as a think tank where scientific expertise can be harnessed in support of the evidence-based policy.

Challenges and Failures

The main challenge to overcome through the execution of this project was that the city of Barcelona was unable to mobilize its scientific and technological expertise at the disposal of global urban policies to tackle the SDGs. Another relevant barrier was the lack of interest alignment between the wide range of stakeholders comprising Barcelona's ST&I ecosystem towards a common internationalization strategy.

Conditions for Success

Bottom-up approach: The Barcelona Science and Technology Diplomacy Hub was devised as a grassroots bottom-up initiative led by an interdisciplinary, international team of scientists, engineers and foreign affairs and public policy professionals who truly believe in the essential function of science and technology in foreign policy and international relations.

Multi-stakeholder approach: Since its very inception, we identified the need to align interests and motivations of the various stakeholders comprising Barcelona's knowledge and innovation ecosystem and link them with the broader formal city internationalization strategy and policy formulation mechanisms.

Replication

SciTech DiploHub is launching a Global Alliance for City-led Science Diplomacy that will aim at bringing together major metropolises and international organizations in science advise and foreign affairs in order to position cities as legitimate actors in science diplomacy, run pilot projects, and exchange best practices.

In the World Science Forum held in Budapest in November 2019 Barcelona, Geneva, and Miami shared their science diplomacy strategies, showing it is feasible to transfer scientific knowledge and assets to city diplomacy and internationalization through public-private governance.

We are working together with the city councils of Boston and Paris to help them develop their own science diplomacy strategies, particularly focusing on the design of science-policy interfaces and the engagement of scientific diasporas as a talent retention tool.

Lessons Learned

The initiative was launched in 2018 as a response to both the increasingly relevant role of science and technology in the international arena and the emergence of cities as geopolitical actors thus, positioning itself as the primary interface between Barcelona’s knowledge and innovation ecosystem, policymakers and the city’s international organisations.

The city has become an open lab for global urban solutions, showing it is feasible to transfer scientific knowledge to urban policy and city diplomacy through public-private smart governance. Through a novel and innovative approach, SciTech DiploHub is positioning the city as an influential geopolitical actor ready to meet the SDGs, thus paving the way for other global cities committed to developing their own science and technology diplomacy strategies.