B Accelerator Tower, better known as BAT, has just recently opened its headquarters in Bilbaospecifically in the Vizcaya Tower. It has done so within an ecosystem of more than 220 affiliated entities between startups, corporations, venture capital firms and technology centers and universities.
Everyone is already part of BAT, a community that continues to grow and add alliances with the main entrepreneurship hubinnovation and talent from around the world such as Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, Boston, New York, Sao Paulo, Chile, Mexico, Dublin or Tallinn.
BAT responds to an unprecedented model in the field of international advanced entrepreneurship; a center that was born from the public impulse of the Provincial Council of Vizcaya and the Bilbao City Council and operated by the international alliance led by PwC with the support of Talent Garden and Impact Hub, leading players in the business and innovation field.
The BAT model stands out for its great international connectivity thanks to the alliance forged between these actors and new alliances generated by the PwC international network, as well as the availability of a portfolio of value-added services for each agent from experts in the private world and with the maximum public support through policies that favor the start-up and investment of innovative projects.
4,000 square meters of extension
The official inauguration was presided over by the Lehendakari Iñigo Urkullu, and was attended by the Deputy General of Vizcaya, Unai Rementería, the Mayor of Bilbao, Juan Mari Aburto, the President of PwC, Gonzalo Sánchez, and the co-founder of Talent Garden Davide Datoli. The auditorium welcomed the BAT community: the startups, corporations, technology and investment fund agents that already occupy the facilities between the sixth and ninth floors. With 4,000 square meters of extension, these four floors are the first phase of the center, which will continue to grow as new organizations are incorporated.
“Since Talent Garden’s mission from the beginning was to connect and facilitate interactions between different local ecosystems, especially through transformative education, harnessing the Bilbao ecosystem will help enrich the entire European community. The BAT project is unique in itself, as it is the result of a close collaboration between institutions, companies and other actors, therefore, taking advantage of this joint interest and involvement, we hope to turn the BAT campus into a regional launching pad for activities of value creation: learning/education, corporate innovation activities, business creation programs and much more”, explained Davide Datoli, co-founder of Talent Garden.
BAT acts as a great hub with the aim that talent, needs and solutions are closer and meet. Thus, corporations and SMEs are closer to talent and specialized startups that can respond to their challenges. And startups, for their part, can find the key alliances they need to take your projects to another level; investors, corporations with which to carry out pilots and/or scientific-technological and training agents that complement their expertise.
Photo: Biscay Provincial Council
