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From 5th to 7th April, international master’ participants attended EADA’s Company Connection Week, a module to get out of the classroom and connect with companies and professionals from diverse fields to get their take on key challenges in business today. It was a great opportunity to visit flagship local companies and initiatives as well as multinational companies that have chosen Barcelona as the home to their strategic hubs and operation centers.

On the first day, our participants dived into a variety of industries through an exceptional lineup of companies such as:

• Tersa: We visited their waste-to-energy plant that transforms waste into renewable energy that supplies all the city hall buildings and street lighting of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. We were hosted by Agustí Ferré from the Corporate Development Department of the company, who walked us through the behind scenes of waste valorisation and transformation and the promotion of sustainability in the city.
• Wallbox: This is a startup from Barcelona that in barely 6 years has conquered the EV charging market internationally. This was a fascinating visit where our participants discovered the EV charging market, its rapid growth and learned about Wallbox’s products, operations and even future job opportunities. We were welcomed by EADA Alumnus Gianluca Gross (International Master in Finance, Class of 2017), who is the Customer Success Manager for the Italian market, along with Roberto Fauda, Franco Giulio and Kseniia Iskrak.
• Wayra: This is Telefónica’s open innovation hub. It provides a unique environment to help startups scale while leveraging the company’s resources, talent, extensive network and investment. Our participants were hosted by Marta Antúnez, Director of Wayra Barcelona, who explained the origins of the initiative and its impact through these past 10 years of operations. They also had the opportunity to visit their recently inaugurated Tech Lab.

On day 2, EADA’s participants learned about business and innovation topics such as:

-How ABB robotics and discrete automation play a fundamental role in empowering industries worldwide to achieve efficiency, circularity and growth. We visited ABB’s Customer Innovation Center, the company’s first collaborative robotics innovation center in Europe. Xavier Pifarré, Channel Manager, gave us a detailed overview of industrial innovation. 

-The successful model of Grup Ametller Origen and the key aspects behind the growth of this vertically integrated model from the farm to consumer. The CEO Roberto Gómez told us about the fast growth and consolidation of this local chain of fresh produce and food that has sustainability at its core.

-The business model of Grifols, a global healthcare company with more than 110 years of legacy dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of people around the world. Nuria Pascual and Daniel Segarra introduced participants to the plasma industry from donor to patient, and how investor relations and sustainability unlock value.

-How Unilever has successfully navigated 2 years of disruption in logistics and supply chain. Belén Larregina and Laura Arlà, from the Talent team, explained all about the culture and future opportunities in the company.

On the last day of the Company Connection Week our participants started in the morning with a visit to Tech Barcelona, a private non-profit association that empowers Barcelona's digital and tech ecosystem by connecting companies and creating synergies. Participants also visited Glovo, one of the emblematic scaleups of the city. The EADA Alumni Thomas Cambier and Mariana Pescada, Data Analyst and Content Analyst in this company, along with María Eduarda Busmayer, from the Talent Team, delighted participants with a very engaging presentation on the company's growth, sustainability initiatives as well as roles and future opportunities.

This great experience ended up with the visit to both Escola Europea Intermodal Transport, a European training center and reference for intermodal transport and logistics which promotes sustainable logistics in Europe, and Port de Barcelona, which is the main logistics hub of the Mediterranean. Our participants learned about the port's geostrategic importance in the storage and distribution of energy in the current geopolitical context as well as efforts to transition and empower its interface to more sustainable operations. They finished the itinerary with a boat tour of the Port under the sunny skies of Barcelona.