Innovation in products and services

Among all possible cities, there is a Barcelona that creates, a Barcelona that breaks new ground, a Barcelona that turns innovative ideas into realities, a Barcelona that conceives products and services that captivate the world, a Barcelona that is, in a word, innovative. A Barcelona that surprises Barcelonans themselves, as they discover, as will those who have a glance at this book, that right in their hometown there are people creating the car of the future, carpets that practically fly, dolls in the image of our friends, lights that illuminate major airports and landmark buildings, perfume-fla-voured sweets and rapid medical diagnoses for patients in Sweden and England.These are just a few examples that demonstrate how Barcelona is able to reinvent itself and evolve from a traditional industrial city to a city of new skills, one that cre-ates, invents and brings the world new products, new solutions, new processes that, when all is said and done, make our lives better and easier. This is the raison d’être of modern design: imagination at the service of people, of which Barcelona is an outstanding proponent. The people of Barcelona have always been inquisitive, open, creative and enterpris-ing, willing to take risks and aware of events the world over. These qualities fostered by the city are the essential ingredients for success in our times. And they are, let us not fool ourselves, the qualities that fuel the economic growth – wealth – of cities competing in a global world; a wealth without which the city could not achieve its goals in terms of social cohesion, coexistence and integration of all the flows, tan-gible and intangible, that converge upon it.Taken all together, these things, big and small, conceived in the Barcelona of today, and presented in this book, provide us with an overview of what we need to meet the challenges of the knowledge society. Still, we are aware that such creative endeavours depend on our having the best infrastructures, being in touch with the world, opening windows and our minds, assuming risks, creating and attracting talent and, in short, keeping our nose to the grindstone: for, as Picasso (who got an education in Barcelona, among avant-gardes and dreams of Paris) said: Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.

Jordi Hereu Mayor of Barcelona

Thought up in Barcelona is knowledge and city. It is ideas rendered reality in the form of product, service or process, designed locally and often found globally. It is applied innovation with the Barcelona stamp. An entire catalogue of goods and services that show that Barcelona is also on the map of innovation for its ideas. An innovative spirit that we must promote and make known in the world, but also among ourselves cast light on its value in making our city more economi-cally dynamic, in creating more and better jobs, in building our future. In an ever more globalized world where sameness seems the rule, we often ask ourselves what differentiates people and territories. And in the 21st century, beyond culture, geography, climate or character, innovation emerges as differ-entiating value; for, to differentiate, you must innovate.In this context, just as companies compete, so do territories, and thus we must bolster the value of localness, its certificate of origin, its stamp, as a means of identification and as a mark of quality, benefiting the local economy and enrich-ing us in myriad ways. Competitive businesses make competitive territories, but it is innovative people that make businesses competitive. Innovative and enterprising people with ideas which they put into practice successfully. And Barcelona has its fair share of outstanding innovative and enterprising people. This book contains a selection of this innovation with the Barcelona stamp, in the form of ideas, goods and ser-vices, all of them coming form businesses that operate, and above all think, cast-ing an eye round the world from our city.There are products from a whole range of sectors, from design to legal services, some higher profile than others, from businesses big and small. Some products are new; they simply never existed before. In others the innovation lies in the production or marketing of something that was already available. All these inno-vations, however, share one thing: they have broken new ground in their markets and achieved the recognition of the sector, often at the global level. Thought up in Barcelona, in the form of a wide-ranging sampler, seeks to high-light these initiatives, to familiarize the city with its innovative side, and to make it grow.Go on, keep on innovating, Barcelona…

Maravillas Rojo Councillor for Employment and Innovation and President of Barcelona Activa

Innovation means making new products and offe-ring new services, or adding new value to existing ones. That is how we will see it in the pages that follow. Innovation is the final link in the chain of research and development. It is also reinventing things, looking at them from a different angle or, simply, with a creative spirit endeavouring to arrive at fresh ways to satisfy old and new needs.We understand innovation in a broad sense, in a sense that embraces different sectors of industry and trade. Sometimes it is a system of management; other times the design of an object; in some cases the innovation does not lie in the product itself, but in the way the latter is marketed.The purpose of this book is to offer a sample, and hence an incomplete record, of the sort of innova-tion we can find today in the city of Barcelona and its metropolitan area.

In these times of globalization, of work in large multidisciplinary teams, of hybrids, of multicultu-rality it might seem bold to focus on a specific point on the map, a theme such as innovation. Around the world, products and services are becoming more and more similar: fruit of a variety of inputs, they emerge from networks branching out to the four corners of the globe. This, which is already quite evident in science, is beginning to happen in other sectors too.

Furthermore, we now see cool hunters hanging out on the sidewalk cafés of el Born, looking around, observing, and sending off photos of our youth in flip-flops and customized jackets. The colours of the city are the subject of discussion at design forums. The ‘silver’ city� inspires all, including, for example: Volvo’s designers; a small, dynamic ‘concept lab’ belonging to the Danish firm Lego; or the omnipre-sent Yahoo. The metropolitan area’s urban deve-lopment model is worthy of the consideration of a Harvard dean�, while architects of international renown feel their curricula remain incomplete so long as they have not added a building of their own to the city’s landmarks. Barcelona must have some attraction if talent from abroad chooses this city as a place to carry out projects that are in their very essence bold. The city and its surroundings provide a welcoming, productive and inspiring environment. At once, the cultural and social dynamics of all Barcelonans are empowering tools for creativity.�—Pez de Plata. Ciutat / Creació / Color. �006. BMW Initiative Award for Innovation.�—ROWE, Peter G.: Building Barcelona. A second renaixença. �006. Ed. Barcelona Regional / ACTAR.

In this book we find large infrastructures of support for innovation, little plant pots of sweet tokens which provide a new model of test of ‘commitment’, dolls made in the image of the customer, ‘accessible lawyers’ operating at street level, fashion from the young international catwalks, complex software systems, a ‘glamorous’ top-selling lunch bag, etc... All of them have emerged from Barcelona; they have been ‘conceived’ here. From our point of view each innovation is as important as the next; for us the important thing is that you appreciate them when you see them all together, for one thing we like is a good ‘mezclum’. Intentionally, what we show in this book are the ‘products’, understanding the latter in the broad sense of the word. But we cannot forget the vast importance of the people involved, both the ‘crea-tors’ and their customers. They are the ones who ‘live’ and ‘make’ the atmosphere of the city.

One of the conclusions that we can derive from this brief study is, at the very least, that the tertiary sector is crucial to the future of the city. In an era marked by strategic delocalization, with free global movement of capital, the people of Barcelona will have to find a way to offer new service products, new ways of offering existing products, and innova-tion in the world of ideas. As an asset, talent now far out ranks industrial land or labour. We must know how to identify talent, keep what is home-grown and attract what we need from elsewhere. Henceforth, ‘value’ will be found in the intangible, and together we must join forces to avoid missing the boat.

20 SimplexSystemazúamoliné+ Industrias Cosmic

24 MedicalTelediagnosisTelemedicine Clinic

28 LeCoolMagazineRené Löngren+ Vasava

32 LaCaixetaCaboSanRoque

36 Thehydrogen-poweredbusTransports Metropolitans de Barcelona

40 WilicoB-100FuturLink

42 MaximaSpeedINDO

46 WintercollectionCusto Barcelona

52 AquilesGutmar / Promaut / UPC

54 Sweets-on-a-stickEscribà

60 ConceptLabLEGO®

68 NomadSennse Consultants+ Valira

72 ATotesHoresA Totes Hores

74 GADUSystemClavegueram de Barcelona S.A.

78 Chic&BasicBornH. Bertrand / A. Montesinos+ Equip XCL

82 SpeakandPlaywiththeThreeBabies Cromosoma / Televisió de Catalunya

84 ModularNaguisaBenchEscofet 1886+ Toyo Ito & Associates

88 RadiofrequencyMonitoringSystem+MapEMWaveControl

90 OneDigital Legends

94 MareNostrumBarcelona Supercomputing Center

100 LolitasMaria del Mar González

104 Yahoo!ResearchBarcelonaYahoo!

110 FlyingCarpetEmiliana Design+ nanimarquina

114 LomásLegalLo más Legal

116 ThePauClarishousingbuildingPich-Aguilera arquitectes

120 SweetInnovationPapa Bubble

124 Ona/TowerNode+ Envac

126 SkirtTxell Miras

130 VersatilityConceptCarVolvo

134 K-SampleSalesKinetical

136 CentreforGenomicRegulationCRG

140 TheilluminationoftheTorreAgbarLight Led

146 ElBulliWorkshopEl Bulli

20

A complete washbasin set designed for versatility with a minimum of materialsSIMPLExSYSTEMbathroomsetincludingwashbasin,stoolandmirror

Design

Thought up by

azúamolinéwww.azuamoline.com

Produced by

Industrias Cosmicwww.icosmic.com

Simple, multifunctional bathroom fittings is what marks this collection. The main unit is a rotational moulded polypropylene washbasin that can be used just about anywhere: in addition to the bathroom, laundry rooms, garages, storage rooms, gardens and other spaces. The only requirement is a hosepipe fitting. That’s its virtue: easy installation and maximum versatility.The full set also includes a mirror and a space-saving stool that doubles as a storage container and can be used in the bathroom, the bedroom, playroom – wherever. More than any purely formal aspect, the common thread in this bathroom fitting set is versatility.

ThemostversatilecollectionVersatility is the word to describe the Simplex system. Thanks to modern, innovative rotational moulding tech-nology, the Simplex elements are rounded, simple and attractive with all the hard-wearing qualities of plastic. The washbasin incorporates a concealed water intake, drainage system and wall mounts, and works with either a hose support or taps. It is portable and easy to clean, and in both the washbasin and the stool the tough mate-rials and absence of sharp edges make them appropriate for situations in which safety and durability are priorities. Indeed, due to its peculiar features, the Simplex system has been used in several international humanitarian aid campaigns, which shows that it has a role in the world beyond that of a mere consumer product.

You only need a space fitted with a hose pipe. And that’s its virtue: easy installation and maximum versatility

Azúamoliné,aninnovativeandprestigiousteamThe Simplex system was designed by Martín Ruiz de Azúa (City of Barcelona Prize 2000) and Gerard Moliné (ADI-FAD Medal 2002). These two outstanding designers explain their philosophy as follows: “Together we do experimental and conceptual design which serves us in our more commercial work; for us, innovation is the key, and innovation does not usually arise from form but from new features. We enjoy reflect-ing on everyday situations in which there is something missing, a problem or an opportunity for improvement. Objects are often the motor of relations between people, and a well-designed product generates positive behaviour patterns. We like to think that the user shares our ideas and that, in the end, it is also the user who lends meaning to our work.”

Thanks to modern, innovative rotational moulding technology, the Simplex elements are rounded, simple and attractive with all the hard-wearing qualities of plastic

24

Telemedicine Clinicwww.telemedicineclinic.com

Thought up by

Medicine

Diagnosis onlineMEDICALTELEDIAGNOSISorhowtoofferaremoteclinicaldiagnosisservice

The new technologies are constantly offer-ing new possibilities. Communication and the idea of in situ presence are changing radically in our times. And if that is so, it is thanks to the drive, genius and wisdom of innovators like David Bäckström, founder of Telemedi-cine Clinic.Bäckström is a Swedish economist who spot-ted the need and the possibility of setting up a distance service in clinical radiology diag-nosis. And with that goal, in 2002 he founded

Telemedicine Clinic, with headquarters in Barcelona. But the most interesting part is that the services are for public hospitals in England, Norway and Sweden (evidently, the company is working to expand to other countries), and offer simultaneous diagnosis by specialist doctors from seven European Union countries. With the Telemedicine Clinic system, direct contact with the patient is no longer necessary. Who says distance is a problem?

Thanks to this telediagnosis service, Barcelona offsets the shortage of doctors in Northern Europe

FirstEuropeancentreTelemedicine Clinic is the first telemedicine centre in Europe. It provides not only high quality diagnostic services, training and sup-port to public healthcare providers across the European Union, but also research and development for employment of telemedi-cine-based solutions. Telemedicine Clinic was set up to meet the increasing demand for medical expertise in many European regions where a scarcity of medical specialists has

caused problems in the delivery of healthcare services. As such, this covers all long term needs for specialized demands and the best medical resource distribution destined for the healthcare sector.

Distancediagnosis:theinnovationfactorandcompetitivenessUndoubtedly, the key to success here is hav-ing a distance diagnosis service which relies on the top specialists wherever they may be found. As David Bäckström, the company’s managing director, explains “when Telemedi-cine Clinic started, in England there was a serious public health problem due to the wait-ing lists, above all in cases of highly special-ized diagnoses for which the public university hospitals have few resources.”In order to redress this problem, Bäckström thought that, exploiting the possibilities of telecommunications, Barcelona would be an excellent base from which to offer a distance diagnosis service with high added value. Today, Telemedicine Clinic is the leader in its sector and offers complete, immediate diagno-sis by the top specialists. It is simply a matter of sending the images from the hospital where the patient is and where the radiography was taken to the Telemedicine diagnosis centre in Barcelona. Evidently, this instantaneous trans-fer of information is possible thanks to the new communication technologies (in this case, the images are sent across a secure VON solu-tion). In the next step, the specialist doctors (located in Barcelona or elsewhere) interpret the images and, then, send the information to the doctor who is personally responsible for the patient, so that the illness can be dealt with quickly and with the best possible care.

DiagnosticservicesTelemedicine Clinic provides specialized radiological diagnostic services by means of telemedicine. At present, it is the largest tele-medicine and magnetic resonance diagnosis centre in the European Union, with 55 special-ists in seven European countries.And when we speak of diagnosis with high added valued, we are referring to the fact that the diagnostic services include double read-ing of all the material, second opinion and support in the implantation of new diagnostic methodologies.In radiology, Telemedicine Clinic offers ser-vices in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computed Tomography (CT) and conventional radiology.

Telemedicine Clinic provides not only distance diagnosis services, but it seeks to establish a more efficient way of employing and allocating medical resources

28

René Löngrenwww.lecool.com

Designed by

Vasavawww.vasava.es

Communication

Barcelona net surfers enjoy a weekly cultural and entertainment agenda sent out via e-mail every Thursday. But if Le Cool was going to be the trendiest and coolest guide in the city, it was also going to need an identity very much of its own.To this end, René Löngren, founder and direc-tor of the magazine, turned to the creative team at Vasava to give his publication the right look in accord with his goals.As they tell it at Vasava: “Löngren was quite certain about what he wanted. He gave us an idea of what he was looking for and we came up with the concept of how Le Cool should look. Barcelona, a city with a full cultural and entertainment calendar every week of the year, needed an electronic magazine like this.

Thought up by

Essential cultural agenda, on your computerLECOOLMAGAzINEBarcelona’swhat’s-onreview

The first issue of Le Cool was published in Barcelona in February, 2003, and since then they’ve launched editions for Madrid, Lisbon, Amsterdam and Istanbul

With these premises, the creative process was similar to the other information architec-ture projects we develop at the studio. We started by stipulating the amounts of informa-tion, text and visual, then we decided on the tool and the technologies with which to con-struct the magazine and finally we resolved the formal aspect.”

CleaninfoLe Cool Magazine is a what’s-on e-magazine, with an ever positive and evocative attitude, giving readers information and recommenda-tions about activities and events in the city: art, fashion, cinema, concerts, DJ sessions. It is also an intelligent guide to bars, restau-rants, shops and other experiences that are worth your while.Le Cool also is a free subscription info trawl-ing service, bringing home every seven days the pick of what you won’t want to miss the next week.Le Cool’s design is contemporary, functional and uncluttered, with enough good taste to stand out among the dozens of emails that pour into average inbox on any given day.

Le Cool’s design is contemporary, functional and uncluttered, with enough good taste to stand out among the dozens of emails that pour into average inbox on any given day

But the most outstanding thing about Le Cool is the quality of the information it supplies, and the fact that it is unsullied by commercial interests. The first issue of Le Cool was published in Barcelona in February, 2003, and since then they have launched editions for Madrid, Lis-bon, Amsterdam and Istanbul. They have also published a book: Le Cool Changed My Life – A Weird And Wonderful Guide To Barcelona, which took the printed guide market by storm in 2004.

VasavaVasava is a communication studio founded in Barcelona in 1997. The staff is made up of 15 young people from a range of professional backgrounds with the ability to develop differ-ent projects for different supports. Their latest project is Vallery (www.vallery.es), the Vasava gallery- shop offering their peculiar view of the latest international trends in design, illus-tration and the new graphic formats: a space where you can see an exhibition, purchase a book or walk away wearing an exclusive piece of clothing.

32

La Caixeta is the latest show by a rather unique band called CaboSanRoque. And if we say unique it is because CaboSanRoque is more than a band. Rather, we might call them an orchestra, given the array of over 40 instruments and musically-inclined ‘toys’ (in the broadest sense of the word), and most homemade from all sorts of recycled materials and objects found on the street.

Imaginationandpoetry…With their characteristic imaginative spirit, CaboSan-Roque have come up with a

new show loaded with poetry, in which, once again, stan-dard instruments share the stage with musical automa-tons that beggar belief. All this to create the soundtrack for a series of amateur f ilms from the 1970s, rescued, of course, from the rubbish bin, where they were about to be condemned to oblivion.In this show, CaboSanRoque place four of their charac-ters/musicians (Roger Aixut, Ramon Garriga, Josep Seguí and Laia Torrents) inside a 27-cubic-metre metal struc-ture, in which cinema, music, automatons and musicians in

The musicians and handypersons of CaboSanRoque have built a giant box into which they venture, switching on and off their homemade musical automatons

Original soundtracks for home moviesLACAIxETAagiantmusicboxfilledwithsurprises

CaboSanRoquewww.cabosanroque.com

Thought up and produced by

Music

In La Caixeta, CaboSanRoque take their innovative ability for combining music and recycling a step further. Now they add in home movies abandoned to fate

action put us through a whole array of sensations.In La Caixeta, this indefinable ensemble arm themselves with their recycled instru-ments to offer us a play-ful combination of music and images, musicians and automatons, randomness and intentionality, divergences and synchronism; in short, a show full of visual poetry that, in the meantime, reminds us that anything can be useful and even beautiful.The musicians and handyper-sons of CaboSanRoque have built a giant box into which they venture, switching on and off their homemade musi-cal automatons while playing their own instruments, either standard or invented, in order to weave an original, poetic soundtrack.

Abravenewmicrocosm…La Caixeta moves us because CaboSanRoque show their ability to take their innovative concept of music combined with recycling to another level. This new production also demonstrates their abil-ity to lend new meaning to a mixed bag of home movies someone had abandoned to

their fate. In pursuing their ends, they have created an entire microcosm self-con-tained in a cubic space where anything can happen.The idea is quite simple: perform, live on stage, the soundtrack for a series of f ilms found on the street. The execution is nothing short of astounding. From a xylophone-playing teddy bear to a little electric train that activates a series of per-cussive devices, to a pair of toy cars racing round a tiny track strumming out chords on a guitar, CaboSanRoque soon ensnare us in their cubic

microcosm. And all that, of course, without forgetting the role of the musician-manipu-lators; for the most astound-ing part of the show is to see Roger Aixut, Ramon Garriga, Josep Seguí and Laia Torrents scrambling about to order to stop and start of the automa-tons in time to squeeze a few notes out of whatever instru-ment their have in their hands at the time.In basic terms, La Caixeta by CaboSanRoque is a box f illed with surprises, genius and imagination, with a result that is, as one critic put it, “hypnotic”.

36

Barcelona is a pioneer in the development of ecological public transport, with buses that run on hydrogen cells and, even more sig-nificantly, the start-up of the first solar-powered hydrogen production plant.Since 2003, Barcelona has been committed to sustainability in public transport, including a pilot programme with hydrogen-pow-ered buses, as part of the project Clean Urban Transport for Europe (CUTE).

TheCUTEprojectThis European Union project seeks to promote the use of hydrogen cells as a form of clean energy for public transport. Thus, Barcelona has become a leader in the develop-ment of an innovative, ecological and sustainable technology. And it is so in both the use of hydrogen vehicles – an advanced technology which may prove to be the eco-logical alternative that ensures the sustainability of urban passenger transport – and infrastructure, in the form of a new fuelling station.

Transportation

Cell-poweredBusTHEHYDROGEN-POWEREDBUSthecleanestwaytogetaroundthecitybypublictransport

Transports Metropolitans de Barcelonawww.tmb.net

Implemented by

The vehicles run on compressed hydrogen stored in tanks in the roof. The buses are quiet-running, emission-free and thus promise an environmentally-friendly future for public transport

With the Metropolitan Transport of Barcelona (TMB) as the operator, BP as fuel supplier, and Mercedes Benz supplying the vehicles, Barcelona is at the forefront in the development of hydrogen-powered buses.

SpecificationsofthebusesThe vehicles, built by Mercedes Benz, run on compressed hydrogen stored in tanks in the roof. The buses are quiet-running, emission-free and thus promise an environ-mentally-friendly future for public transport. They have a total length of 12 metres and a low platform. On a single fuelling, they can cover a distance of 200 to 250km, with a maximum speed of 80km/hour. They have a capacity for 70 pas-sengers.The model shares all the advanced access features of the latest genera-tion of city buses in Barcelona, with space reserved for people in wheel-chairs and a platform at the middle door operated by the driver upon user’s request to facilitate boarding for people with reduced mobility.

AsustainablehydrogenplantBarcelona, however, is a step ahead of its sister cities in the project with a new, state-of-the-art hydro-gen station.The station was built by the energy company BP at the TMB bus facili-ties in Zona Franca, and is designed to produce and store the gas as well as refuel the buses.Covering an area of 1,100m2, this is the first plant in Europe to use solar energy to produce hydrogen, and it is the distinguishing mark of the project in Barcelona: a totally eco-logical and sustainable project in its use of a renewable energy source to produce the hydrogen necessary to carry out the pilot programme.

Hydrogen just might become the alternative energy par excellence in the 21st century, given that the supply is limitless and the emissions absolutely innocuous

The plant in Zona Franca is the first in Europe to use solar energy to produce hydrogen

Sunlight Solarpanels

Oxygen

Hydrogentanks

Hydrogencell

Electrolysisplant

Hydrogen

Hydrogencontainer

Hydrogendispenser

Electrons

Protons

Electricmotor

Onlywatervapouremissions

Water

40 Telecommunications

A new channel for multimedia communicationWILICOB-100wirelessaccesspoint

How would you like to arrive in a city you’ve never visited before and, by means of a discrete but powerful device, download an entire travel guide on to your mobile phone or PDA? And how about going to the supermarket and having at your fingertips complete information about any product that strikes your fancy? Or, perhaps, if you are a car dealer you would like prospec-tive buyers to be able to have the specifications for the latest model in their pocket? These are some of the possibilities offered by the Wilico B-100; these and many others, because indeed developers are only starting to explore the possibilities of Blue-tooth-based proximity marketing, and FuturLink has positioned itself at the forefront of such efforts.FuturLink, a hi-tech company and leader in the development of mobile phone interactive products and applications, came up with the idea, and now manufactures and distributes the Wilico B-100. The B-100 is completely new informa-tion access point which enables businesses and public institutions to interact with their customers and service-users on site.Spotting an opportunity for the future of communications, the FuturLink’s founding quartet — David Masó, Josep Manel Gil, Josep Cedó and Marc Dalmau — have developed an innovative product that has made their company a leader in the sector.

An innovative concept in communicationsFuturLink is a Catalan company founded in 2003 with the mission to develop and innovate products and applications which interact with mobile phones in proximity, using short-range wireless technologies like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, RFID or UWB.FuturLink now has customers round the world, thanks to a range of products that includes the Wilico terminal, which is subject to con-stant upgrading and updating, as is the entire software platform necessary for realizing its commu-nication capabilities. Wilico access points are used in implementing new proximity marketing strategies through mobile phones with Blue-tooth, and they incorporate Fenix Wi-Fi gateways to offer secure Internet access services, in both public and private spaces, when PDA, laptop or smartphone users are within the area of mobility.And while the true novelty is the communication concept made pos-sible by the Wilico B-100 access point, which is wholly produced by Futurlink, no less important is the realization and constant updat-ing of the application platform: in other words, the development of the software to enable advanced dynamic management and remote updating of the multimedia content of the access point by means of an Ethernet connection.

FuturLinkwww.futurlink.com

Thought up and produced by

The technology, for receiving and sharing information via Bluetooth links, opens new possibilities in mobile phone communication and marketing

42

Maxima Speed is considered the fastest edger on the world market, and is the top-of-the-range automatic edger from the optics maker INDO.Maxima Speed combines exclusive design with high performance, which for INDO has been the key to penetrating market segments which demand productivity and high efficiency from equipment. The quality of the system earned it a nomination for the Award of Excel-lence from the Optical Laboratory Association of the United States as the best edger of 2001, a nomination which was repeated in 2002. Moreover, despite being an industrial product, not a single detail of its appearance has been left to chance. Design makes the difference.For Santiago Albert, director of R&D for INDO’s industrial products division, Maxima Speed is proof that technical differentiation without strong visual identification won’t do in

Technology and design to create differentiating features

MAxIMASPEEDthefastestedgerontheglobalmarket

INDOwww.indo.es

Thought up and produced by

Optics

Maxima Speed is the result of a clearly structured R&D&I programme, to which we should add now ‘D’ for design

the market. And, in the case of Maxima Speed, the visual identification is the result of the INDO concept, in which design has three basic functions: a practical function, related to use; an aesthetic function, and a symbolic function. These functions make INDO stand out from its competitors and have won the appreciation of opticians.

AproductforprofessionalsThe main advantages of the system are speed at which it executes edging tasks, which means optimization of the work cycles and reduced down time.Maxima Speed is aimed at professionals with a heavy work flow, and incorporates five edging programmes and two grooving programmes, plus a polisher and a beveller. One of the main features of the machine is its adjustable operating pressure and automatic clamping pressure, using a sensor attached to the lens support.

DesignasadifferenceIn Maxima Speed, INDO has not only come up with an excellent edger in terms of its techni-cal qualities, but one which stands out on the market thanks to its distinguished design. It has all the qualities of a hi-tech product, at the same time as it lends itself to a strong interre-lation with the user and the public.

At INDO, the main innovation has been to incorporate design throughout all phases of R&D and in the search for new products

Quality is not a differ-entiating factor: it is a requirement. Technological differ-entiation is essential, but not sufficient in itself. The answer, innovation, lies in design

Since the 1980s, the INDO’s industrial prod-ucts division has sought to set itself apart from its competitors with innovative design and lots of personality. Each advance on the technological level is matched with an image that gives the product an added edge. Maxima Speed is the prime example of this. INDO sees design as an integral part of the development process for new products.

INDO,technology,innovationanddesignsince1937INDO was founded in Seville in 1937. Two years later, the company moved to Barcelona, where they started manufacturing their own products: optical lens and glasses. From the outset, the company pursued its own ambi-tious policy of technological and scientific development, and in the 1940s opened 40 outlets in Seville, Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia.

46

The art of mix WINTERCOLLECTIONdesignedtofendoffthecoldwithoutsacrificingthecompany’shallmarkstyle

Fashion

Custo Barcelonawww.custo-barcelona.com

Thought up and produced by

With each new collection, Custo Barce-lona, best known for its kaleidoscopic print shirts, breaks new ground with fresh mixes of textures, volumes, sizes, fabrics and prints, all in an expanding range of clothes.Indeed, at Custo it’s been some time since the shirt evolved from a simple support for the entertainment of the in-house graphics team into a broad spectrum of cuts and patterns. Without sacrificing the unique Custo style, the new winter shirt collection abounds in long sleeves and box necks, but the most original models boast puffs on the back, “bat” sleeves, bell cuts, lantern sleeves and tunic forms. Featuring superimposition, we find halter tops, short sleeves, mini-dresses, tops gathered beneath the bust,

At Custo it’s been a while since the shirt evolved from a simple support for the entertainment of the in-house graphics team to a broad range of cuts and prints

short boleros, blouse skirts and 1980s T-shirts with Japanese sleeves. Custo’s innovative bent, then, is reflected in the mission to continue evolving its products.Jerseys and jackets, too, exhibit a pano-ply of volumes conjured out of elastic waists and sleeves gathered at the cuff. In some cases, the pieces are short-ened to lend them a certain retro air; in others, they are lengthened, as in the kimono cardigan and knitted tunics. In a collection strong on diversity and sheer numbers of different models, we find all manner of knit jerseys and jackets, as well as a huge variety of trims, finishes and wools. Nor is there any shortage of jeans or short skirts, or the now classic biker jacket (with modified proportions), a broad range of unmistakably Custo dresses, as well as men’s wear.

Thecentrepiece:CoatsBut if there is one thing in this collec-tion that stands out for originality and distinction, it’s the coats, the prime novelty of the season. The people from Custo admit they’ve never put so much energy into coats, and the result is an entire range from loose overcoat-types

reminiscent of the early-20th-century chi-noisseries, to intricately detailed ‘poor-boy’ tweeds, sailor coats, three-quarter jackets with fur neck and cuffs, bomber jackets, silk-and-faux-leather anoraks, and a notable presence of a particular way of dealing with “double face”: jacquards – wool or silk shells lined with colourful acrylic plush.

WorkingtogethertoinnovateIn the confection of this symbiosis, Custo Barcelona worked with one of the top acrylic plush makers in the world. Redion-gots, coats with a Siberian air and old-style belted long coats exploit the latest textile technology for all its aesthetic and functional worth.Eye-catching too are the metallic fin-ishes, especially interesting when applied to knits with the ‘foil’ tech-nique, a heat treatment by which wool is coated with shiny metallic dye.And speaking of innovation, it’s also worth noting the incipient appearance of print patches on some of the denim pieces, something which signals a whole new ter-ritory for a fashion house that makes an art of the mix. And not to forget, of course, the prints, which on this occasion range from Hindu mythology to Manga com-ics, psychedelia, Japanese flowers, num-bers and letters, and cybernetic effects, among other motifs.

CustoBarcelona,inthevanguardoffashionBrothers Custodio and David Dalmau founded their first fashion design com-pany in the early 1980s. It wasn’t long before they had established a name clearly identifiable with an original and inno-

vative style of their own. The profes-sional experience they acquired during that phase, in matters of design as well as manufacturing and management, proved invaluable in preparing them for the adventure they embarked on in 1996 with the creation of Custo Barcelona. After making their debut in the US, they soon carved out a considerable stake of their own in that country’s star system.Custo Barcelona clothes sell in shops all over the globe and grace each season of New York Fashion Week. From the outset, the firm has always focused much of its energy on a quest for new graphic effects and fabric printing technologies in the continual pursuit of ways to break new ground in clothing.

In the confection of this symbiosis, Custo Barcelona has worked with one of the top acrylic plush makers in the world

From the outset, the firm has always focused much of its energy on a quest for new graphic effects and fabric printing technologies in the continual pursuit of ways to break new ground in clothing

52 Engineering

A device to deal with danger from a distanceAquilesa new portable robot, deactivates explosives and has industrial uses

Gutmar / Promaut / UPCwww.gutmar.com www.promaut.comwww.upc.es

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In a joint project, Gutmar, a company specialized in hi-tech mechanization and assembly of components and subsets, and Pro-maut, expert in electronic design and fabrication, have developed and built a new robot called Aquiles.The idea emerged after the 2004 Madrid train bombings, when it was became apparent that there was no robot on the market able to deac-tivate explosives in tight spaces, such as the aisle of an aeroplane, underground train or bus. The Aquiles has multiple functions and applications such as, for example, in negotiations in kidnappings, inspection of heavily polluted sites or the detection and deactivation of mines in potentially mined fields.

A uniquely versatile robotThe main aim of the Aquiles project was the research and development of a new type of robot: versatile and modular, manually transport-able, for use in high-risk missions which require a high level of reli-ability, robustness and security.The Aquiles offers solutions adapted to the needs and to the fields of work of security forces, the military and specialized indus-trial units employed in complex operations, such as: gathering evi-dence for subsequent evaluation, inspecting of tunnels and water mains and sewers, vigilance of NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) sites, or defusing bombs.

R&D effortsThe Aquiles is the result not only of the collaboration between busi-ness and academia, but its study and design became possible after a major effort in R&D&I. Indeed, the Aquiles is in itself a research and development project aimed at acquiring new knowledge and at the development of a functional prototype, which, in turn, has been successfully employed to justify the efforts put into R&D&I.Starting with the experience gained by security forces in the improvement and maintenance of explosives deactivation robots, the Aquiles demonstrates the techni-cal, industrial and commercial viability of a versatile robotic platform which, adapted to on-site needs and situations, serves as a foundation for the development of world-class robotic technology.On the basis of an open, modular architecture, conceived of to have the capacity to incorporate new technologies and market solutions, in the areas of mechanics, elec-tronics and communications, the Aquiles can serve as a mobile base platform for the industrial devel-opment of mobile robotic solutions as well as other more specific solutions in the areas of security, vigilance and manipulation in a military or civilian context.

The Aquiles has multiple applications, given that its basic conception lies in versatility, transportability and flexibility thanks to the adaptation of several manipulating arms

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Sweet flowers in a pot!sweets-on-A-sticka pot planted with edible flowers

Escribàwww.escriba.es

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It is not exactly a plant or a bouquet of f lowers, nor is it a cake or a box of sweets. But has a bit of all of those things! It’s a surprise that is sure to light up the smile of whoever is waiting for us to show up. A pot of Escribà’s sweet bro-chettes is gift of (depending on how you look at it) edible flowers or very ornamental

sweets, and certainly a way of making a stellar impression and offer that token of appre-ciation which, besides, you can share right then and there.The brochette, basically a sweet-on-a-stick, and one of Escribà’s wittiest products, is rendered anew with this presentation in a plant pot, a most original support for

holding the most mouth-watering gifts we might wish to share. In addition, while the ‘container’ is standardized in a few pot sizes, we can choose the ‘content’ to suit our fancy, in other words, to the taste of the person who is to receive the gift. For, beyond the incredibly colourful and tasty collection of brochettes on

Christian likes nothing more than to spread smiles and joy: that’s his motto, and based on that premise he gives free rein to his artistic talents in order to come up with the most mind-boggling creations

the menu designed by Chris-tian Escribà, undoubtedly, if you have a different idea for what to ‘plant’ in the pot, here they will make it a reality.From original mint leaves, to diminutive versions of classic pieces of patisserie, to avant-garde forms of sweets in a thousand colours, Escribà’s brochettes are, in themselves, true works of art.

spreading smiles…Above all, Christian likes to spread smiles and joy: that is his motto, and based on that premise he gives free rein to his artistic talents in order to come up with the most mind-boggling creations. Without doubt, his cakes and sweets are among the most extraor-dinary and imaginative in the world.

But beyond the personal whims and desires of each customer, at the Escribà cake shop the brains are always hard at work to think up simple, original tokens for us to make a good impression and spread a bit of smiles and joy ourselves. And that is precisely the point about the plant pots with sweets-on-a-stick.

With vocation and imagination, Christian Escribà has followed in the steps of his father, Antoni Escribà, known wide and far as the wizard of chocolate-making, and whom he has now surpassed in the personalization of all his cakes and confectionary

If you have a different idea for what to ‘plant’ in the pot, here they will make it a reality. That is Escribà’s speciality: make a reality of the cake each customer wants

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A Mediterranean touch for a company devoted to kids concept lab leGo® Barcelona

LEGo®www.lego.com

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Barcelona is home to Concept Lab, an overseas satellite of the concept development department of the Danish toymaker LEGO®. The department, which operates on the basis of in-house networking and direct contact with children, is the breeding ground for the company’s particular innovation processes and new products, as LEGO® seeks to remain faithful to its founding values of constructiveness while satisfying the changing tastes of kids round the world. As part of the firm’s global strategy, Barcelona has become one of the key pieces in its mission to spot new trends and new opportunities for innovation.

In recent years the toy sector has undergone profound and radical change. The new technologies have has a huge impact on the sector and even for the young-est children it is not hard to find as favoured playthings such hi-tech products as videogame consoles and MP3 players. In toys today, tradition faces direct com-petition from hi-tech.Given the circumstances, those box loads of toy cars, dolls, coloured fishes and the like passed down from parents to offspring, are in grave danger of extinc-tion, even if only slowly. Moreover, there are other factors operating in the mar-ket which make even more difficult the road to success for a new toy. From the unpredictable, rapidly changing character of consumers, to the delocalization of manufacturing in countries with cheap labour, the market has suffered a sea change in recent years.The LEGO® people had a good idea of the dangers and pitfalls which lay ahead as the company entered the 21st century. And the management saw clearly that the solution lay in a commitment to innovation throughout the company: from the business model to the product, including communications and the all processes that go into the cycle of development and production. A large part of this com-mitment involves the development of new concepts in toys, necessarily leading to the design of new toys. And in this progression of accumulating innovation, local input takes on a role of vast importance. This is where Barcelona comes in.

A familiar and educational toyThe fact that children can try out different combinations with the same pieces stimulates their imagination and helps them to create a world of their own. This, without doubt, is one of the keys to the success of LEGO® and, at once, one of the principles that has guided the firm practically since its founding.Currently, LEGO® is owned by the founder’s grandson Kjeld Kirk Christiansen and continues to base its business on the classic building bricks which have retained their popularity generation after generation. This continuity, along with

the incorporation of different processes of innovation, has enabled the firm to add new concepts and parallel technologies into its toys without straying from the company original concept. As part of the processes of adapting and updat-ing LEGO® toys to different sectors and markets, the company has developed a series of different lines of toys to suit children of different age groups, the result being the categories Baby, Quatro, Duplo, System and Technic. Then there are even newer products, such as Mindstorms (robot-building sets) or Bionicle (construction of action figures), both of which are good examples of the capacity which this group has shown for adapting to changing times.

the child is the star But the appearance of new products like Mindstorms or the Bionicle collection is no accident; rather it is the successful outcome of a comprehensive innovation process based on day-to-day in-depth, creative research. The Danish group has always maintained within its structure a line of research which seeks, above all, direct contact and experience with the final consumer: the child. And it pursues this through working (or playing) with children from the world over and, for the past two years, with the children of Barcelona. The choice of Barcelona was not by chance. The city holds out new perspectives and brings in a particular Medi-terranean vision. The Danish firm chose the city for its growing reputation as a city of design and as a place of particular interest for its dynamic, cosmopolitan and open character.With a workforce of some 4,500 people round the world, LEGO® does most of its manufacturing at its home factory in Denmark, with facilities in other coun-tries and external suppliers accounting for the rest. The final decorating and packaging of the finished product is done mostly in the US and Denmark. But this production network and the manufacturing of new products depends on a previous process of conceptualization, research, development and innova-tion. And here is where one of the group’s strong points lies. Both the concept

and the development of the product are done by the department of Global Innovation & Marketing (GIM), made up of a creative team of 150 designers of 18 different nationalities. GIM, which is responsible for opening up new paths and perspectives in research, has its headquarters at the firm’s main facility in Billund, Denmark. But offshoots of this department, the Concept Labs, are scattered round the world in the form of satellite laboratories, one of which is located in Barcelona.As Marta Tantos, Design Manager at the LEGO® Concept Lab in Barcelona, explains, “we are the ones who detect current needs in order to visualize them as the future needs of our main consumer: children. Our mission is to innovate in order to create new play experiences without straying from the basic principles of LEGO®.”The Barcelona Concept Lab belongs to a network which also includes other major cities round the world, like Los Angeles, Tokyo and Munich, as well as Bil-lund. These satellite groups are comprised of teams of two to four people who, at the same time, work with local networks of freelance collaborators and design-ers, experts and schools, yet always in contact with the rest of the members of Concept Lab. In the end, “what the Danish firm seeks is to keep the creative force alive in order to reinvent itself on a daily basis according to the input in the form of local trends and cultural inspirations”. Thus the process is based on local expe-rience but nonetheless obtains results to satisfy the tastes of a global market. Barcelona, then, has established itself for LEGO® too as place of special interest in the world. And this is due, as Marta Tantos tells us, to “its emerging character as an ideal city in the task of detecting new trends”.

The Barcelona Concept Lab belongs to a network which also includes other major cities round the world, like Los Angeles, Tokyo and Munich, as well as Billund

experience and networkingLEGO® is, in reality, more than a product, an entire experience. Marta Tan-tos describes it as follows: “One of the big advantages that LEGO® has is the strength of the name. It is known all over the world, for both the logo and the brick, and that is certainly so because, on the one hand, it was the first toymaker with a construction system using bricks, but, more so, because the experience of playing with LEGO® is so creative, genuine and high-quality that it sticks in the memory in everyone who uses it.”In pursuing this objective, two main points define the processes of innovation at the Danish toymaker. On the one hand, the effective networking among the dif-ferent components that make up GIM and Concept Lab, and, on the other, the contact and the experience with kids. The Danish group firmly believes that you cannot innovate in toys if you do not have input from the main user as a key factor in generating new ideas which can lead to new products.Concept Lab must be able to synthesize the abstract and move “from inspiration to systematic study” and, thus, the input from children will in the end be very impor-tant. “In order to create toys you have to know children,” Marta Tantos explains. “You have to share children’s experiences throughout their development; you have to know how children grow up and, so any research process must be focused on the final consumer and on what methods we can use to get to know that person, as well as knowing the types of situations in which they might find themselves, how society is changing and how those changes might affect him or her.”

Barcelona holds out new perspectives and brings in a particular Mediterranean vision. The Danish firm chose the city for its growing reputation as a city of design and as a place of particular interest for its dynamic, cosmopolitan and open character

tools of innovationWorking within the framework dictated by GIM, the Concept Lab satellites take an active role in the product concept and development phases. Basically, their job is to discover new trends and to understand the motivations behind the play experience. Systemization and creativity can coexist in a successful innovation process.Which is why at LEGO® they work with methods that lay the foundations for direct experience with the final consumer and with the retailers; methods such as direct observation and participation in the experience of purchasing and playing, sessions with children, interviews with parents and salespeople, tests of new concepts or the observation of the environment, displaying or the access and appearance of packaging. Thus, the role of Concept Lab is to provide a first foundation in the development of the product. Innovation, in any case, is not an isolated action; rather it is the product of a continuum over time. Which is why of equal important are the research tools used to identify local trends, as well as the capacity for networking in order that such trends can be assumed within the company’s overall strategy. Thus, the professionals at Concept Lab have to be strong on integration, flexibility, networking and, above all, passion for continu-ous creativity and contact with children.In short, in this globalized world LEGO® not only provides the tools for play, but also to create one’s own toys, and even to share them. In short, LEGO® innovates as it fosters innovation among others... with Barcelona as one of its key players.

The Danish group firmly believes that you cannot innovate in toys if you do not have input from the main user as a key factor in generating new ideas which can lead to new products

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The strength of Nomad is that there was no product like it on the market

Invent a new product to reinvent a company’s futurenomAda bag for carrying a picnic lunch discreetly and in style

Design

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Sennse Consultantswww.sennse.com

Producedby

Valirawww.valira.com

Sennse Consultants oversaw and carried out the innovation process which enabled the Valira company to launch on the market Nomad, a highly successful product thanks to which the f irm has been able to survive the heavy competi-tion from China. The secret: focus innovation on people in

order to discover unsatisf ied needs, the basis for creating added value.

nomad, an innovative solution for bringing your lunch from home Every day more and more peo-ple eat lunch out, with neither the time nor the desire to go

whatever eatery that happens to closest at hand. In this case, the classic lunch box or the range of plastic contain-ers to be had on the market has always been the best way to store food and tote it to and fro. But… where do we leave the lunch box? How do we carry it without having to

resort to some old carrier bag we f ind round the kitchen?To solve this problem, Valira, a Catalan company which makes household goods, with the inestimable aid of Sennse Consultants through-out the innovation process, has brought out Nomad, an elegant, functional bag made out of quality, hi-tech materials, for carrying food prepared at home discreetly and in style. The Nomad bag is specially designed to hold two 100% air-tight plastic containers, a piece of fruit or other dessert, serviette and cutlery. Inside, the bag is lined with hygienic, metallic insulating fabric.

But, how does the creation of a new product come about?Following the launch of this new product on the market, Valira saw their total sales rise by 4%, a rate signif icantly above what would be generally considered to be a case of a

successful new product. But it is not that easy: as Gregor Gimmy, managing partner at innovation experts Sennse Consultants, says “innovation does not begin with brainstorming for ideas for new products; it begins with research into consumer needs and into the company’s capabilities.” And this is the case of the Nomad bag. A client, Valira, turned to Sennse Consultants because it saw that the sales of its plastic containers were dropping due to the competi-tion from China. Hence, they were prepared to embark on a process of innovation which would enable them to take a whole new angle on the market and discover how they could offer consumers new added values.At this point, Sennse Con-sultants began their par-ticular research process, which, based on studies of user experience, analysis of company capabilities (f inan-

cial resources, productive resources, etc.) and research into technologies, led to the discovery, evaluation and exe-cution of new market oppor-tunities, as well as what new features to offer in the prod-uct. This does not mean cre-ating a new need, but rather discovering a latent need, one which consumers do not know they have. It is at this stage that it becomes apparent that, rather than in improving the technology of the containers, the opportunity lies in a solu-

Valira saw that the launch of its new product on the market resulted in a 4% increase in its total sales

tion to the aversion caused in users by the lack of discre-tion and style found in the available home-packed lunch containers.With this goal, Sennse Consultants embarked on a new stage: innovation strat-egy – idea development, experimental prototype production and even spe-

cif ic advice on how the client can bolster its capabilities. Finally, they reached the def initive design stage of the new lunch bag. Sennse Consultants also assumed the role of overseer in the product development and manufac-turing, as well as the def ini-tive design of the bag and its entire visual identity.

It’s not about creating a new need, but discovering a latent need… one which consumers did not know they had

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A Totes Horeswww.atodashoras.com

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24-hour shoppingA totes Horesthe first automatic supermarket

Services

The concept is new. The system, on the other hand, is familiar to all. Just like an automatic cash or video dispenser, A Totes Hores raises the curtain on the first automated supermarkets in Spain.“Times change, technology evolves, society adapts and the market offers new business opportuni-ties.” This is the vision and phi-losophy of the partners at A Totes Hores, who have successfully developed and patented a simple, low-cost system that operates like an intelligent automatic shop remotely controlled via the Inter-net. A Totes Hores has opened fran-chises in several Spanish cities and in Andorra.

Thanks to a simple, quick and efficient automatic system, A Totes Hores opens a new age in 24-hour downtown shopping

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Applying advanced technologies to prevent floodingGAduAdvanced urban drainage management in Barcelona

Urbanservices

The city of Barcelona has a long history of flooded streets following the torrential rains common in spring and autumn around the Mediterranean basin. To prevent flooding due to excess rainfall, the Barcelona City Coun-cil has for the last twelve years depended on Advanced Urban Drainage Management (GADU), based on a precise, exhaustive knowledge of the system, comprehensive planning, real-time complete coordinated management, and an environmentally-sound sustainable focus on the complete water cycle.The name GADU stands for a work philosophy based on the application of the most advanced technologies in all aspects of sewerage sys-tem management. This philosophy is at root of all of the technological developments carried by the city sewerage company, Clavegueram

Clavegueram de Barcelona S.A.www.clabsa.es

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de Barcelona S.A. (Clabsa), since was created in 1992, which have been coupled with a major investment effort aimed at equipping the city of Barcelona with the infrastructures neces-sary to control, in conditions of heavy rainfall, flooding and spillage into receiving environ-ments. The GADU system is based on complete and detailed computerized information about the territory, comprehensive planning of sewer-age, stormwater drainage and the relations with wastewater treatment and the receiving environment, a complete and coordinated exploitation in real time of necessary planning and projects, and, above all, a focus on the environment, sustainability and quality.

sewerage and drainage infrastructures in BarcelonaEffective application of GADU would be impossible were it not for the large number of sensors and automatic switches through-out the city’s extensive sewerage network, in addition to a whole series of infrastructures, much of which is highly advanced technologi-cally, and the constant efforts of Clabsa in the area of R&D. Among these infrastructures is the Territorial Information System (SITE), a comprehen-sive technological system that is key to any intervention in the sewerage system and, in general, all urban services, as well as urban planning and development.

Effective application of GADU would be impossible were it not for the large number of sensors and automatic switches throughout the city’s extensive sewerage network

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Hugo Bertrand Albert Montesinoswww.chicandbasic.com

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PrincelyaccommodationcHic & BAsic Borna hotel where the guest is the star

Services

Designedby

Equip XCLXavier Claramunt, Martín Ezquerro, Marc Zaballawww.xclaramunt.com

Visitors to the city now have a new choice of hotel at Carrer Princesa, 50, an establishment which, despite its moderate prices, skimps not on the details, making your stay an experience nothing short of unique with hi-tech facilities, professional services and, above all, an atmosphere that can only be defined as chic.This is a new sort of establish-ment rooted in the bed & breakfast model, but with a personality of its own marked by a clear style. The concept is simple enough: an urban hotel with a casual atmosphere, quality facilities and service – and affordable rates. The mise en scène is

innovative in the best sense of the word: respect for the architecture of the building, integration in the surrounding neighbourhood and, above all, inside the commitment to an elegant, sober aesthetic with a strong personality of its own. The result is Chic & Basic: innova-tion to create an original, distinc-tive image.

An atmosphere for dreamersYou must experience Chic & Basic Born, the Chic & Basic hotel chain’s first establishment, to understand what architect-designer Xavier Claramunt and team (Equip XCL) were aiming for when they settled on

This is a new sort of establishment rooted in the bed & breakfast model, but with a personality of its own marked by style

their approach to the interior spaces, all of which have their role in the hotel’s concept, in the building and in a lively historic neighbourhood. The building is over 100 years old, with ceilings seven metres high and a grand first floor, which fol-lowing Claramunt’s intervention receives us with halls draped in colourful curtains, and rooms with a glass-enclosed shower smack dab in the middle and a lighting system to colour the arctic white walls to suit the mood of the moment. Plus there’s the common area with music and cosily cushioned furnishings and a massage chair. Finally, there’s the White Bar, already one of the one of the in spots of Barcelona by night.The Xavier Claramunt team won the Contractworld 2007 architecture and design prize for this project.

reconceive space, respect historyThe idea was to create a different sort of space in order to offer guests a unique experience, for them to feel like princes and princesses for a night. The refurbishment of the building (which had previously suffered a somewhat careless inter-vention) has expressly conserved original decorative elements such as

volutes and cornices, which, in fact, help add an elegantly chic air to an aesthetic and spatial arrangement marked by a distinct minimalism.The interior, centred on the large lobby with its marble staircase, gets its character from its arrangement in rooms with the aim, as Claramunt explains, “of creating little para-dises that contribute to the feeling of belonging to a larger space. The device seeks to create the sensation that one is in a large space, a bas-tion of intimacy in an apparently large house. And all that in order to achieve a new experience… to feel a bit like a princess of old…”

the chic & Basic chainChic & Basic isn’t just a hotel, it’s a concept in accommodation that extends beyond the Born establish-ment to a hotel and apartment chain marked by the idea of B&B with style.Today, Chic & Basic also has other establishments, including hotels in Madrid and Barcelona on carrer Tallers, as well as a collection of apartments throughout the city of Barcelona. All, of course, without diverging from the concept of afford-able urban chic comfort of the origi-nal Born hotel.

The interior gets its character from its arrangement in rooms with the aim of creating little paradises that contribute to the feeling of belonging to a larger space

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Hello!

Cromosoma / Televisió de Catalunyawww.cromosoma.com/3BBwww.tv3.cat

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An animated way to learn English Speak and play with the three BaBieSthe triplets speak english

Education

Shoes!

Hello!

The Triplets just keep on breaking new ground. Now, under the mul-timedia animation and production company Cromosoma and with the co-production of the Catalan TV3, kiddies’ favourite cartoon show will be providing fun, easy and effective lessons in English.One of the novelties is that the series is actually aimed at the earliest age group: children 1 to 4 years of age. The basic idea is an English learn-ing method featuring the char-acters from the Catalan cartoon series known round the world, with a set of materials and support platforms, for a comprehensive and innovative project.The idea is to offer entertaining educational material specifically designed for young children to listen to, play and become familiar with English from an early age. The collection consists of ten interac-tive DVDs, each of which is accom-panied by an exercise book. A native English-speaking actor helps the children through the exercises in the book.

The scripts have been developed to parallel the processes of language acquisition in young brains, using repetition and visual support as necessary aids to effective learning

Toys

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Escofet 1886www.escofet.es

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When concrete is as light as river water modulAr nAGuisA BencHthe most original applicationfor precast concrete

Designedby

Toyo Ito & Associateswww.toyo-ito.co.jp

Design

When Japanese architect Toyo Ito wanted someone to manufacture his Naguisa modular concrete bench, he turned to Escofet 1886 and their exclusive precast concrete system.Naguisa is a series of modular precast concrete benches gracing Island City Park at the centre of an artificial island in Hakata bay, in the city of Fukuoka, Japan. The modular benches form curves 11 and 7.5 metres in diameter over-looking the pond in front of the Grin-Grin Centre, a complex of three green-houses half-submerged in the artificial landscape, also by Toyo Ito.

A flexible, imaginative benchThe basic module of the Naguisa bench is a curved section 4 metres long in which the concave parts serve as a seat and the upper part, with its organic form, serves as a backrest. The complete series comprises four types of modu-lar curved sections: two with a radius of 3.75 metres and two with a radius of 5.5 metres. All of them can be assembled to create rings, wave-like figures or free forms.The Naguisa bench was conceived for pilot use at Island City Park with the intention of developing it beyond the strict functional limits of a conventional bench, with its gentle, natural forms spurring the imagination of its users to inform the evolution of an artificial landscape.

The Naguisa bench is an urban furnishing with the capacity to transform the space of a large square or park into a landscape in harmony with its presence

Hi-tech production In the development of the bench, Escofet 1886 tested the ergonomics of the modules with a series of milled polystyrene prototypes. Using these models, the architects tried out different textures and colours.The high-strength precast concrete modules are reinforced with a stainless steel skeleton. The surface of the seat is rough and the back is smooth and shiny.

A bench as sinuous as a riverThe Naguisa bench was designed for integration in an urban setting or large parks. Its gentle curves evoke the course of a river calling ambivalently for a

Escofet 1886’s exclusive precast concrete technology made the Naguisa bench possible

decent life and, at once, stirring the imagination of its users. In short, it is an urban furnishing with the capacity to transform the space of a large square or park into a landscape in harmony with its presence.The modules are designed for flexible assembly and use, and it is also notewor-thy that it has also been conceived as the ideal urban furnishing for narrow pedestrian streets or small natural spaces.

At the service of the urban landscapeEscofet has also designed and manufactures numerous urban elements, some of which are found in Barcelona: among them the traditional panot tiles seen on the pavements of the Eixample, the pavements of a large part of the Port Olímpic and the Diagonal Mar axis, as well as the new and original benches along the Gran Via.

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Wavecontrolwww.wavecontrol.com

Taming the jungle of radiofrequencies around ussmrF and mapema new radiofrequency capture and monitoring system

Thoughtupandproducedby

Engineering

The SMRF’s applications range from controlling emission sources to monitoring specific sensitive points

versity of Catalonia, and consists of a series of monitoring stations at key locations and controlled remotely from a computerized con-trol centre.The monitoring stations measure the electromagnetic field con-stantly (24 hours a day, 365 days a year) and take an average of the levels obtained, based on which the different standards are defined. The measured data is sent to the control centre, where it is pro-cessed and visualized.The SMRF’s applications range from controlling emission sources to monitoring specific sensitive points, as well questions of mobile telephony coverage in general. Finally, with the graphic applica-tion MapEM even the tiniest detail can be visualized with the greatest precision.

The SMRF (Radiofrequency Moni-toring System), with its MapEM (electromagnetic map) application, generates the highest precision radiofrequency maps in real time. On the strength of its effective-ness and innovative technology, the system has been acquired by the Catalan government and imple-mented throughout Catalonia.

Surrounded by electromagnetic radiationThe effects of electromagnetic radiation on living beings are a cause for concern among many people today. All electrical and electronic devices produce radia-tion. However, there are essential infrastructures, such as mobile telephone base stations, which produce electromagnetic radiation in their operation.

Permanent monitoring 24 hours a daySMRF is a newly designed system, developed and manufactured by WaveControl in collaboration with the Electromagnetic Compatibility Group from the Polytechnic Uni-

Monitoring stations The monitoring stations consist basically of an electromagnetic field capture and measurement block, a data treatment, averaging and memorization block and a com-munication device to send the data to the control centre.

Data control centre The data control centre is, in reality, the software component of the system. It receives from the remote monitoring stations periodic reports with all the lev-els measured since the previous report. It can also programme different parameters into the stations.

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Digital Legendswww.digital-legends.com

Mind-blowing heroes and simulations, in the palm of your handone top-rank fighting game design for nokia’s n-Gage portable console

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Entertainment

oNE has revolutionized 3D graphics and taken the N-Gage’s capabilities to the limit

ONE, an EME (Meristation Excellence) award-winning videogame, is the first project for Nokia by the Barcelona firm Digital Legends.In just four years of existence, Digital Legends has emerged as a top player in the global videogame industry thanks to ONE, a fight-ing game for the Nokia N-Gage mobile phone console.

in the graphic forefrontONE has received unanimous praise from the experts in the sector as the first completely 3D portable console game, which gives a mea-sure of the capabilities of the Barcelona firm in graphics technology.ONE is a fighting game for players over 14 years-of-age that gives the player huge lever-age in customizing the fighters with 300 dif-ferent components to choose from, in addition to the possibility of choosing from among a dozen landscapes inspired in real-world set-tings. The game can be played in pairs, using Bluetooth technology (each player with his or her own console), or singly against the machine itself or on Arena, the N-Gage vir-tual community, pitting oneself against local, national or international competition.

A 15-person teamThe creation of a videogame like ONE entails, of course, the creation of an entire virtual world of landscapes and street-fighting. To this end, a team of 15 people spent over a year working with the Finnish multinational and the results were good enough to make them one of Nokia’s main suppliers. In developing the game, the company worked closely with a

team of specialists in acrobatics and mar-tial arts. Apparently, the fine job done by Digital Legends exceeded all expectations. Moreover, Nokia is convinced that ONE and its spin-off ONE Who’s Next will prove a big boost for the sales of their mobile phone console.In 2005, Gamespot, a leading videogame magazine, put ONE on its Most Wanted shortlist of games. Among other kudos, ONE was also nominated for Best Cell Phone Game of 2006 at the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Awards (the ‘Oscars’ of videogames).

digital legends Digital Legends was founded in May, 2001, by Ángel Cuñado, Xavier Carrillo, José Luis Vaello and Jean Philippe Raynaud, under the aegis of the La Salle-Cidem Trampolí Tecnològic. Their first goal was to develop new graphic motors for the design of ultimate generation games, and they soon obtained results which certified their savoir-faire right through the entire cycle of R&D&I.In 2003 Digital Legends was signed up as a registered developer for the Microsoft XBOX platform and, by April, 2004, they were closing a deal with Nokia as a First Party developer of the ONE game for the N-Gage platform.

This is a fighting game that gives players maximum leverage in customizing their game, its characters, with 300 different components to choose from, and another twelve real-world landscapes to place them in

Currently, Digital Legends is diversifying the development of videogames on other technological platforms. With its strategic agreements with Nokia, world leader in mobile telephony, and NCsoft, world leader in online gaming, the Barcelona firm is assured of international recognition and the continuance of their operations in two of the biggest growth areas in the industry, according to a study by ABI Research.

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Barcelona Supercomputing Centerwww.bsc.es

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Engineering

An advanced toolat the service of researchmAre nostrumBarcelona’s supercomputer

The Mare Nostrum is one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, and it is also the reason the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre (BSC) is able to carry out its mission of technological research, development and management to facilitate advancements in science.In this context of multidisciplinary approach, the BSC boasts a large number of researchers and experts in high performance computing who work with this supercomput-ing tool towards the advancement of science. Directed by Professor Mateo Valero, this supercomputation cen-tre inherited the tradition of the European Centre for Parallelism of Barcelona and its purpose is to be a centre for research in supercom-

putation (with specialized areas in supercomputation and computer architecture), in areas such as e-Science which require supercom-putation resources, and in the life and earth sciences.

mare nostrum, an advanced tool serving researchThe specifications of this ‘toy’ are spectacular, and they demonstrate how far ultimate-generation tech-nology can go. The machine, the most power-ful in Europe, is configured in 29 computing racks with a peak performance of 42.35 teraflops (42.35 billion floating point opera-tions per second), 9.6 terabytes of main memory, equivalent to 18,000 home PCs.

From cosmological simulation to new drug development Among the innovative applications from the areas of e-Science executed so far by Mare Nostrum, there are a number of examples of ‘Grand Challenges’; in other words, applica-tions characterized for their exceptional scientific interest and exceptional demand for supercomputation resources. Applica-tions such as cosmological simulation of the formation of the structure of the universe, turbulence simulation for aerodynamic studies of aircraft and ships, predicting air quality and the impact of dust from the Sahara on Europe, and interaction among proteins for the development of new drugs, among other, have achieved results never before obtained by any other research cen-tre on the world stage.

The mission of the BSC is to carry out technological research, development and management to facilitate advancements in science

the space in the chapelThe Mare Nostrum is something special. And therefore it is also located in rather peculiar space. Combining the modernity of racks and other hi-tech items with the serenity of a space conceived for meditation and thought, the super-computer hums away endlessly in the former chapel of the Torre Girona, a room also once used as an auditorium. In any event, the facility comprises three areas: a first space at the cen-tre of the chapel, where the super-computer sits in a large glass enclo-sure, a rectangular cube measuring 9 x 18 x 5 metres; over 19 tonnes of glass and 26 tonnes of steel went into its construction.

The facility’s second area is in the garden: underground, square-plan premises for the cooling system, generator and transformers. A third area, along one side of the chapel, houses the electrical con-trol boards, fire detection and extinguishing systems, the unin-terruptible power supply systems and connection points to the scien-tific communications network, the Scientific Ring.The other spaces in the chapel have been remodelled for visitors and information exchange, in order to be able to show the general public the sort of research that can be done with the aid of this unique and powerful tool for processing information.

The Mare Nostrum’s main memory is equivalent to 18,000 home PCs!

100 Design

With her hand-crafted, made-to-order dolls, fashion designer Maria del Mar González has created an entire world. Working with just fabric, needle and thread, supplemented by a good deal of ingenuity and imagination, she makes dolls with sur-prising personality, in an astounding display of imagination in dressing and personalization.

creating one’s own aesthetic world Moreover, with accessories such as handbags, belts or T-shirts, anyone can be a bit Lolita. Lolitas are quite special creatures. No two are alike, because no two people are alike, and they all look like something out of an animated film. Cool and with a life of their own, almost.

A story of fun and passionLolita is a young brand, as young as Maria del Mar’s nephew, Marc, who is now three and a half. It all began with the idea of making a gift for him and for her other three nieces and nephews.Maria del Mar is a fashion designer and she has always liked making things with any old bit of fabric she finds around the house or that she thinks might have some use. Indeed, as she says, “with a needle and thread, I’m happy…” And that is how she came up with the idea for a gift: a fun photo frame with a matching doll, a different one for each child. Some friends saw what she’d done and encouraged her to do more and show them around. And one day, Maria del Mar took her dolls

Do you want a doll that looks like you? or do you want to look like a doll?lolitAsdolls born in Barcelona

Maria del Mar Gonzálezwww.lolitasbcn.com

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Give Maria del Mar a photo of yourself and she’ll turn you into a cool Lolita rag doll. And always hand-made!

to Merkafad in Barcelona, just to see what would happen. And what happened was that everyone was taken with the idea, she sold her entire stock and the orders started raining in from everywhere.Since that day, Maria del Mar hasn’t stopped working on her pet project, and with each day another Lolita story has appeared. For each Lolita is another story, and each story has its own Lolita doll. Now she does dolls in different sizes, T-shirts, bags… and they are sold in Barcelona, Valen-cia, Madrid, Bilbao, Jaen, Almeria, Seville, Paris and Tokyo… In Barcelona you can find them at Novedades, in Carrer Peu de la Creu, 24. On the web, too, where you can make up your own story and the doll you want.

A doll for everyoneAs Maria del Mar says, anyone can be Lolita. The only require-ment is a sense of fun and the desire. If you have always wanted to have a doll as a faithful reflection of yourself, or if you want to surprise someone with a different, unique gift, there is nothing like a Lolita.

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Yahoo!http://research.yahoo.com

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Research and innovation with a look to the future of the Internet Yahoo! Research Barcelona

The future of Internet business depends on innovation as a crucial factor in research into new applications to bolster interactivity with the user. This is the pillar of the US company Yahoo!’s strategy as it looks to the future of its business and research programme carried out in the global Internet company’s laborato-ries in Silicon Valley, Berkeley, New York, Santiago de Chile and, now, Barcelona.

Yahoo! is a global Internet firm, with headquarters in Sunnyvale (California), and one of the most visited online destinations in the world. The goal at Yahoo! is to be the leading online provider of services essential to the lives of its users and to offer complete marketing solutions for businesses which reach Internet users worldwide. Which is why this US multinational annually invests 317.4 million euros in research and development, the only road to acquiring the ability to offer innovative services.

Yahoo! Research develops world-class science, which will deliver the next genera-tion of businesses to the company. Yahoo! Research scientists study data-driven analysis, high-quality search, algorithms and economic models. They are true web explorers, tireless bloodhounds sniffing out the clues that users leave on the net and that can guide the experts in finding new and better solutions for a given problem. Among other target areas, they study search fields, the links they gen-erate, the paths and relations between links and Internet navigation, in addition to the keywords in documents and information which can lead more quickly and efficiently to the desired results.

Working with University Directed by the web-mining expert Dr Ricardo Baeza-Yates, the Yahoo! Research centre in Barcelona is linked to the Barcelona Media Centre for Innovation, a non-profit institution with support from local businesses, the Barcelona City Council and the Catalan government, and has ties to the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF). The centre’s facilities will eventually be at Parc Barcelona Media in the city’s hi-tech 22@ district, but for now, and until the new centre is ready, the laboratory is operating out of UPF’s Estació de França campus.

Innovation as a key to businessWhy is it that when we key in one or another search word we land at a certain site? Do we users like the way the information is presented? How would we change it? Why do certain Internet sites achieve such overwhelming global success? The research efforts carried out under the leadership of Ricardo Baeza-Yates will find the answers, and solutions, to these and many other questions. And, that, with a virtual, infinite world behind the computer monitor. Which is why it is so impor-tant to have the best web mining experts on board.Indeed, Yahoo! handles one of the largest data bases in the world, and its researchers explore the information it contains, individually and collectively, at the same time as they protect the privacy of their users and set the standards for

others to follow in terms of user value. The twelve members who now make up the company’s Barcelona research group work in data analysis and the development of new services focusing on upgrading Internet data searching. They are young people of different nationalities whose working language is English. Their job will be, in simple terms, to analyze thousands of bits of data using different systems and technologies, such as the application of algorithms and quicksort practices.

The importance of the algorithmCurrently, the boom in new information sharing formulas designed by expert users also means the appearance of new algorithms which a company like Yahoo! must know how to compile and assess. On the basis of these ground-breaking advances, the Barcelona centre will focus its research on three areas: upgrading text search systems, faster access to information, and video, one of the company’s strategic commitments. Among the research perspectives open before the Barcelona R&D centre, Baeza-Yates stresses that “the big challenge is to know where most to exploit the power of users; what are the mechanisms to encourage participation from the public, as well as finding a way to deal with spam.”

Main lines of researchWeb mining activities (search for and exploitation of implicit information) com-prise the main thread in the research carried out by the Barcelona group. This means having to shift through a daily flood of information in order to discover the relations that are established between Yahoo! and its users and between the

The boom in new information sharing formulas designed by expert users also means the appearance of new algorithms which a company like Yahoo! must know how to compile and assess

users themselves, as well as what business perspectives are suggested by these relations and/or certain formulas of user organization or information sharing which emerge spontaneously on the web (as in the case of YouTube).With these goals the R&D activities in Barcelona focus on Internet search differ-entiation and systems upgrading.Yahoo! aspires to maintain links with communities of developers and will stress how to use what people do on the web to upgrade rankings and searches, or how to document a search by an expert. As Baeza-Yates explains, “there’s a huge potential because we are still just scratching the surface of the massive amount of data on the web and Barcelona will be a first-class tool in the search for better ways of searching for and classifying all that information.”Another of the top priorities at the Barcelona R&D centre will be image search-ing, something which is still impossible. They are looking into how, for example, you post a photo of someone and look for where the same image appears else-where on the Internet.In short, the Yahoo! research centre in Barcelona is another link in the global chain of innovation that the company is developing as part of its international operations. Within a global R&D strategy, Barcelona will be magnet for Internet research scientists and focus its research on the quest for new forms of finding, sharing and classifying information.

Web mining activities – search for and exploitation of implicit information – comprise the main thread in the research carried out by the Barcelona group

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Emiliana Designwww.emilianadesign.com

Produced by

nanimarquinawww.nanimarquina.com

More than just a carpetFlYIng caRpeT a new way of living at home

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Design

Who hasn’t at least once in their life dreamt of sitting down on a flying carpet and being swept away through the sky? Well, to satisfy the imagination and, above all, the comfort of those who like to relax and feel like they were floating on air, but without having to leave home, designers Ana Mir and Emili Padrós offer an innovative, original and fun solution in their Flying Carpet.

Flying Carpet is a whole new class of home furnishing

The carpet comes with 100% wool felt ‘wedges’ to slip underneath and create the ideal landscape for comfortable support

Is it a piece of furniture? a carpet? a decorative element?Flying Carpet is more than a simple carpet. Unlike a normal carpet, it is not meant to lie flat; rather it is designed for the user to create his or her own forms to suit the needs of the moment. It is a 3D space, fun and comfortable, for sit-ting, lying down and relaxing in general, and is suitable for both private and public spaces.

Simplicity and imaginationFlying Carpet is a product of astounding simplicity. Taking a hand-tufted wool carpet, the designers added soft, rounded wedges to slide underneath it and turn a flat carpet into a miniature landscape of hills and valleys into which you can snuggle at your leisure.As the creators put it: “In this project we were quite clear that we did not want to design a decorative carpet simply to walk on. We conceived Flying Carpet as a cross between a car-pet and a chair, as a space for rest. A carpet for doing things on the floor, as they do in other cultures.”

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Lo más Legalwww.lomaslegal.com

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Street-corner lawyers lo MáS legal the first legal counselling shop in Spain

Services

The concept is simple: bring the law office down to the street, offer transparent, affordable prices and expand the opening hours

It was a year ago that a new legal counselling service opened it doors to bring lawyerly advice to the citizen and break with the classic mould of legal offices.Lo más Legal, whose premises are at carrer Muntaner, 3, (corner of Ronda Sant Antoni), is the first legal shop in Spain, and the firm is poised for gradual expansion with new branches throughout the country. One shop is set to open in the nearby town of l’Hospitalet, and they hope to soon be selling their services out of similar establish-ments in Madrid, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca and other Spanish cities. The goal is to create a network of establishments to spread the con-cept and bring legal shops to the citizen on the street. They are also studying the viability of exporting the idea to other countries.

A law shop?Lo más Legal is, in simple terms, a legal counselling shop. As Bettina Götzenberg, head of the business project, and with over twenty years in the profession, explains: “I wanted everyone to have access to all sorts of legal advice without having to go to a lawyer’s offices, with what that entails in costs. So I thought of putting together Lo más Legal, a corner shop that, in the end, is like a newsagents, a bread shop or a shoe shop, but instead of buying bread, shoes or a pen there, you buy legal advice. In doing so, we bid farewell to the classic model of legal counselling in lawyers’ cham-bers, because we believe that you have to remove the barriers people experience in accessing informa-tion about their rights.”Each shop is staffed by four law-yers who serve clients personally, with an average of about 50 con-sultations a week.

A team of experienced professionalsThe staff at the shops are all members of the Barcelona Law-yers’ College with over five years of experience in the practice. Their function is to help people to under-

stand, and thus have the tools to defend, their rights.Clients are dealt with immediately and given personalized attention: as soon as you walk in the door at Lo más Legal, you are met by a lawyer, who listens to your problem and gives you immediate, expert guidance. All types of law are dealt with in the same shop: domestic conflicts, inheritance, resident’s papers, contracts or mediation. Civil law, labour law, immigra-tion, trade or penal: Lo más Legal is always ready to solve any legal problem that might come up.This is how it works: for a mini-mum charge of 25 euros the client receives 15 minutes of legal coun-selling from a lawyer. The hours are from 8:30 in the morning to 20:30 in the evening. The shops do not close at midday. And another point: no previous appointment is required.

Online services tooAs well as offering walk-in services, Lo más Legal also offers its ser-vices over the Internet. So, if you cannot get to the nearest Lo más Legal shop, you can send any ques-tion you have via the Internet and Lo más Legal will respond within a maximum period of 48 hours.

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Pich-Aguilera arquitecteswww.picharchitects.com

A home for sustainability The paU claRIS hoUSIng BUIldIngan example of comfort rooted in balance and symbiosis with the environment

Sustainability, ecology, respect for the environment – today these terms are generally associated with positive values. And even in big cities, where these concepts are lost among the asphalt and concrete, we can still find oases where they provide a breath of fresh air.One of these islands of harmony is in Barcelona, in Carrer de Pau Claris, between Gran Via and Diputació, where the Pich-Aguilera architectural team designed and supervised the construction of an outstanding building built with cutting-edge technology in which sustainability is the backbone. The building is a compendium of a large part of the ecological solutions developd by the architects, a pioneering team in the concept of planning sustainability into the project.

“Respect for the environment as a value which must be managed has reached the stage of social consensus, and architecture must seek out alternatives which provide a more stimulating relationship with nature and a more honest application of natural resources, which can act as an objective guide in our to approach planning and building technology from a contemporary perspective.”

Felip pich-aguilera Baurier

Architecture

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An outstanding building built with cutting-edge technology in which sustainability is the backbone

The project The project embraces the building of flats and offices plus parking garage (for the building and as a public service) and the redevelopment of the interior of a square block of l’Eixample in Barcelona as a green space.The overall design aims at maximizing thermal inertia, energy efficiency and sustainability in general. One of the most outstanding features is the land-scaped atrium providing access and natural light to each flat, with functions of a bioclimatic order and – capturing the prevailing winds – in providing natural ventilation to both the flats and the atrium itself, creating a microclimate inside.

The flats have selective household waste storage systems and water-saving devices. The roof-terrace, designed as a space for community leisure activi-ties, includes a pergola to provide shade, a sundeck, a rainwater collector and a landscaped cover which also stores precipitation, insulates the building and regenerates the ambient air. There are also solar panels to obtain heat energy. The façades are also designed to exploit their orientation to maximize heat gains and losses, according to the season. Moreover, sustainability and future recyclability constitute two of main criteria in the choice of building materials.

The materials used in the construction of the building are recycled and free of toxins

120

Papa Bubblewww.papabubble.com

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Perfume to eatSWeeT InnovaTIonpapa Bubble sweets inspired in parfum comme de garçons

Feed

To take Comme des Garçons 2 and Man 2, by the French perfume-maker Puig, and turn them into edible treats was a major challenge for Tommy Tang and Chris King, the sweet-makers at Papa Bubble. The two fragrances blend elements of technology, such as Japanese ink, with others like cedar or incense taken from nature. And only true artists with a contemporary view-point and ideas of their own could pull off a stunt such as this with two fragrances based on opposing ingredients, and which says quite a bit for Papa Bubble.The result is most tempting, for, with the name Sweet Innovation, this sherbet offers us the joys of perfume not only through our sense of smell but also on our taste buds. Basing themselves on a tradi-tional recipe for sherbet in order to achieve flavours that linger in the mouth, Papa Bubble found the right (natural) flavourings in passion fruit and mint. Tommy Tang and Chris King, two Australians from Sydney, moved to Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter in pur-suit of a dream: to make sweets by hand using ancestral techniques, adding in their own imaginations and, above all, a wish to surprise.

Tommy is a genuine master of melted sugar; King is an indus-trial designer; and together they have succeeded in combining their talents to create avant-garde tradi-tional sweets.After three years in the city, Papa Bubble, their factory-shop located at Carrer Ample, 28, has turned out to be a huge success and a landmark for local sweet-connoisseurs and their visiting counterparts. But, just in case, Papa Bubble wouldn’t want anyone to go without the chance to try their unbelievable candies and

These sherbets offer us the joys of perfume not only through our sense of smell but also on our taste buds

The merit of Papa Bubble is twofold. They offer sweets made by hand according to recipes that have all but fallen into disuse, and they regale us with new flavours sheathed in unique, eye-catching designs

have already set up shop in Amster-dam and Tokyo, and they are about to open another in New York.The merit of Papa Bubble is two-fold. They offer sweets made by hand according to recipes that have all but fallen into disuse, and they regale us with new flavours sheathed in unique, eye-catching designs. And if there’s a more imaginative soul out there with the idea for an even more unlikely sweet, you can rest assured that Tommy and Chris will find the way to do it – edibly, of course.To keep up with demand they go through about one metric tonne of sugar every three weeks. That’s their commitment to sweetening up the lives of those who venture down their way.

The reinvention of the traditional sweetTommy and Chris learned to make sweets back home in Australia at the knee of a master artisan. And now, armed with ideas of their own, they are engaged in battle against the tyranny of industrial sweets. ‘Back to the origins’ is the ground they stand on. The sweets Tommy and Chris make are as innovative as

they are imaginative, yet the most surprising thing about what they do is that it is all done by hand using age-old formulas.Tradition is ours to be interpreted, and that is what Papa Bubble has succeeded in doing. Indeed, this sweetshop located in Barcelona but of international tastes offers a range of over 40 flavours, from the classic (strawberry, orange or lemon) to the exotic (liquorice, pas-sion flower or hot cinnamon).

What’s so special?As the founders say, you really have to see Papa Bubble to believe it: a shop lined with antique wooden counters and glazed cabinets stuffed with hundreds of sweets in every colour; in full view, the kitchen where the staff is busy cooking up their mouth-watering delights. It’s a sight in every sense of the word, for who could ignore the appetizingly elegant sculptures that decorate the premises.

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Nodewww.thenodecompany.com

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Envacwww.envac.es

Envac is a leading company in the development of technology for automatic transport of urban waste and systems for pneumatic transport of residential or com-mercial waste by means of under-ground conduits. With the aim of widening its market, Envac sought to develop a new product which would fulfil three key aims:

1. Improve user interface.2. Permit the customization of waste intakes according to the city.3. Create waste intakes identifi-able with the company worldwide.

Node projectWith these three aims, Envac turned to Node, who carried out a comprehensive project of applied innovation and proposed changes in the waste intakes along with a series of new products to offer complementary services to benefit users.

To achieve this, Node developed a standardized yet flexible product. The intakes are made up of a plat-form and different modules. The platform is the most standardized component, while the modules permit greater customization to enable cities to integrate them into different environments.

Upgraded for the userThinking of the final user, the design of the Envac pneumatic selective waste collector includes improvements in safety, ergonom-ics, adaptation for disabled people and weather resistance.Thanks to all of the above, the Barcelona-designed Ona and Tower waste intakes are found round the world.

From efficient waste collectionto a mark of distinction ona/ToWeRpneumatic system for selective waste collection

Urban services

The product is standardized but flexible enough to adapt to the required specifications of use and offers cities the potential to incorporate extra services

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Txell Miraswww.txellmiras.eu

Fashion

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Fashion designer Txell Miras debuted on the catwalk of Passarel·la Gaudí in Septem-ber 2003. Since then she has presented all her collections at Barcelona fashion shows (currently, Passarel·la Bar-celona), and she has already made a name for herself with

collections which leave no one indifferent. Now, she catches us napping once again with a new collection in her char-acteristic constructivist and experimental line. And within the new collection, one piece in particular stands out: a skirt designed to be worn

according to the whims of the wearer, even as a top, if so be. It’s like having several articles of clothing in one. Thanks to a system of ribbons, you can gather or let out, fold or wrinkle, according to the moment and the use you want to give it.

When concept can take diverse shapes… or vice versaSkIRT BY Txell MIRaSto be worn according to the whims of the wearer

She’s designed a single article of clothing, a skirt, which is like having several articles in one, as we can adapt it to the use we want in a given moment

one garment, manifold usesTxell Miras offers us a kaleido-scope of forms from which to choose according to mood, or the weather, fair or foul.Perhaps it is with such factors in mind that Txell Miras says, “in all my collections I always include a piece of clothing

that can be used in a number of ways. I’ve done skirts that are also jackets, skirts that with a series of ribbons you can shorten or gather, jackets made from patterns for trou-sers… I’m interested in pieces that are not closed. I like it when each user can custom-ize it.”

The creative methodTxell Miras is, in part at least, the product of an education in f ine arts. So, in speaking of innovation, we are also talking about creativity. The one cannot exist without the other. “The creative method that I use is very similar to one I used in f ine arts

school,” as the designer says. The basic principle lies in starting with a concept that is the fruit of ref lection, and then taking that concept, the germ of the idea, to start working with forms. In recognition of her efforts and concept of clothing design, Txell Miras has won

several national and interna-tional awards, including, in October 2006, the “Barcelona és Moda” prize from the Bar-celona Chamber of Commerce, for top professional in the sec-tor. Indeed, in fashion, Miras has found a creative area where she can engage in her two passions: form and con-

cept, both of which she com-bines and resolves in the skirt from her latest collection.

Seeking the individualFor Miras, innovation framed in the creative act has a great deal to do with non-confor-mity. As a creator, she likes to take things a step beyond

Innovation, in the hands of Txell Miras, is a means of differentiation. She creates clothes that each user can reinvent to suit their own needs and thus be a participant in the creative process

and keep the evolution going. Though, as she says, “when I f ind an idea that I think works, I squeeze everything I can out of it before moving on to something else.”In any event, Miras sees clothing, in the conceptual sphere, without any specific purpose: after all so long as

it covers your body and keeps you warm, the rest is just trimming. Thus, with articles like her new skirt, function focuses on its utility as an instrument of identity, a silent way of announcing one’s pres-ence. Innovation, in the hands of Txell Miras, is a means of differentiation. She creates

clothes that each user can rein-vent to suit their own needs and thus be a participant in the creative process. In the face of the apparent homog-enization of society, clothes provide opportunity for setting yourself apart, and “although it might be superficial, you can feel more like an individual.”

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The concept cars, or prototypes, from the Swedish car-maker Volvo are not just for show at prestigious industry events; rather they point the way for the future development of the company’s production vehicles. Thus, Volvo’s Strategic Design Centre in Barcelona has played a crucial role in the design of the Volvo Versatility Concept Car (VCC), a V-Range prototype, which says something for the Swedes’ strategy of building off the ideas that the company’s designers in California and Catalonia contribute to their worldly Nordic cul-tural vision.

Features and comfortfor the future veRSaTIlITY concepT caRthe most advanced prototype from volvo

Volvowww.volvocars.com

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Transportation

The VCC proves that the company can continue to produce large cars without sacrificing its core values: safety and environmental-friendliness

The versatility concept car Undoubtedly many industrial designers have dreamt, at least once, of being able to spend all day drawing prototype cars. If, as well, one has innovative ideas, one will soon be imagining and sketching on paper fabulous futuristic cars… Well, that, indeed, is the routine for the ten people who work in Volvo’s satellite design studio in Barcelona’s Eixample neighbourhood as part of the company’s vehicle development programme.

And one fruit of their efforts is the design of the interior of the VCC. The VCC is a prototype that defines a new vision of the V-Range. With its markedly Scandina-vian spirit yet futuristic, innovative character, the VCC proves that the company can continue to produce large luxury cars without sacrificing its core values: safety and environmental-friendliness. This, indeed, is designing in the fea-tures and comfort of the future.

The interior conceptInside, the VCC is an expression of Scandinavian luxury translated into a mod-ern conceptual design language which remains very much Volvo’s own. It cre-ates a clear sensation of comfort and “well-being” thanks to the use of high-quality materials in light, airy spaces, for an all-round sensorial experience.Among the innovative features of the prototype are an anodized aluminium centre console with a form reminiscent of the sort of wood veneer structures characteristic of the Nordic countries, and an ambient air distribution sys-tem featuring silent hidden vents. Then there’s the roof, with views of the sky. The semi-transparent roof panel, featuring an X-frame and ambient lighting, heightens the feeling of spaciousness, while supplying solar power for the Volvo Ambient Air Cleaning (VAAC) system.

VCC is a good example of the Nordic purity combined with a touch of Mediterranean impulsiveness

Why Barcelona?Volvo is a global company that, although it does not distinguish between mar-kets, has sought, in recent years, to receive input from different parts of the world for the design of its production automobiles. The first satellite design centre away from the Göteborg headquarters was set up in California in 1985. The second, and so far only other centre, is the Barcelona satellite, opened in June, 1991. Volvo’s idea is to find external talent and input to help the car-maker resolve aspects from a different perspective and based on different experi-ences. Design, then, is what has brought Volvo to Barcelona, and the VCC is a good example of the Nordic purity combined with a touch of Mediterranean impulsiveness.

Inside, the VCC is an expression of Scandinavian luxury translated into a modern conceptual design language which remains very much Volvo’s own

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Kineticalwww.kinetical.com

A new comprehensive sales management system: interactive… and very lightweightk-SaMple SaleSa new concept of catalogue and digital order management

Software

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K-Sample Sales brings to the clothing sector a totally new concept in efficiency: an innova-tive order manager and product catalogue integrated into a single device. On a convenient Tablet PC, sales personnel can place orders as customers view and choose products. A much more efficient, attractive and rapid way of facili-tating sales.This new catalogue concept “relieves sales staff of the bur-den of carrying around standard catalogues and enables them easily

Gone are the days of the salesperson dragging around big heavy cases… Gone is the inconvenience of printed catalogues, and clients now make orders directly on the tablet

to display the complete line of products on the tablet”. But K-Samples is much more than a digital catalogue. The application offers a complete software package to facilitate sales management and daily control of movements in the company. It not only gives compa-nies better control over their sales network, but it also enables sale personnel to make digital orders, share customer databases, plan visits or manage expenditures or complaints.

Collaboration and creativity in businessK-Samples Sales is a product of the joint efforts of Kinetical, Fitex (Private Foundation for Innovation in Clothing) and Spanish clothing-makers Punto Blanco and Escorpión. The aim was to find a new system of sales management with a digital catalogue for a sector which is going through a difficult period due to strong competition from over-seas and the consequences of the globalization of production.

Unlimited creativity and communication Ease-to-use, speed, functional-ity and interactivity are the main features stressed by users of K-Samples Sales. In addition to digital ordering management and the possibility of monitoring the whole company on the tablet, the application has an intuitive and simple design.

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CRGwww.crg.es / www.prbb.org

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Science and innovation at the service of quality of life and healthcenTRe FoR genoMIc RegUlaTIon (cRg)a key research facility integrated in the Barcelona Biomedical Research park (pRBB)

Barcelona’s Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) is the very embodiment of innovation; its organiza-tional structure based on a non-bureaucratic, or rather business model makes it one of a kind in Spain. With this formula, CRG is able to attract some of the top talent in bio-medical research, a sector notable for the competition among centres to provide the sort of facilities that will make scientists want to do their work there. But beyond its organizational chart, what is really important about CRG

are its objectives and, above all, its results.As Dr. Miguel Beato, director of CRG, explains: “The great challenge we face is to take advantage – responsibly – of the opportunities offered by understanding the genome for improving our quality of life. If support is given to projects such as CRG, in only f ive or six years, the biomedical research scene could well have under-gone radical change.”Thus, CRG emphasizes the transfer of knowledge as a key component parallel to its scientif ic activities. In

Science

The only research centre of its kind in Spain, CRG is based in a non-bureaucratic organizational research model, the aim of which is to promote basic research in the biomedical field and, particularly, in the areas of genomics and proteomics

this regard, CRG carries out a very important mission in the transfer of knowledge both in the world of science, through prestigious special-ized publications, and in the social sphere, in keeping with the centre’s desire to be a key player in the ambition of science in the 21st century to reach out to and become comprehensible for society at large.

The organizationCRG is a basic genomic research centre founded in December, 2000, as an initia-tive of the Catalan govern-ment’s former Department of Universities, Research and Information Society (DURSI). The CRG is legally consti-tuted as a non-profit founda-tion with support from the Catalan government through its Education and Universi-ties Department (DEiU) and Health Department (DS), and from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF).

cRg’s research programmesGenomics, as a component of biomedical research, is a cutting-edge f ield of modern science with future projec-tion. The aim of genomics is to understand the genomic base of illnesses in order to bolster the effectiveness of curative methods and drugs. And in its push to establish itself among the leading centres of its type in the world, CRG has a staff of 360 scientists working in six interrelated research pro-grammes: Bioinformatics and

CRG is already considered one the top centres in genotyping, which means that a large part of its international prestige lies in its specialization in the genetic differences between individuals

Genomics, Cell and Develop-mental Biology, Differentia-tion and Cancer ,Genes and Disease, Gene Regulation and Systems Biology.

The promise of genomics What we must understand in talking about a research centre like CRG is that in, the short term, the results are at times diff icult to see. “We have no way of knowing what opportunities genomics hold for the future, but they are good, and the opportunities it offers us today are manifold,” Dr. Beato explains.

And, in order to get an idea of these real opportunities in the here and now, we should emphasize the fact that CRG is already considered one the top centres in genotyping, which means that a large part of its international prestige lies in its specialization in the genetic differences between individuals as a means of cor-relating the individual genetic identity with the propensity to develop certain diseases, can-cer, for instance.“We study the behaviour of each individual’s genes,” Dr. Beato continues, “such that today we can already offer genomic instruments which contribute to better diagnosis. In this regard, we are now par-ticipating in clinical research

in oncology, specif ically in a DNA chip to classify breast cancers.”

Barcelona Biomedical Research park (pRBB)CRG is located on the PRBB campus, a new building that is home to several biomedical research institutions, such as the UPF Department of Experimental and Health Sci-ences (CEXS), the Municipal Institute for Medical Research (IMIM) and the Barcelona Centre for Regenerative Medi-cine (CMRB). The building is located on the seafront (Bar-celoneta Beach), near the Port Olímpic marina and Hospital del Mar, in a recently rede-veloped area of the city with outstanding recreational and cultural facilities.The PRBB is a joint initiative of the Catalan government, Universitat Pompeu Fabra and the Barcelona City Council. It is an innovative project which seeks to enhance the role of Barcelona and Catalonia in the biomedical f ield in the form of a unique building con-ceived, designed and equipped for teamwork, knowledge exchange and multidisci-plinary work in general. Over 1,000 researchers of over 30 nationalities work there in different research groups and shared laboratories.

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Light Ledwww.lightled.com

Out of all the cutting-edge architecture to be found in Bar-celona, the Torre Agbar is certainly among the most renowned internationally, notwithstanding the building’s astounding appearance on the city’s skyline. Above all, by night. For it is when the sun sets that, thanks to its innovative illumina-tion, the skyscraper acquires all its splendour and majesty. Who could remain indifferent to its silhouette rising 142 metres into the sky, infused with blue and red. The Torre Agbar, designed by Jean Nouvel has become a new architectural landmark in the city, due to its bullet-like form but, above all, its nocturnal lighting system.

A blazein the Barcelona nightThe IllUMInaTIon oF The ToRRe agBaRa most striking example of the move from electrics to electronics in lighting

Engineering

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The glazed aluminium panel cladding comes aglow to illuminate the building with a spectacular display of lighting with a range of 16 million colour combinations

a system of illumination innovativeThe firm LightLed has developed a new electronic illumination system to lend advanced solutions to any exterior and interior illumination proj-ect. The Torre Agbar is, without doubt, the best example to date of how far their technology can go.This project uses 4,500 LED technology lights which permit the generation of luminous images on the façade: the LightLed L3 RGB system, designed for applications in architecture and monument illumination.This system is adaptable to any building, it is low-maintenance and extremely low-consumption (1,000 lights burn less energy than seven domestic hairdryers). Each lighting device is comprised of an aluminium gondola containing 18 one-watt RGB Luxeon LEDs, as well as several control centralized lighting and colour effect features.The result is a system which, from a PC, mobile phone or PDA within a 500-metres radius, can control each LED and each section individually.The integrated and selective lighting system is as robust as the struc-ture of the building itself.

Light LED has developed a new electronic illumination system to lend advanced solutions to any exterior and interior illumination project

The led, an extraordinary deviceBorn of the evolution from electric to electronic light and with the idea of giving new form to lighting, the LED’s domain is an unexplored market with a great future.The advantages of the LED include its small size, low energy use and maxi-mum radiation and durability. Its characteristics make it an ideal system already used in traffic lights, outdoor signage and lighting effects such as signs on motorways and other roadways, or even showcases and elements of interior decoration.

The Torre Agbar is equipped with 4,500 LED technology lights which permit the generation of luminous images on the façade

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Professionalization and systemization in culinary innovation el Bulli Workshop

To speak of Ferran Adrià is, without doubt, to speak of the most celebrated chef in the world today. And he has earned that status because his creative cooking is innovation taken to the utmost. Indeed, at Adrià’s restaurant, El Bulli, innovation is so important that it now has a name and space of its own: El Bulli Workshop, located in an 18th-century mansion in Carrer de Portaferrissa in Barcelona.

El Bulli www.elbulli.com

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Systemization of creativityAt El Bulli Workshop creativity means innovation; for anyone with the good for-tune to get a table at El Bulli restaurant expects a great deal more than an eating experience; he or she expects a sensorial happening, entirely new and unforget-table. In order to offer that, as they say at El Bulli Workshop, “successful creative activity requires more than a positive attitude to what you are doing or the right know-how and cultural awareness”. To create you need the will to achieve some-thing never done before. But attitude is not enough: you must also have ability demonstrated in professionalism coupled with the knowledge and technical skills of a chef. Talent alone is not enough; hard work and the infrastructure to realize that talent are also required.At present, El Bulli has two workshops, one in Carrer de Portaferrissa and another at the restaurant in Cala Montjoi, near the town of Roses. The main pur-pose of the Barcelona premises is to carry out research into new technologies and concepts and to lay down the lines of the approach for the coming season at the restaurant; while it is at the latter that the plan and the new technologies are honed into recipes and finished dishes.Agendas, calendars, travel, attendance at courses and trades fair, indeed every-thing that relates to the gathering of information and its systemization form part of the organization of creativity, to ensure the success of the creative process. The creative process at El Bulli Workshop might be sketched out according to the following basic scheme:—know what we have (experience in life and work); —know what we are looking for (use of culinary method); —hatch an idea (creative attitude); —development of the idea through culinary experimentation using the different

methods we know; —testing and experimentation with and based on the house methods; —analysis, reflection and use of one’s ‘mental palate’;

—achievement of a prototype at the service of the eater; —final touches and cataloguing of the dish if successful.

Of course, on paper the scheme might look simple, but carrying out this process with the will to oversee and guide the process with an innovative and creative approach is the key to everything new and different El Bulli puts on its menu. To this end, at El Bulli Workshop they define the general lines, they try what they think might be interesting, they keep a record of the results, they take photos, make videos, and they write everything down in notebooks and on boards to be used subsequently in the restaurant as a guide in coming up with finished dishes.Ferran Adrià also reflects on one of the more or less fundamental levels in conceiv-ing the ‘grade’ of creativity sought. These would be: 1) The reproduction of an exist-ing recipe, where the creativity is expressed solely according to the regard and professionalism employed by the cook. 2) The version of an existing recipe in which the cook applies his or her particular manner of understanding the recipe and, thus, we are dealing with a ‘recognizable’ result but with a style and intent of its own. 3) The creation of a new recipe, in which there is the will to create something that never existed before. In essence, this is simply basing oneself on the tradition of offering a something new. 4) The creation of new techniques and concepts. This is the highest grade of creativity and, thus, of innovation as well. We should under-stand grade 3 as the possibility of giving rise to a wonderful recipe as an end in itself; grade 4, on the other hand, gives rise to further developments in the future, and implies a major qualitative leap. “The cooks who invented the mousse or the

The main purpose of El Bulli Workshop premises is to carry out research into new technologies and concepts and to lay down the lines of the approach for the coming season

flan, or cooking en papillote, passed on to all who followed them new concepts which have enabled endless variations.”

creative methodsWe have already seen how the sequence of creative and innovative processes at El Bulli Workshop appears simple, but it is evident that the secret, the stroke of genius, lies in the approach: in the capacity to imagine things as a different, per-haps new possibility. The important thing, then, is the attitude of opening up new perspectives when employing any known (or unknown) culinary (or non-culinary) method in order to experiment and create with food. The question, then, is: What are the methods used at El Bulli Workshop?Over the course of the past twenty years, El Bulli has used different culinary methods which remain valid, though they have been revised and reinvented to the point that, as they put it, they lend meaning to a particular style. These meth-ods, which we might consider as schemes for the genesis of inspiration (or of research and innovation), are as follows:

1. Regionality as a style. Basically, this is a matter of re-examining the reason why certain ingredients go into the standard ‘shopping basket’, along with traditional cooking methods, in order to find new applications for them..

2. Influences from other cuisines. Evidently, outside influence has been a con-stant factor in cooking down through history. Today, we have evolved from bor-rowing recipes to fusing them.

3. Technical-conceptual research. Technical-conceptual research might be best described in the form of an example. Take ravioli, for instance. According to the traditional definition, ravioli is a preparation comprising two components: a wrapping made of pasta and a stuffing which may be made from a variety of

ingredients. Today’s ravioli is also made up of two components: but the wrapping no longer need be made of pasta, and the stuffing is sure to break with conven-tion and can even be liquid.

4. The senses as a basis for creation. It is no secret that of all the arts, gastron-omy is the one that appeals to the greatest number of senses. All of our senses must be taken into consideration when creating a new dish or recipe. And in the new creative cuisine, the visual and plastic style of a dish takes on a significance of its own.

5. The sixth sense: reason. We should also bear in mind the role of reason in the act of eating. In this sense, creative cuisine is putting more and more emphasis on everything in a dish that might encourage the eater to reflect on the pleasures of a new experience.

6. Sweet and savoury symbiosis. Based on the traditional culinary concepts of ‘savoury world’/‘sweet world’, one of the creative methods employed by the culinary vanguard is the symbiosis between the two, which often means applying the techniques of one world to the other.

7. Commercial products and methods in haute cuisine. Traditional cooking is characterized by its dependence on basic products which have over time earned a certain prestige. But the past ten years or so have seen the incorporation in haute cuisine of products and methods which were alien to it.

8. Changes in the structure of dishes. This method is defined by breaking down the barriers of the timeworn construct of main ingredient, garnish and sauce. Nouvelle-cuisine already made inroads in this direction, but now El Bulli has taken things a long step further with such inventions as savoury ice creams, sorbets or foams, which embody a transcendence of the typical moulds and a reconsideration of the structure of dishes.

9. Association. Nothing more than making lists of ingredients, preparations, garnishes, cooking techniques, sauces, and so on, and then establishing relationships the different items.

10. Inspiration. Food as a work of art to emulate it or use it as an extraculinary reference.

11. Deconstruction. Deconstruction, a term widely associated with Ferran Adrià’s cooking, entails taking a known gastronomic item, embodied in a dish or a preparation, and transforming all or part of its ingredients modifying the textures, the form and/or the temperature. In order for this ploy to work, the eater must have a certain level of gastronomic memory and/or culture, since the lack of any references would turn the concept of a deconstruction into a ‘construction’ founded on nothing.

12. Minimalism. Minimalism applied in cooking can take four different approaches: minimalism of the mouthful; minimalism of the dish; reduction or minimalism of the product; or pluralism as a derivation on product minimalism.

13. Synergy. Throughout the creative process we have so far sought to describe, the ability to leave no door unopened is also very important.

Some of Ferran adrià’s contributionsIt often occurs that a new concept means finding a new technology before the concept can be executed. For example, until 1998, if you ordered jelly in any restaurant in the world, you could safely assume that it would be cold. El Bulli had

The secret, the stroke of genius, lies in the approach: in the capacity to imagine things as a different, perhaps new possibility

a new concept, warm jelly, but they lacked the technology with which to make it. They first found the answer in agar-agar, a derivative of seaweed (there are now other jellying products which also do the job). Since then, warm jellies have been coming out of the kitchens of many other chefs.Another landmark in cooking technology are El Bulli’s foams, perhaps the restau-rant’s most celebrated achievement. The foams are a good example of techno-logical research taking a concept from whim to menu. El Bulli brought out their first foams in 1994. But in 1998 the restaurant took the concept and its technol-ogy a step further and, perhaps with a bit of culinary recklessness, they launched the warm foam… Of course, sometimes taking a potentially dangerous turn is all part and parcel of the road to innovation.In any case, El Bulli is in itself a unique concept, and with a voice of its own in the world of cooks who aspire to create new concepts and techniques. Here, technical-conceptual research emerges as a method for creation, insofar as it has an impact on the ambition to engage in systematic search for such concepts and techniques.

A new concept means finding a new technology before the concept can be executed

At the beginning of this book we have defined inno-vation from several points of view. Later, we have seen it in the form of real projects, products and services that we find on the market today. Having come this far, we wouldn’t want to close the last page without adding that to innovate is also to know how to think in the future tense, to imagine things that can happen some day and anticipate them as an exercise in intuition and creativity. This is what often inspires the designer Xavier Claramunt, who offers us an innovative, futuristic and evocative proposal: ‘Galactic Suite’, the hotel in outer space. When space travel is no longer something out of the ordinary, someone will have already had the idea…

We would like to acknowledge all the people and all the teams whose efforts and imagination make Barcelona an innovative city. The intention of this book is to show the work of just a few of them in their projects and products, and we hope in the future to have the opportunity to publicize all the others we did not have space for here, and which are growing in number every day.

Barcelona ActivaCouncillor for Employment and Innovation of Barcelona City Council and President of Barcelona Activa Maravillas Rojo Torrecilla

Managing DirectorElizabeth Monfort Barril

Executive DirectorMateu Hernández Maluquer

Director for Promotion of InnovationMaria Vilà Brecha

Published byBarcelona Activa – Ajuntament de Barcelona Actar

CoordinationDolors Soriano (Actar Pro)Rosa Suriñach (Barcelona Activa)

TextsJordi Garriga

Graphic designDavid Lorente @ Actar Pro

Reinhard Steger @ Actar Pro

TranslationTed Krasny

Production Actar Pro

Digital productionCarmen Galán, Oriol Rigat

PrintingIngoprint S.A.

All rights reserved

© Of the edition, Barcelona Activa Llacuna, 162-164. 08018 Barcelona www.bcn.cat/innova

© Of the texts, Jordi Garriga, except forewords

© Of the images, their authors, except: Adrian Goula 80 / David Lorente 8-9, 66-67 / Promoció Econòmica, pp. 2-3, 6-7, 16-17 /

Oriol Rigat, 24-27, 60-65, 114, 136-137 / Emilio Rodríguez Ferrer, 117-119 / Dolors Soriano, 4-5, 10-15, 18-19, 41, 108-109 / Rafael Vargas, 78-79

ISBN: 978-84-96540-84-2 DL. B-8887-2007Printed and bound in the European Union