Barcelona Town Hall and the city’s port were the two fundamental public players in the creation of Barcelona Clúster Nàutic, in what is the city government’s bid to develop new productive models by making the most of Barcelona’s competitive advantages. With the stimulus of this project, Barcelona Town Hall aims to strengthen the options of the city’s nautical and maritime sectors and contribute to the projection of these activities all over the country.

For its part, el Port de Barcelona – which is one of the main ports of the Mediterranean and of Europe, one of the country’s driving forces and a magnet for new investment, with an intense cruise ship activity– acted as another essential agent for driving forward this ambitious project. It also has to be said that el Port de Barcelona the principal state port in terms of freight, turnover, import/export cargo and international connections. It is also the main port for cruises in Europe and the Mediterranean and the fourth base port in the world and it sits in first place for vehicle traffic.

Barcelona has one of the most prestigious refit and repair shipyards for yachts measuring 35m to 165m in length, Marina Barcelona 92, a world leader in maintenance, refit and repair of large yachts. Marina Barcelona 92’s international reputation, along with the new OneOcean Port Vell, form a nautical centre of attraction with huge potential for raising the city’s profile and specialization on an international level.

Barcelona Clúster Nàutic also aims to use knowledge and maritime and water sports studies, along with nautical training, as a stimulus for r+D+l, to foment the transference of technology, to promote port professions and to bring citizens closer to the sea. This objective has the participation of different universities, research centres and other entities. One of these is the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) which, through the Facultat de Nàutica and other departments, forms one of the principle promoters of research and innovation in maritime and nautical areas, offering different university degrees, masters and postgraduate courses, as well as specialization courses covering subjects such as marine engineering, naval systems and technology, maritime law and business and port management, to name but a few.

Founding partners were also the Consorci El Far, dedicated to professional training in seafaring occupations, and the Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona (FNOB), which strives to bolster high-level sailing competitions and to promote research and innovation in the field of yachting.