Barcelona Digital Talent is promoting BCN Inclusive Coding to integrate vulnerable people into the digital workforce

• More than 25 companies have committed to employing 10,000 digital professionals in the next 10 years to combat the digital divide
• The project is backed by the Employment Service of Catalonia, the Red Cross of Catalonia, Barcelona City Hall and training centres and social organisations such as MigraCode Barcelona, Factoría F5 and Fundación Esplai.

27 October, 2021

Barcelona, 27 October 2021 – Mobile World Capital Barcelona, through its Barcelona Digital Talent programme, today presented BCN Inclusive Coding, a professional retraining programme targeted at people in a situation of vulnerability to promote their integration into the labour market by training them in the digital technical skills in greatest demand by employers. The project is backed by the Public Employment Service of Catalonia, the Red Cross of Catalonia, Barcelona City Hall and training centres and social organisations such as MigraCode Barcelona, Factoría F5 and Fundación Esplai.

The presentation included contributions from Carlos Grau, CEO of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, Jordi Arrufí, Director of Digital Talent at Mobile World Capital Barcelona, Enric Morist, coordinator of the Red Cross of Catalonia, Juan José Torres, Director of the Public Employment Service of Catalonia (SOC), Sònia Fuertes, Social Action Commissioner at Barcelona City Hall and Núria Valls, General Manager of Fundación Esplai.

As part of the project, more than 25 companies have committed to employing 10,000 digital professionals in the next 10 years to combat the digital divide, which will have a significant social impact. BCN Inclusive Coding will focus particularly on vulnerable segments of the population, such as women with poor job security, young people without prior qualifications, the long-term unemployed, as well as asylum seekers and/or those seeking international protection, regardless of their age, gender or diversity.

BCN Inclusive Coding will accompany talent in their training in the digital disciplines with the greatest demand in the market, such as Full Stack Development. It will also promote their integration into the technology sector through networking, mentoring and recruitment activities. In addition, it will support the creation of a network of companies that are socially committed to promoting digital talent and integrating diverse profiles into their workforce.

The project will have 4 action areas that will enable future digital talent to have all the resources and tools to enter the labour market:

• Recruitment: identifying people who can be trained in the digital field through the network and community of “la Caixa” Foundation and the Red Cross of Catalonia.
• Training advice: an external mentoring programme, made up of various social organisations, which will advise people on the technical and cross-cutting skills they will need to develop. They will then be connected with the collaborating training centres to begin their professional training and transformation path.
• Digital training: collaboration with training centres and social organisations in Catalonia such as MigraCode Barcelona, Factoría F5 and Fundación Esplai. These centres already offer high-quality training in digital skills aimed at students in a situation of vulnerability.
• Market access: a recruitment day will be organised, attended by companies and talent, with the aim of connecting the digital profiles that have been trained with tech companies and help them enter the labour market. Once a profile has been hired, they will have an internal mentor who will individually monitor their work in the company and so ensure the success of the integration process.

Carlos Grau, CEO of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, stated, “We are totally committed to the most vulnerable sectors of the population and we believe that the digital sector is an ideal place in terms of job prospects to start a career from scratch. Through this type of project we are also seeking to break down stereotypes and attract interest from a much broader base of society.”

The digital sector in Catalonia is a well-established engine for job creation

According to the Digital Talent Overview 2021, the ICT sector in Catalonia created 14,700 new jobs in 2020, growing to 129,000 digital professionals. This growth is a 12.8% increase on the last quarter of 2019. The trend contrasts with a 3.1% fall in employment in the ICT sector in the Spanish economy.

At the end of 2020, Catalonia had more than 88,000 digital professionals, 95% of whom were concentrated in the Barcelona area, which also accounted for 97% of digital job vacancies in the last quarter of 2020.

The supply of talent has grown, while the number of job vacancies has fallen due to the pandemic. Barcelona’s ecosystem produced 6,700 new professionals in 2020, which represents an annual increase of 9% in the total volume of digital talent. There are more than 4,000 job vacancies in this sector per quarter, a similar figure to 2018 but 15% lower than 2019. However, this fall is well below the drop in job vacancies in the economy as a whole, which were 43% down on the previous year. The ratio of vacancies in the digital sector to all other sectors has increased: in 2018, 1 in 10 vacancies was in the digital sector and, in 2020, 2 out of 10 (18.9%) were.