L’Hospitalet City Council and Mobile World Capital boost the alliance for the digitalization of the city

• Mayor Nuria Marín and the CEO of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, Carlos Grau, sign a collaboration agreement.
• The initiative is part of L’Hospitalet 6.0, the digitalization and connectivity strategy of the municipality that is being implemented by the local government.
• The agreement, which is valid for two years and has a maximum amount of 510,000 euros, seeks to promote digital inclusion in two priority groups: the elderly and young people.

3 March, 2022

The mayor of L’Hospitalet, Nuria Marín, and the CEO of Mobile World Capital, Carlos Grau, signed a collaboration agreement today for the development of a series of actions to promote the digitalization of the city, foster the digital inclusion of its citizens, and support entrepreneurship and SMEs, within the framework of the L’Hospitalet 6.0 project, which is being carried out by the municipality.

For the mayor, Nuria Marín, this agreement is the result of “the alliance between the Foundation and the City Council, with one goal: to digitally transform the city without leaving anyone behind”. “Mobile World Capital will provide us with all the knowledge and expertise to make this digital transformation on a human scale,” added Marín.

Carlos Grau, CEO of Mobile World Capital, celebrated this agreement that establishes the cooperation between both entities which will result in making “L’Hospitalet an international benchmark in digital inclusion” and adding that “to be an inclusive society, we have to advance in universal connectivity, improve training and employability and take advantage of the scientific excellence of the biomedical cluster of Bellvitge. Extraordinary things will happen in L’Hospitalet in the coming years”.

Mobile World Capital and the City Council of L’Hospitalet will allocate a maximum of 510,000 euros (50% each) in order to carry out different actions during 2022 and 2023.

One of the first actions will be launching a study on the digital skills of citizens to identify the degree of digitization of the city and the existing gaps. A survey will be conducted among a minimum of 1,500 inhabitants of the city, representative of the six districts, on the five areas of the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), the European Commission’s reference framework that measures the digital performance of European Union member states. These areas are connectivity, human capital, internet use, digital public services and the integration of digital technology in companies.

Nuria Marín has stressed that those who are suffering the most right now from the effects of this digital divide are the elderly. “The pilot experiences we made at Smart City and those we are doing in the Village aimed at the elderly, have been a success and encourage us to continue and make them extensive to the whole city.” As for young people and the productive fabric, he added that “we have unacceptable youth unemployment rates. We must take advantage of the opportunities that digitalization gives us and define actions aimed at improving this group’s employability”.

The agreement provides a series of actions that may be extended or modified in order to adapt to the reality of the city and, above all, of its citizens. Some of these actions are:

• Annual workshops on misinformation and digital verification, aimed at groups that are most susceptible to misinformation such as young people, adolescents, adults over 65, secondary school teachers, among others. The main objective is therefore, advancing the digital skills of citizens, promoting critical thinking and reflection on technology and its impact on society.
• Training sessions on basic digital skills for groups of people who have limited or no familiarity at all with information and communication technologies, especially the elderly.
• Actions aimed at exploring technological solutions to solve specific aspects of the digital divide. Work will be done to facilitate municipal services that are both digital and inclusive towards citizens, such as providing voice assistance for the elderly to facilitate procedures and relations with public institutions.
• Promoting and implementing projects with intelligent connectivity in the fields of health and sports in order for them to ultimately become services for all citizens.  
• Promotion of actions and programs that involve technology as a tool to fight loneliness, something mainly aimed at elderly people living alone.
• Actions aimed at reducing the gap between science and the needs of the labor market destined to the creation of tech startups and harnessing digital talent.