Esade and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center join forces to boost links between science and business

07 March 2023

Under this agreement, the two entities will promote activities and co-operation related to scientific research, tech development and education with view to transferring scientific knowledge to society.

Esade and Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) have signed an agreement to co-operate on scientific research, training and science and tech development at the intersection of computer science and management. The aim of this alliance between the two entities is to promote science and tech development through education, research and dissemination ventures and activities in the realms of High-Performance Computing and its application to Big Data Analytics and AI for Business. In order to transfer scientific knowledge to society, BSC and Esade will design, teach and co-ordinate educational program and traineeships, and also engage in European and international research projects.

The dean of Esade Business School, Joan Rodon, believes that “this agreement bolsters co-operation between the increasingly interconnected realms of science and technology and business management in response to the need for leaders and managers familiar with tech developments and able to create sustainable, disruptive business models. Hence this alliance gives both students and teachers the opportunity to work with a ground-breaking, private-sector, supercomputing science institute in Spain whilst fostering the public-private sector co-operation so crucial for the advancement of society.”

BSC-CNS associate director, Josep M. Martorell, said, “We’re pleased to announce this alliance with an entity as prestigious as Esade because it constitutes a framework that will enable us to make the very most of the potential of both organizations, always with the ultimate aim of transferring scientific knowledge to society. Exploring the nexus between computing and management will boost the development of science and technology for the benefit of social advancement and the general interest.”

Tech-savvy business talent

The projects that the two entities will work on together are intended mainly for students taking a joint major Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and Artificial Intelligence, a new academic program developed by Esade in response to the growing demand for business talent. This degree focuses heavily on technology but also includes the cornerstones of management.

These future business leaders, who already have a STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) background, will experience and forestall tech disruption firsthand whilst becoming experts in technology thanks, partly, to this forward-looking alliance. This co-operation will, furthermore, be extrapolated to other Esade Business School programs that require more of a science to business approach and are designed to be a gateway for students to the world of science.