Some experts say that the Draghi and Letta reports (which talk about strengthening the EU single market and improving competitiveness) are like Bibles in hotels in the United States: they serve as decoration and are rarely opened. Today, according to a study by the European Policy Innovation Council, only 11% of the 383 recommendations made by Draghi have been implemented. In the Generalitat of Catalonia, however, they want to heed one of the great recommendations that Italians give: make administrative paperwork easier for people and companies. At least that is what Albert Dalmau, advisor to the Presidency of the Generalitat of Catalonia, has said: “We want to wage a real war against bureaucracy.” He explained that it is not possible for a person to wait 290 days to receive help for the dependency of a family member. «That is why we have launched a gateway that automatically recognizes the 65% degree of disability for people over 80 years of age, with tax advantages and social benefits, without the need for long assessment processes.» The same happens with urban planning regulations: «it makes no sense that years pass between the planning and construction of a home. A system so complex has been created that it alienates citizens and slows down the business innovation that the country needs.»
central axis
Serving citizens better is an arduous task. “For the current president, the transformation of public services and administration is a central axis, and he has entrusted us with this task,” Dalmau highlighted. With a fit administration, the aim is to attract new investments such as the artificial intelligence gigafactory that the Generalitat of Catalonia is seeking, together with the Spanish Government, to be installed in the Catalan town of Móra la Nova (Tarragona). «The future will also depend on the European Commission, which selects the strategic projects. We can offer the guarantee that the Government of Spain, together with the Government of Catalonia and a consortium of national companies, works so that the Spanish candidacy is the strongest to host one of the great artificial intelligence factories on the continent.»Oscar Pierre, CEO of Glovo. ALBERT GARCIASeparately, Óscar Pierre, CEO of Glovo, considered that innovating in the market is not a game. His company, an application that allows you to delegate errands to other people, was born in 2014 and began operating only in Madrid and Barcelona. «We had nothing to lose. I was 22 years old, I lived with my parents and we decided to go for it, without fear of risk,» he recalled. As time went by, he explained, the perspective changed. “You start to build a business with investors, with many clients and the appetite for risk decreases.” Still, one of the factors driving Glovo’s growth was its rapid international expansion. «Among all the risky things we did, one was to expand geographically very quickly. In the second year we were only in Madrid and Barcelona, and in the fourth we were already operating in 40 countries,» he stated. However, that strategy also led to their first failures. «We realized that markets like France or Brazil were not working and we learned to close quickly what did not make sense to maintain. That mentality of assuming mistakes early and not clinging to what does not work became a basic principle in the company.» Pierre recognized that one of the biggest challenges for consolidated companies is to avoid complacency. “Over the years, within the company there is always a certain resistance to changing what already works, a tendency to think that if something has brought us here, it is better not to touch it.