california

The Mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias, emphasised that Cisco’s new centre will put the Catalan capital “in the forefront” of smart city projects. Cisco will invest €4.5 million in its new centre working on electric mobility, smart lighting and other urban projects. On top of this, the American company will also invest another amount, yet to be determined, to renovate the Ca l’Alier factory, which is owned by the City Council and has been transferred to the American company in exchange for the renovation. In addition, Trias – who is on an official trip to the United States – and the Mayor of San Francisco, Edwin M. Lee, agreed to increase the cooperation between the two cities, starting with setting up a regular direct flight connection.

The Barcelona-raised sociologist Manuel Castells has received the 2012 Holberg International Memorial Prize in Bergen, Norway. This award is considered to be the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in the field of sociology. The jury considered his book ‘Communication Power’ to be “essential for a new understanding of politics”. Castells holds the Wallis Annenberg Chair at the University of Southern California, he is Research Professor at Catalonia’s distance-learning university (UOC) and Professor Emeritus at the University of California (Berkeley).