The second global gathering on knowledge, revolutionary ideas and great business opportunities received a total of 2,083 visitors from 31 countries, surpassing the initial expectations. 

Over the two days (16 and 17 June) of the fair, which was part of the bizbarcelona event, HiT acted as an international meeting point for top entrepreneurs from around the world, particularly Silicon Valley, and the 36 most successful venture capital groups in the world. Participating entrepreneurs, from 31 countries, held 1,815 meetings in order to raise awareness of their business and obtain international funding to help them become leaders in the global market.

Additionally, 17 presentations and round tables were held on trends in business investment and innovation. On the first day, participants got a look at future opportunities and challenges as well as a number of case studies of success stories. On the second day, the debates focused on news and trends in high-projection sectors, mainly: IT, Multimedia, Cleantech and Healthcare. A special session was also held on electric vehicles.

Global Entrepreneurship Competition

One of the most noteworthy activities was the Global Entrepreneurship Competition (GEC), a contest between the top 23 business plans from sectors like biotechnology, telecommunications, software, chemicals, healthcare and the media. The winner was a company from MiT in Boston, called peerTransfer, created and led by Iker Marcaide from Valencia, which received a 20,000-euro prize. German company CaptchaAd and British company Gold-I finished second (10,000 euros) and third (5,000 euros), respectively.
The 23 finalists, from 21 countries, were selected from a total of 75 projects by a prestigious international nominating committee made up of top Entrepreneurship Centers (Business Schools, Universities, Technology Parks and Business Incubators).

Venture Capital Corner

All entrepreneurs that participated in HiT, which made up nearly 50% of the total number of participants, were able to give a 60-second explanation of their business model before 36 venture capital and corporate venture companies, the most successful being from San Francisco, Boston, Europe, Asia and Africa, in the hopes of raising international funding to help them become leaders in the global market; these included sector leaders like Kleiner Perkins Caufield&Byers, Mayfield, IBM, Nokia, Siemens, Novartis, etc.
 
Symposium on Urban Clusters and Parks

In the 4th edition of this symposium, companies, institutions and policy-makers had the opportunity to share their experiences in cities that are creating ecology and innovation initiatives. Participants included best-selling author Richard Florida, director of the Martin Prosperity Institute.

Bradley Horowitz, vice-president of Google, closed the second edition of HiT Barcelona with a talk that focused on healthcare and IT.

HiT Barcelona is an initiative of the Catalan Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce, the Barcelona City Council, the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and La Caixa, and is organized by Fira de Barcelona and the Barcelona Strategic Metropolitan Plan.

You can consult the photographic file  http://www.flickr.com/photos/hitbarcelona2010
Further information at www.hitbarcelona.com