Barcelona's BSC Launches an Acceleration Program for 100 Spanish AI Startups

The Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain's national supercomputing facility, has launched BSC AI Factory, a European initiative funded with 2.3 million euros by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Function to support Spanish artificial intelligence startups at an advanced stage of development.

The program will run a 14 week acceleration cycle for up to 100 startups per cohort, based across four cities: Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid and Malaga. The plan is to repeat it over several editions and reach 400 startups within two years.

Selected companies will get direct access to the MareNostrum 5 supercomputer and technical guidance from BSC specialists, along with a partnership with Nvidia and Amazon Web Services. The program also includes individualized mentoring on market strategy, pricing and fundraising, plus networking with large corporations and international investors.

The application window closes on November 9, with selection results due on November 20. The program officially kicks off on December 2 in Barcelona and wraps up with an investor pitch event in Madrid in March 2027.

Spanish startups developing artificial intelligence based products, services or technologies can apply, with priority given to healthcare, finance, legal services, media, sustainability and climate. The call comes as artificial intelligence has become nearly ubiquitous among new Spanish startups, now present in one out of every four, up from 15 percent just a year ago.