Startup Valencia, the Valencian Startup Association, has dissociated itself from The Terminal Hub project. This was communicated by Juan Luis Hortelano, president of the association, in a letter addressed to Valencia Innovation District, S.L., the company awarded the old maritime station of Valencia for the next 35 years.
This decision was unanimously taken by the Board of Directors of Startup Valencia due to the lack of agreement on defining the association’s participation in the management of the project. Additionally, the resignation of Startup Valencia‘s representative on the company’s management board was submitted, where the association remains as a partner.
Although The Terminal Hub is a strategic project for the Valencian innovative and technological ecosystem from its inception, and Startup Valencia has contributed, through its representation of the sector, the leadership and technical solvency necessary for its award; this condition has not materialized after long months of negotiations due to strategic misalignment on how the project should be approached.
Startup Valencia reiterates its interest in the success of The Terminal Hub for the benefit of the Valencian innovative and technological ecosystem that the association promotes internationally. It will soon call its members to share the details.
As Juan Luis Hortelano, president of Startup Valencia, explains, “the association continues to work on adding value to our more than 350 members and 25 partners by organizing programs, initiatives, and activities with startups, scaleups, investors, and corporates throughout the year.” In this sense, he states that “Startup Valencia represents the entire Valencian innovative and technological ecosystem, and its commitment is to continue promoting it globally through its international community of more than 35,000 professionals.”
The technological hub in the old maritime station
The old maritime station of Valencia, located next to the Clock Building in La Marina de Valencia, hosts The Terminal Hub.
After an adjudication process, which was blocked for four years, in April 2022, the project began to materialize, with the ratification by the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community against the award to the Belgian company Fosbury & Sons as declared by the ruling of the Administrative Court of Valencia, which annulled its concession in the first instance.
In March 2023, the Port Authority of Valencia approved the administrative concession of the building to Valencia Innovation District, S.L., concluding the granting procedure initiated in 2017 by Startup Valencia with the Valencia 2007 Consortium, the managing body of La Marina de Valencia formed by the Government of Spain, Generalitat Valenciana, and the City of Valencia, ending six years of waiting with the facilities unused.
From its origins, Startup Valencia promoted and led the project with the aim of providing the Valencian innovative ecosystem with a space from which to connect, develop, and scale joint open innovation projects, and from where to internationally project the Valencian technological hub as a reference in Southern Europe.
