The Banco Sabadell Foundation was set up as a private foundation in 1994 to promote outreach, training and research activities in the educational, scientific and cultural fields, as well as to encourage and support young talent. Since then, we have been working to build a more critical, fairer and more inclusive society through actions and initiatives intended to support culture and the arts, research and education, and in particular promoting young talent and stimulating creativity, knowledge and innovation.
Our goal is to be a catalyst for change, not simply by supporting projects that demonstrate immediate results, but by investing in innovative initiatives with the potential for significant and scalable impact. We believe that true innovation arises at the intersection of ideas, disciplines and origins, and we are dedicated to discovering and supporting ideas and projects that can redefine cultural panoramas and encourage social cohesion.
“A Culture of Talent” is more than just a tagline: it is a guiding philosophy that inspires our work and reflects our commitment to creating a world where talent, in all its forms, is recognised and nurtured, and has the space it needs to flourish. Through our work, we want to inspire others to join us in this transformational endeavour, creating positive change that reaches beyond our immediate sphere of influence. We hope not only to witness the emergence of innovative ideas and talents, but also to play a role in shaping a fairer and more dynamic world, where a culture of talent can thrive.
Sabadell’s Commitment to Sustainability
All of our activities are enshrined within Sabadell’s Commitment to Sustainability, a framework for action that ensures the integration into our strategy of a forward-looking vision in relation to environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments, that aligns our business objectives with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and that establishes action levers to generate transformation and promotion activities.
The Banco Sabadell Foundation remains firm in its commitment to fostering research and talent by holding its annual Banco Sabadell Foundation Awards. The purpose of these awards is to recognise the most talented young researchers in our country and to showcase how their lines of research can improve people’s welfare.
The awards focus on key areas for social progress, such as economic research, biomedical research, sciences and engineering, and marine sustainability.
We believe that culture and the arts are instruments that transform and positively contribute to society’s wellbeing. By promoting culture and the arts, we give opportunities to young talented people so they can develop their skills. We take culture to various audiences around the country by supporting the Foundation’s own programmes and those run in collaboration with leading institutions. We also foster creativity and innovation as tools to inspire society.
We support research and education through the generation of opportunities and initiatives that encourage the training and promotion of young talent, with the aim of advancing society and making a positive impact. By promoting research and education, the Foundation makes a positive impact in society’s futurernand in its ability to find solutions to challenges, contributes to boosting the growth of the nation, by increasing productivity, creativity and innovation, and creates learning opportunities as well as fostersrnpeople’s talent to facilitate access to the job market.
Collaboration and co-creation are fundamental pillars that allow us to tackle the challenges of the world today. That is why at the Banco Sabadell Foundation we promote partnerships and networking as key tools to share knowledge and create collective value. We believe in interdisciplinary cooperation as a driver of innovation: in our community, young talented people interact with culture, creativity crosses over with science, and technology finds applications in social matters. This confluence of visions and experiences creates a dynamic environment in which to find solutions to contemporary challenges.
Our community is characterised by its diversity and dedication, constantly making progress thanks to the connection between all of its members. Our objective goes beyond collaboration; we seek to make a significant impact: we support projects that are borne from dialogue and are nurtured with shared knowledge, creating an ecosystem with a transformative vocation.
An innovative community model
The community at the Banco Sabadell Foundation is built through open innovation methodologies based on the idea that knowledge should be shared and expanded through interaction. We do not limit our work to supporting projects; we also promote the creation of collaborative networks and we offer meeting spaces.
These are spaces in which to build connections between projects and key agents, facilitating collaboration between sectors and disciplines that do not typically converge. They result in experimentation environments in which knowledge and methodologies are exchanged to give rise to new solutions. Collective learning networks are also generated, which are constantly being developed and enriched, thereby strengthening practical learning communities. At the same time, those with budding talents find opportunities to unlock their potential and establish strategic connections that can amplify their impact.
At the Banco Sabadell Foundation, we continue to build on this ecosystem that brings together creators, researchers, entrepreneurs and social entities in an environment of constant collaboration and transformation. Because the future is built by combining efforts, sharing knowledge and jointly exploring new ways of innovating. Collaboration is not just a strategy, it is also the key to moving forward towards a more creative, sustainable and connected world.
Featured Collaborations:
SumArte
To reinforce the collaboration in the cultural sector, the SumArte initiative brings together over forty directors and representatives from twenty museums and leading art centres from across the country. This session offers a setting in which to create synergies and reflect on how artificial intelligence and other disruptive technologies are impacting transformation in the cultural sphere.
Throughout the event, the participating institutions work together to exchange outlooks and explore the ways in which technology can boost innovation in museums and art centres. SumArte aims to foster dialogue and the search for shared solutions, consolidating a more connected and prepared cultural ecosystem to take on the challenges of the future.
Culture Steering Group
Spain’s cultural sector is renowned for being very dynamic, as a result of constant paradigm shifts, digitalisation, and new trends. Taking on these challenges requires collaboration, innovative strategies and a proactive approach. In order to help reflect on these challenges and opportunities, in 2024 the Banco Sabadell Foundation organised the first colloquium “Building transformative partnerships”, in which directors from the country’s prominent cultural institutions shared ideas and experiences to create, in the long term and in a collaborative way, new approaches for a better sector.
As a result of this first event, a ‘Steering Group’ formed of representatives from the Foundation’s cultural ecosystem was created. This space stems from a desire to strengthen the cultural community and move towards a more interconnected network, reaffirming the commitment to culture, creativity and innovation.
The Steering Group marks the first step in a co-creation process that aims to revitalise and strengthen the cultural sphere. The process includes more than 40 participating institutions from the Foundation’s community – the so-called ‘Contrast Groups’ – that provide a critical and enriching perspective, validate the proposals submitted and ensure regional and organisational diversity.
Their work helps to identify the importance of training and preparing leaders in the cultural sphere to ensure that organisations have projects with the capacity to tackle challenges and adapt to the new paradigms. Against this backdrop, a Programme has been created, set to launch in 2025, to develop cultural leadership skills.
The activity of the Banco Sabadell Foundation is framed within Banco Sabadell’s Commitment to Sustainability, an action framework that embeds its vision of the future in terms of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) topics. This commitment allows us to align our business objectives with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and establish courses of action that will drive our transformation and progress.
In this context, the collaboration between Banco Sabadell and the Foundation translates into the involvement of their employees in social impact programmes. Their participation is key, since it helps to bring about a positive change for people and to shape our corporate purpose: to help build a fairer and more diverse society.
Throughout 2024, a total of 103 professionals from Banco Sabadell participated in the social impact programmes of the Banco Sabadell Foundation.
– 440 volunteers from Banco Sabadell and 13 from Sabadell Seguros took part in the B-Value social innovation programme, co-promoted with the Ship2B Foundation.
– 24 volunteers took part in the mentoring and talent management programme of the University of Alicante at Banco Sabadell’s tech skills centre in Alicante (CCTA).
– 12 volunteers took part in a cognitive training session as part of Art and Health, a programme organised by the María José Jove Foundation Art Centre for people at risk of exclusion.
– 6 volunteers participated in our SumArte initiative, in which directors and representatives from museums and leading art centres reflected on how to apply AI to the cultural sphere.
– 5 volunteers were part of the intergenerational initiative of the Conecta programme run by the Fundación Balia foundation.
– 3 volunteers also took part in U4Impact’s TalentUO Hackathon at the University of Oviedo.
