The Barcelona Economics Institute (IEB) and Aena have signed an agreement that will allow the economic research centre to enhance its activities and further strengthen its position as a reference point in areas such as urban economics, infrastructure, public policy, the gender gap, and energy sustainability.

The link between the two institutions will have a special focus on the activities deriving from the Infrastructure and Transport Research Programme, which aims to promote research in this field from an economic perspective, with the goal of generating knowledge that is useful to society and can help to guide public policy. This programme is led by IEB researchers Anna Matas, professor of economics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), and Javier Asensio, professor at the same university. Maurici Lucena, President and CEO of Aena, highlighted Aena’s commitment to research in infrastructure economics as a way “of creating knowledge to address the challenges we face as a society. These are turbulent times globally, and it is more necessary than ever to work together with academia to foster the debate that will lead us to the best decisions regarding infrastructure and economic policy.”

The cooperation with Aena will allow the IEB to strengthen activities in all its areas. According to Martí Parellada, President of the IEB, “it means incorporating a significant player into the organization which will make a major contribution to a project like ours, in which the public and private sectors and the university join forces.”