The UPF Barcelona School of Management and the Vallformosa Foundation to promote a Chair of Territorial Transformation and Wellbeing

The Chair, directed by Sílvia Cóppulo, will work on a new model of a more equitable, inclusive and sustainable relationship between people, companies and the territory of the Penedès

The UPF Barcelona School of Management and the Vallformosa Foundation have signed a collaboration agreement to promote the Chair of Strategic Territorial Transformation for Community Wellbeing with the aim of defining a new model of relationship between people, companies, and the territory that is fairer, more equitable, inclusive and sustainable. 

Directed by Sílvia Cóppulo, the Chair aims to incorporate a sense of relevance and, at the same time, economic and social prosperity into the future horizon for the younger generations in the Penedès region. The Chair, based on the creation and transfer of knowledge with the academic rigour that characterises research at the UPF-BSM, and in tune with the values of the Vallformosa Foundation, will act as a social dynamiser and a generator of notoriety and prestige in the territory. 

"The creation of this chair is the culmination of what Vallformosa represents today: a unique model of company whose backbone is the feeling of relevance to a territory of sustainability"

"The first study that we will carry out from the chair will already allow us to know the opinion and assessment in the present and with a look into the future by the people who have some personal or professional link with the Vallformosa territory", says Cóppulo, who assures that "at the same time, it will allow us to determine its economic, ecological and social value with sustainability criteria". "It is an honour for me to be in charge of the Vallformosa Foundation Chair of the UPF-BSM", she says. 

Josep Graells, President of the Vallformosa Foundation, says he is "immensely excited about the creation of the Vallformosa Chair of Strategic Territorial Transformation for Planetary Wellbeing", and adds that its creation "is the culmination of what Vallformosa represents today: a new and unique company model whose backbone is the feeling of relevance to a territory of sustainability".

Recognition and prestige of the "great Barcelona"

The Chair will address issues such as the social and personal identity of the territory, depopulation and repopulation of the agricultural territory, transformation and innovation, and entrepreneurship with social impact, among others. 

"At UPF-BSM we have a clear vocation for social transformation, promoting a vision of management that prioritises, among other things, innovation from a humanist point of view and planetary well-being", says the Director General, José M. Martínez-Sierra. "Joining forces with the Vallformosa Foundation is a clear example of this will, since the research produced within the framework of the chair will have a direct impact on citizens", he considers. 

The academic rigour of the UPF-BSM will add value to the «Territori Vallformosa» project, the most important in Southern Europe with respect to people in the agricultural field

At the same time, the Vallformosa Foundation has initiated the preliminary project for the «Territori Vallformosa» area, which aims to lead the territory of greater Barcelona, with its core in the Penedès, and which the Chair will help to generate value, knowledge, and prestige. This is the most important project in Southern Europe in terms of the relationship between people in the agricultural field and, according to its promoters, "a space in the process of transformation that will be inclusive, lively, active and prosperous". The prestigious architect Ricardo Bofill has designed the master plan.