Barça Innovation Hub: Getting the Ball Rolling on Innovation

This case study follows the Spanish football club, FC Barcelona, as it starts to innovate and create an organizational structure for open innovation. At the beginning of the case study, FC Barcelona has an outstanding track record of on-field performance and a set of knowledge management and research activities that support that performance. However, there was no real innovation activity. In 2015, not only the aspirations of the new management but also the exponential pace of technology and the raised pressure to win on the field pushed FC Barcelona to 'up its game' and move from research and knowledge management to collaborative innovation projects. In 2020, when the case study was developed, FC Barcelona has been busy executing its vision to become the 'Silicon Valley of sports', supported by its innovation unit called Barca Innovation Hub or Bihub, for short.