Barcelona and the city of Barcelona have signed a collaboration agreement to intensify their relations in innovation processes and technological solutions around the city, reports www.fcbusiness.co.uk. The deal between the La Liga champions and the local government will see the development of the Smart Espai Barça, the upheaval and potentiating of digital innovations on the club's facilities to turn them into 'smart' spaces that services members, supporters and the people of Barcelona.

The idea behind Smart Espai Barça is to develop the area into a new technological district with 2.0 spaces with the very latest digital innovations, making visits to the premises, either to watch matches or visit the stadium, a truly unique experience.

Dídac Lee, Director of the Media and Communication Department and Head of New Technologies at FC Barcelona, said, "Technology has to serve to expand the Barça sentiment around the world and, most of all, facilitate communication and the Barça experience to all members and supporters.

"The implementation of Smart technologies on our facilities will allow us to improve the experience of 2.0 members and make our premises an important part of Barcelona, a smart and innovative city."

La Masia, the club's academy, will become a Smart Lab in the first phase of the project. The club will be testing several technologies and services at La Masia, in the Ciutat Esportiva and the New Miniestadi.

La Masia-Oriol Tort Training Centre will, in the next few months, become a Smart Lab to experiment with a series of latest generation solutions.

As the new facilities are constructed, the process will be intensified. There will be a Wi-Fi service on which work has already begun. There will eventually be 1,079 Wi-Fi access points.