Barcelona · Mediterranean Arc

José María Santos Figueroa

Economics, innovation and ecosystems for those who decide in business and institutions.

Ibercaja · FCRi Board of Trustees · Cambra de Comerç de Barcelona · Club Innovación Comunidad Valenciana

José María Santos Figueroa
Portrait of José María Santos Figueroa

About me

23 years of seeing the same project from three different places

I started out managing Ibercaja branches in Barcelona and Rubí. Since 2013 I have led the relationship with institutions across the Mediterranean Arc — Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the Valencian Community, Murcia, Albacete and Almería — and from there I work at the frontier of four worlds that almost never talk to each other: financial analysis, innovation models, business strategy and technology.

Outside the bank I sit on governance and advisory bodies: secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca i la Innovació since 2015, on the Advisory Commission on Entrepreneurship and Startups of the Cambra de Comerç de Barcelona, on the board of Impuls Cat Sud, on the Digital Transformation Commission of the Valencia Chamber of Commerce and in the Club para la Innovación de la Comunidad Valenciana. Also in the ecosystem: 22@Network Barcelona, Tech Barcelona, and I represent Ibercaja at BIOVAL Clúster BIO Comunidad Valenciana.

Since 2024 I have been part of the team that drove the Barcelona Finance Cluster, invited by the Generalitat de Catalunya before it formally existed. Today I represent Ibercaja in its Sustainable Finance and Fintech working groups.

That leaves me in an unusual place: I see the same project from the company that pays for it, the institution that backs it and the researcher who signs it. Most of the time what fails is not the idea — it is the seam between the three.

“My life never lacks a book, a compass, the sea and a smile.”

23

years in banking and institutions

Ibercaja, since 2003

9

active boards, committees and commissions

at once, in Catalonia and the Valencian Community

12

documented talks

universities, chambers and congresses · 2014–2023

José María Santos Figueroa

Career

23 years at Ibercaja, two stages.

2013 — present

Head of Institutions, Mediterranean Arc · Ibercaja

He leads the relationship with institutions across the Mediterranean Arc — Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the Valencian Community, Murcia, Albacete and Almería — at the frontier between financial analysis, innovation models, business strategy and technology. From there he has built up a network of boards and commissions that today includes the FCRi, the Barcelona Finance Cluster and the Cambra de Comerç de Barcelona.

Secretary of the Board of Trustees, FCRi (since 2015) · Driving team, Barcelona Finance Cluster (since 2024) · Advisory Commission on Entrepreneurship and Startups, Cambra de Comerç de Barcelona (since 2026)

Innovation ecosystem

22@Network Barcelona · Tech Barcelona · BIOVAL

Member of 22@Network Barcelona since 2016 and of Tech Barcelona since 2018; he represents Ibercaja at BIOVAL Clúster BIO Comunidad Valenciana since 2017, has been on the Digital Transformation Commission of the Valencia Chamber of Commerce since 2018 and on the board of Impuls Cat Sud since 2022.

2003 — 2013 · 10 years

Branch Manager → Manager of the Barcelona Main Office

He managed Ibercaja branches in Barcelona and Rubí (2003–2006) and then the Barcelona Main Office (2006–2013), leading a team of 11 people and two support teams, with institutional representation of the bank in the city — the management and institutional-relations base he now applies across the Mediterranean Arc.

Talks

12 talks, four underlying themes

Conferences and round tables documented between 2014 and 2023, at universities, chambers of commerce, business confederations and industry congresses — grouped by what they cover, not by date.

4 Innovation and business ecosystems
  • Vía Empresa / Confederació Empresarial d'Igualada — Innovació i Ecosistemes Empresarials (2016)
  • Valencia Innova — Las Provincias — Innovation in Business Ecosystems (2016)
  • Economía 3 — 3 obviedades y 2 ideas sobre innovación (2018)
  • BNEW — Lab 30/40 — Shared challenges between corporations (2023)
4 Digital transformation
  • Valencia Chamber of Commerce — Escuela de Negocios Lluís Vives: ¿Por qué digitalizarnos? (2016)
  • Vía Empresa — Auditori Josep Irla, Girona: digitalització de l'economia (2016)
  • Valencia Chamber of Commerce — round table, Industry 4.0 Conference (2017)
  • Valencia Chamber of Commerce — Jornada eCommerce VLC: retail y macroeconomía digital (2018)
2 Banking, strategy and finance
  • Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete — Paradigmas de la Banca Actual: modelos de negocio (2014)
  • CIMAV — 2nd International Congress on Mediation and Arbitration of Valencia — inversiones financieras en la internacionalización de la empresa familiar (2015)
2 Leadership, entrepreneurship and talent
  • Universidad de Valencia, Facultad de Derecho — Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneur (2014)
  • Fabricando Talento — Meeting Point Mujeres Profesionales — Women's Leadership in Research and Science (2015)

Training

Studies and certifications

Training in banking management, e-business and financial advice, with professional certifications renewed over two decades.

Academic education

  • 1990 – 1993Diploma, Business Studies
    Universitat de Barcelona
  • 1996 – 1997Master's degree, Banking Management
    EADA Business School
  • 2000Postgraduate degree, Real Estate Management
    Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
  • 2001Master's degree, e-Business and e-Commerce
    La Salle
  • 2008 – 2013Leadership, business models and financial advice
    EADA Business School, Otto Walter, Aula de Gestión, EFPA
  • 2024Business Angel, Startups and Venture Capital
    La Salle BCN, course organised by APTE (Spanish Association of Science and Technology Parks)

Professional certifications

  • 2003EFA™ — European Financial Advisor, Level II
    European Financial Planning Association (EFPA)
  • 2016Digital Marketing
    IAB Spain
  • 2020Update for Financial Advisors
    Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)

I write about this

Recent articles on LinkedIn

01

El Puente que Nadie Ve

What a book about von Neumann teaches about why science takes root in some territories and emigrates from others.

02

El boom demográfico que España no está planificando

About economics you can see in the bottom line, not just in the debate.

03

El espejismo de la IA

Why it demands patient capital and radical execution.

In the press

CámaraInfo · Cámara Valencia

Digital Transformation interview, in the issue of CámaraInfo, the magazine of the Valencia Chamber of Commerce.

Our value is to connect the company with resources, knowledge and opportunities it could not reach on its own.

When complementarities are well articulated and governance is sound, value emerges systemically.

— José María Santos Figueroa, Head of Institutions for the Mediterranean Arc at Ibercaja, in CámaraInfo (Cámara Valencia), p. 29.

Institutions and ecosystem

  • Ibercaja
  • Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca i la Innovació
  • Cambra de Comerç de Barcelona
  • Club para la Innovación de la Comunidad Valenciana
  • Valencia Chamber of Commerce
  • Tech Barcelona
  • 22@Network Barcelona
  • BIOVAL Clúster BIO Comunidad Valenciana
  • Barcelona Finance Cluster
  • Impuls Cat Sud