Tarragona was the setting for the launch of the 12th edition of the Tarragona Business Excellence Guide 2026, presented on Friday, 29 May, at the Port of Tarragona. The event, organised by Diari de Tarragona, brought together 300 political, economic and social representatives.
The presentation took place at Tinglado I at 11am and centred on the impact of artificial intelligence, or AI, on the business community in the Tarragona area. The guide is described by Diari de Tarragona as its most extensive edition to date, with a broad overview of the current economic situation in the region.
The main discussion panel was titled Converting AI into a tangible value and growth engine. The speakers were Andres Bordoy, Tech Sales Director of GenAI & Cloud Transformation at Amazon Web Services, Cristian Canton of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Mary Mesaglio, Chief of Research for CIOs and AI Leaders at Gartner, and Sergio Esteve, a business AI specialist at PwC.
Guests were able to put questions to the panel, with the discussion looking at how AI is changing relationships within companies and across society. The launch events for the guide, which began as a directory for businesses in Tarragona province, have become a regular meeting point for economic, social and political figures.
Among those attending were Albert Dalmau, Minister of the Presidency, Miquel Sàmper, Minister of Economy, Rubén Viñuales, Mayor of Tarragona, Sandra Guaita, Mayor of Reus, Santi Batchilleria, CEO of Diari de Tarragona, Santiago Castellà, President of the Port of Tarragona, Natàlia Rodríguez, Director of Diari de Tarragona, and Rafael Servent, head of the newspaper's Economic Information Area. Directors from companies and business groups including Repsol, PortAventura, CaixaBank and Telefónica were also present.
The 2026 guide runs to 164 pages and uses SABI data from the Commercial Registry. It also includes Diari de Tarragona's own analysis of leading companies, grouped by income, operating profit and job creation, with a local focus and global ambition. For more local business coverage, see our news page.
