Spanish telecommunications giant Telefónica – parent of the UK's O2 network – has formed an alliance with chef Ferran Adrià. They'll work together on the transformation of El Bulli, which was rated the world’s best restaurant between 2004 and 2009. Mr Adrià recently announced plans to close the restaurant for two years and transform it into a unique 'laboratory' that'll reopen in 2014.
The four-year agreement will incorporate a series of activities in some of the world’s major cities, including London, with creativity training courses, meetings and conferences all expected.
Luis Abril, General Technical Secretary of the Telefonica Chairman’s Office, said "This agreement will allow us to make the new 'El Bulli' into the best creative laboratory in the world, combining innovation and new technologies in communications and knowledge. Telefónica and Ferran Adrià are both visionaries, leaders in their respective fields. They have both proven their capacity and willingness to act, to move from the realms of possibility and imagination into something tangible and real, as real as the alliance that we are now forging."