Keys to entrepreneurship, enterprise and employment in the post-pandemic era

With the aim of reactivating the economy and the labour market and leaving behind the difficulties of the pandemic, come Bizbarcelona and the Saló de l’Ocupació. Two events aimed at promoting entrepreneurship and employment, organised by Fira de Barcelona and supported by Barcelona City Council and other organisations. From 9 to 11 November, Bizbarcelona and the Saló de l’Ocupació have prepared 160 talks and conferences, 200 workshops and activities, as well as orientation spaces, counselling sessions and individual attention and networking dynamics in pavilion 8 of the Montjuïc exhibition centre.

Entrepreneurship, growth, innovation

Bizbarcelona, the event of reference for entrepreneurship, start-ups and SMEs in the city, will have 300 speakers this year who will share experiences, advice and techniques in the four axes of the show: Entrepreneurship, Growth, Start-ups and Innovation in Business and Talent. In addition, Bizbarcelona will have four spaces where workshops will be held on digital transformation solutions, management techniques, innovation and business productivity and strategies for attracting, managing and motivating talent in the company.

There will be activities for entrepreneurs and marketers to help them find collaborators, suppliers and even future employees. You will be able to learn about Lean, Canvas, Design Thinking or Growth Haking methods for innovation, learn how to present an elevator pitch or hire a mentor to handle a crisis situation, and also meet the winners of the AticcoLab Pitch Competition.

The Saló de l’Ocupació aims to showcase the potential of all types of talent (young people, women, digital, seniors, athletes, scientists, inclusive, international…) and promote training in new skills, trades, job opportunities, the most in-demand professional profiles and opportunities in the third sector, as well as the possibility of contacting companies and organisations that are looking for employees for their organisations and other proposals. It will offer up to 150 activities for people looking for work or who want to change their career path. There will be round tables, workshops, conferences, information and individual counselling in various locations.

Visitors will be able to learn how to face a job interview or take part in a selection process, visit craft demonstrations, receive employment advice or find out about the state of inclusion of vulnerable groups. In addition, there will be monographic sections dedicated to strategic sectors of the city (blue economy, digital technologies, video games, tourism or care), which will present their professional opportunities while encouraging debate and networking between companies in each sector and visitors to the fair.

Crisis boosts ingenuity: pandemics boost entrepreneurship

The pandemic has caused an unprecedented economic crisis. Hundreds of businesses have been forced to close and thousands of workers have been made redundant. But some have managed to emerge stronger from the situation. Start-ups born with revolutionary ideas or existing companies adapting to take advantage of the crisis.

«The business sector has come out of the pandemic well,» says Lluís Soldevila, researcher at OBS Business School and author of the report «Entrepreneurs after COVID-19».

The report notes that the number of business opportunities, new ideas and entrepreneurial activities increased in 2020, as shown by the exceptionally good figures for patents (the number of applications increased by 16%). Between January and September 2020, the SPTO received 30% more applications for utility models (junior patents) and the number of trade name applications increased by 2%.

«In times of crisis, ingenuity sharpens because there are more needs and less money, so you have to optimise it,» Soldevilla explains about this boom in business. «There is a paradigm shift, we are more open and there are new opportunities because we are more attentive and we try to solve real and concrete problems,» he continues.

Different types of post-pandemic entrepreneurs

Soldevilla points out that today’s entrepreneurs can be divided into two groups: those who went into business because of the pandemic, and those who started their businesses before COVID-19. As for the former, the expert points out that many of them found themselves on the ropes because of the pandemic, and their way out was to go into business. «The uncertainty made it much more difficult for them to start up and find investments.

Either the idea was very clear, or the timing was not right,» he says. On the other hand, those already in business had to make some changes because the market stagnated, according to Soldevilly. «They had to pivot, make small changes in direction so that the value proposition remained valid in the new environment.

In addition, the OBS report also highlights that 60% of startups expect to continue growing in 2021. Despite these good figures, some of them have emerged as a direct short-term response to the crisis and will return to normal levels once COVID-19 is over. Others, however, will persist and create a long-term digital disruption that will shape business for decades to come.

Here Soldevilla distinguishes between short-term and structural ideas. As an example, «those who make face masks have made a lot of money, but that will end in two or three years, while those who saw that grandparents need more help and technology can help them. This is an idea that is here to stay because there are more and more grandparents.

In this line, the report points out that the sectors with the most potential for growth are online education, health and wellness, SAAS and teleworking tools, e-commerce, online gaming, e-sports and streaming platforms, pharma and labs, and coworking.

Future challenges

Although the pandemic has proved to be a propitious time to create new projects, the real challenge now is to ensure that the business endures in the long term. «We are in a sector where 90% of ideas do not come to fruition,» warns Soldevilla. In this context, he points out that the entrepreneur faces two major challenges: finding money and finding customers. These two priorities still exist after the pandemic, but their importance has changed, according to the expert. «Before the pandemic, it was more important to find money, but now it is more difficult to determine who the customers are,» he says.

Ten opportunities for business after Covid-19

1.-Cybersecurity

The move to remote working and high-profile cases, such as the cyber-attack that exposed companies like Colonial, have made it clear to businesses that the issue of cybersecurity must now be a priority. There are as many business opportunities in this area as in any other niche, from firewalls to backups to VPNs.

Another piece of good news is the 224 million euros that the National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE) has earmarked for innovative cybersecurity procurement, which will be the largest support to the sector in this format at European level.

2.- Charging electric vehicles

Wallbox’s success with its system of chargers for electric and hybrid cars highlights the enormous business opportunities that are opening up in this area. Wallbox, according to its CEO Enriq Asunción, has already installed more than 100,000 chargers in more than 67 countries.

Given the forecast of a progressive increase in the sale of electric vehicles in Spain and the Spanish government’s incentive plan, which foresees the distribution of a total of 400 million euros in direct aid for electromobility and charging infrastructure, it is necessary to seek efficient and sustainable solutions for energy storage.

3.- Networking

It remains to be seen whether telework has finally arrived or whether it has been a mirage of a pandemic. Current figures already show a significant decline in teleworking, which has almost halved compared to last year. It is not that productivity has declined as a result of teleworking, but that many companies and employees are starting to opt for a mixed model combining home and office hours.

From this perspective, tools that make teleworking easier and more secure remain essential, and companies should choose a good provider of such services.

One example is the Oomnitza platform, which helps remote companies keep all their assets – software and hardware (end-user hardware, SaaS, network infrastructure, virtual cloud services, retail facilities, medical devices, etc.) – secure and in optimal condition.

In addition, for those who don’t trust their team too much and are worried about being distracted by other tasks during working hours, there are solutions such as Sesame, a tool designed to keep track of the working day’s schedule. Similarly, Woffu is a startup that specialises in optimising employee time management.

4.-Lifelong learning

It is not only lifelong jobs that will disappear, but also many areas of work. Some argue that new generations will have to reinvent themselves up to seven times during their careers, so mindset and training are crucial. Another paradox is that more than 60% of companies report that they cannot find the talent they need, which some attribute to a mismatch between training and the skills demanded by the labour market.

In this context, solutions are emerging that promise rapid alignment between training and the labour market, mostly based on e-learning. Training is everything from digital professions to any kind of trade or business.

In relation to this need, business opportunities arise, not only for specialised trainers, but also in the creation of multimedia content platforms, the creation of communities or the creation of new digital tools, among others.

5.-Entertainment and cultural industries

Before the pandemic, the cultural industry accounted for 3.2% of Spain’s gross domestic product (GDP). After two years of stagnation, the percentage has decreased, but everything indicates that the sector will recover, albeit in a new way, to make it more competitive and resilient to the current and future situation. It is true that entertainment content has grown disproportionately with the restrictions, but only a few large platforms such as Netflix, Movistar+ or YouTube have benefited.

But not everything has to be audiovisual. It is time to recover the performing arts, music, the world of books, cinema, the return to museums, exhibition halls, the restoration of cultural heritage… Technologies such as virtual or augmented reality can become great allies for the modernisation of this sector.

It can also be useful to use other forms of communication with young audiences, as the Uffizi Gallery did when it launched the TiKToK initiative, which was soon joined by the Prado Museum.

It is not only about digital transformation, but also about creating driving companies that involve different actors and are able to cross national borders. This requires creating synergies between companies and institutions and forgetting about personalities.

6.-Telemedicine

Telemedicine is not, of course, about a doctor calling a patient on the phone, making a diagnosis based on what they say, and sending them a treatment without seeing them or running tests. This may work for minor, high-protocol interventions, but it does not always work for major illnesses.

However, telemedicine platforms already exist on the market that allow remote diagnosis in areas such as radiology, cardiology, ophthalmology and dermatology, as well as treatment monitoring.

Spanish startup Legit Health, for example, has launched an app that can identify up to 232 skin diseases. Its algorithms automatically classify lesions by simply displaying images and small patient-reported outcomes (PROMs). Software, the development of medical apps, practice management programmes or communication tools between medical teams or with patients are some of those that may present a business opportunity.

7.-BIM Technology for the Construction Industry

BIM (Building Information Modelling) is a new collaborative methodology that modernises and improves building design processes. Its use in Spain is still low, but is expected to grow. It is based on the use of technology to create, manage information and documentation throughout the life cycle of infrastructure projects.

BIM enables better understanding and mitigation of risks prior to construction, as it allows modelling, visualisation and analysis before and during the construction phase of a project. It is therefore a revolution in the workflow of construction and industrial projects, as it enables the «complete digital construction» of a building, from physical to energy and functional performance. Some see it as a paradigm shift, similar to what CAD technology once represented.

This methodology offers new business opportunities. One of them is the startup Stoor.pro, which some call the Uber of architecture. It is a platform for architects and construction companies to meet in one place.

The process is simple. Architects who are interested in bringing their projects to market – or reselling those that have already been used by a client – have a showcase on Stoor to display them, and developers and/or builders have a place to choose the ones that fit their needs.

BIM consultancies and training centres have also been able to carve out a niche in the market, taking advantage of the fact that the months of closure and remote working have led to the introduction of cloud-based technologies.

8.-Fitness at home
For companies that have gyms or sports centres, there is a great opportunity to offer fitness at home, especially with virtual reality. In this sense, start-ups such as Vifit.training are emerging that build virtual reality training kits that are integrated into gyms that have little space. Thus, a small gym can offer an infinite number of virtual rooms for different exercises that actually occupy 2×2 metres.

Another case is Virtuagym, a platform that has developed software for the distance training of professional personal trainers. On-demand and streaming trainings are also in demand for their flexibility and convenience.

9.-Support from other companies

Now that the time has come to go digital, many entrepreneurs are at a loss to cope with the transition, which is why there are many successful proposals aimed at easing the way for other entrepreneurs.

These include Debit2Go, a solution that helps businesses move to new subscription models in an innovative way, and Millionchats, an app designed especially for micro-businesses and freelancers who lack digital skills but want to use the online channel to increase their sales. The app, which is currently only available for Android, allows small businesses and freelancers to create a digital shop in a matter of minutes via whastapp.

Other business opportunities pointing in this direction include BECCA, with global management software for the self-employed and SMEs, and PayThunder, which has created an interactive virtual hologram capable of performing customer service functions.

10. Because I’m worth it» business.

If health and wellness had already proven to be an unstoppable trend, the pandemic has catapulted it to the top. People are more interested in eating healthy, feeling more attractive and indulging themselves. It’s about lightening the emotional load that the pandemic has placed on everyone and remembering the old motto «because I’m worth it». In this sense, spending on home decoration has soared, sales of recreational vehicles have increased, contact with nature has broadened, people are ordering food from home because they don’t feel like cooking…

We want to have fun in a controlled way and still enjoy life away from work and worries. Any idea that offers something new in this sense, without being exclusive, is welcome in the market.

With foreign investment from Australia’s Fortescue Future Industries, the country aims to produce 2.2 million tonnes by 2030.

Argentina is trying not to be left behind in the face of the challenges posed by climate change. As part of the COP26 World Climate Summit in Glasgow, the government of Alberto Fernandez announced on Monday that Australian company Fortescue Future Industries will invest 8.4 billion dollars in Argentine Patagonia, the «largest investment in clean energy» in the South American country’s history. The project plans to turn the southern province of Rio Negro into a global export hub for the fuel, with production of 2.2 million tonnes per year by 2030.

«Green hydrogen is one of the fuels of the future and we are proud that Argentina is one of the countries at the forefront of the green transformation,» Fernandez said of the announcement. The project is expected to create 15,000 direct jobs and 40,000 indirect jobs.

Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical element in the universe, being the main material in stars, for example, and has the advantage that it only releases water when used as a fuel and not carbon dioxide like petrol. On Earth, however, it is not found on its own, but only in elements containing it, such as water, coal and natural gas, which require large amounts of energy to separate hydrogen molecules from each other in order to be used.

Green hydrogen is produced by using electricity from renewable energy sources to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The Fortescue Future Industries project therefore foresees the construction of a wind farm that will power a plant to produce hydrogen from desalinated seawater and an export port near Punta Colorada in Rio Negro.

The governor of Río Negro, Arabela Carreras, highlighted on Tuesday that Fortescue chose the area for its climatic conditions, its strategic location – with strong winds and access to the Atlantic Ocean – and its human resources.

With this announcement, made two weeks before the parliamentary elections, Argentina joins the list of countries betting on this fuel, but is far from Chile, which leads the region and is already implementing two projects in the framework of the National Green Hydrogen Strategy presented in 2020. In Argentina, the Australian company will begin pre-feasibility technical studies next week, followed by public consultations. If the schedule is met, the pilot phase will start next year and the investment to produce 35,000 tonnes of green hydrogen is estimated at $1.2 billion.

Debt for climate action

At the Glasgow summit, several Latin American countries, including Argentina, called for international financing and debt-for-environment swaps. No Latin American country is among the ten most polluting in the world, but this most biologically diverse region is suffering the consequences of climate change like few others. «We have to design payment mechanisms for ecosystem services and introduce the concept of environmental debt,» Fernandez said at COP26.

This week, the Argentinean government has also published the basis for an energy transition until 2030. According to the official resolution, 90% of the increase in installed capacity between 2020 and 2030 must come from low-carbon energy sources. «This decarbonisation pathway would result in a reduction of the carbon intensity of electricity by almost 50% compared to the current status quo, which would reduce emissions from this sub-sector by almost half,» the document states.

«The world is moving in this direction and business barriers to environmental inaction will become more and more frequent. We are doing it out of conviction and convenience,» admitted production minister Matías Kulfas last July when he presented the green production plan to correspondents. Almost a decade ago, Argentina was convinced that the giant Vaca Muerta unconventional hydrocarbon formation would become one of the country’s economic engines. The hydrocarbon industry now receives millions of dollars in subsidies, but the government no longer sees it as a lifeline.

In addition to global pressure, there is growing citizen mobilisation in Argentina. «If we grow economically but destroy forests and wetlands, it will have serious consequences, and we are the first generation that will have to face the consequences of climate change head on,» says Gastón Tenembaum, one of the founders of Youth for Climate. «We have to understand the environment as part of the whole,» he says.

The biggest foreign investment of the century, the government announces it but does not enjoy it

The announcement of the investment during the climate change summit in Scotland is undoubtedly the most important positive news in recent years for Argentina, which has been hit by a pandemic – the same one that put the state’s finances in a critical state – aggravated by various mistakes by the government itself. The arrival of a million-dollar investment, unthinkable in this context, gives the government the certain peace of mind it needs, at least from a political point of view.

Specifically, the Australian company Fortescue has announced that it will invest 8.4 billion dollars in the production of green hydrogen in the province of Rio Negro, which will create more than 50,000 direct and indirect jobs and whose production will be destined, in the first phase, exclusively for export.

The announcement was made in Glasgow, Scotland, where the COP26 climate change summit was being held, by President Alberto Fernández, the head of Fortescue, Andrew Forrest, the company’s CEO, Julie Shuttleworth, and the company’s head for the Latin American region, former rugby player Agustín Pichot, as summarised by the special envoy of El Cronista and the news agencies present in Scotland.

The scale of the project will enable Rio Negro to become a world hub for green hydrogen exports by 2030, with a production capacity of 2.2 million tonnes per year, which would cover energy production equivalent to 10 per cent of Germany’s annual electricity consumption.

After the meeting, the President stated that «green hydrogen is one of the fuels of the future and Argentina is proud to be one of the countries at the forefront of the energy transition».

The euphoria continued. «This is the most important investment announcement of the 21st century in Argentina, which we accept with great responsibility and pride,» said Matías Kulfas, Minister of Productive Development. «It is an investment that establishes a new sector, the green hydrogen industry, which is growing internationally,» he said.

Clearly, this is a brilliant announcement. Talk of a multi-billion dollar investment in the midst of a dollar shortage is hopeful sounding news. But there is also reality. In this country in need of «affection», every caress is a good thing. The announced investment is not for tomorrow. Like all big spending, it has a time frame, which this government will surely not enjoy.

Officials will have to keep a close eye on this announcement to ensure that it does not turn out to be another million-dollar proposal that comes to nothing.

Agustín Pichot: «We want to start as soon as possible with an investment of u$s2,500 million».

Agustín Pichot, President of Fortescue Latin America, has announced an investment of nearly $8.4 billion in green hydrogen production in Argentina. The news was announced on the sidelines of the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

In an interview with C5N’s Julián Guarino, the former Los Pumas player explained that «this is a very new industry and we know that we have to reduce the cost of production, but that is why we want to start as soon as possible with an investment of $2.5 billion». He also added that the challenge is not only the magnitude of the investment, but «to manage it over the next 10 years».

In the context of our country, Pichot analysed that there are «conditions imposed by the foreign exchange market, not to pay dividends, but to make the payment of the debt of this investment sustainable, which is logical for any business», but also that he believes that «it is good to invest in the country and hopefully the necessary jobs can be created». According to the press conference at which the announcement was made, the company plans to create more than 4,000 jobs in the region in the first phase.

Fortescue has already started exploration work around the Sierra Grande site in Rio Negro, which it plans to turn into a global green hydrogen export hub with a production capacity of 2.2 million tonnes per year by 2030. On the importance of decarbonisation, Pichot said that «it is a challenge that we all have to take on. Everyone can take individual steps, but it is the industry that has to change, and that is where big projects like this can help globally and get people and governments to demand change.

UGR Emprendedora increases the number of participants in its activities from 76,000 to 85,000. Two entrepreneurs talk about their experiences at the head of two different projects and encourage people to take the plunge.
«Success in entrepreneurship consists of finding what you really like and knowing how to use it. Entrepreneurship is a complex challenge that requires a lot of effort and commitment, and to give 100% and fight for it, it has to be something that really motivates the entrepreneur, as well as a promising business future. We are all good at something, we just have to find out what». These are the words of Laura Mata Navarro, who studied audiovisual communication at the University of Granada (UGR) and developed a sustainable craft project called WallieWood.

Laura has completed two UGR Emprendedora courses, Emprende tu TFG and Breaker Impulsa. She has also received a grant from the Diputación de Granada for women entrepreneurs in cities with less than 5,000 inhabitants.

UGR Emprendedora has seen an increase in interest in its activities. In the 2020-2021 academic year, it reached a total of 85,039 people, taking into account all the activities carried out, including networking. In the 2019-2020 academic year, the total was 76,233 people. «We did not interrupt our activity during the pandemic, but we quickly adapted to the non-prospective and were able to reach a large number of users who demanded our services,» explains UGR Emprendedora. The university students have businesses in a variety of fields: applications, environment, agriculture and food, arts, marketing, accommodation, e-commerce and hospitality, among others. The behaviour of entrepreneurs on university campuses during the months of the pandemic has been very varied.

Many slowed down due to low demand; some projects included online events and did even «better» than when they did not have them or only had them occasionally; others looked for new business models to continue marketing; they had to include online sales, for example; and the birth rate issue affected projects that needed to move to their facilities with pilot experiences and were unable to do so.

E-commerce

There are also projects that were not affected by the pandemic because their business model was electronic from the beginning. And from the University of Granada they add that there have been some projects that have benefited from the recovery after the pandemic because they are linked to the leisure and hospitality sector, which is currently in high demand.

Alejandro Muñoz Ruiz and Ester Plaza Ballesteros are entrepreneurs. They are immersed in a project related to leisure. Muñoz studied Computer Engineering at the UGR and Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid. Yokai 3D Studios is dedicated to 3D printing and the processing of these works, focusing mainly on the world of video games and is currently working on the video game Valorant by Riot Games. «We have always seen the desire to raise money in the video game sector and clubs related to electronic sports, which companies do not usually cover, so we have carved out a niche for ourselves with this microtechnology and we have managed to become a benchmark in the gaming sector in Spain,» he explains.

Muñoz makes it clear that «business is very difficult if you do it alone. Fortunately, we have always been associated with UGR Emprendedora, which has provided us with information, tools and memory, which has made it easier for us». When asked if he would recommend entrepreneurship, he does not hesitate: «Of course, I think it is a journey that anyone who has an idea or a project should go through to check how solid their idea is, and also to learn how to pivot or reject many others».

For Laura Matova, the UGR Emprendedora experience was «very positive, both in terms of learning and on a human level, as in addition to providing a great deal of knowledge and tools on entrepreneurship, I was also able to meet an incredible network of entrepreneurs and professionals in the sector who help to enrich and improve the experience of entrepreneurship itself».

As part of his sustainable craft project called WallieWood, he and his partner Raúl recycle broken skateboards that are no longer used for skateboarding and create unique decorations and jewellery using the aesthetics and nature of skateboard wood. «This project came about in the middle of the pandemic, when my partner and I were out of work (we were both working in the hotel industry) and decided to move to the village of Castril, where my parents live, to get away from the suffocating city and change of scenery. We had an old family carpentry shop. I was always interested in design and manual work, and Raúl studied furniture design and manufacture for years; without realising it, we had the tools and the space to do what we really liked,» he explains.

An international platform

He says that the creation of the different wooden pieces and skateboards came about gradually. «We decided to publish some products on an international platform for handmade products and, to our surprise, some of the pieces we published started to sell. Little by little, we professionalised the project by expanding our product range, digital marketing and social media strategies, created our own website and gradually saw the acceptance and success of our project. After three or four months of trials (and errors), I decided to go ahead with the project. It was then that I was introduced to UGR Emprendedora, where they helped me to develop my business plan and, above all, to acquire business and legal knowledge», Laura recalls.

He admits that in the last year his life «has changed completely». It is true that the path of entrepreneurship has many ups and downs, but thanks to all the effort and determination, today I can say that I love my work and that I have chosen to do something I really enjoy».

UGR Emprendedora has 111 projects underway.

Room 2030 will defend innovation from Avilés in Catalonia with its smart rooms

Room 2030, creator of the smart room of the future (you can see what it looks like here), will be defending the Pavilion of Avilés on 15 September in the Barcelona town of Viladecans, where the country’s most innovative entrepreneurial projects will meet at the V Meeting of Innovative Cities. The company’s founder, Sergio Baragaño, said yesterday that they have already begun mass production for half a dozen orders in as many autonomous communities.
Room 2030 designs, manufactures and sells eco-intelligent rooms that create healthy, sustainable and unique environments. It is a modular housing solution at a very affordable price. Its origins lie in a innovation consortium led by ArcelorMittal and made up of large industrial and technological companies.

On 14 October, the technical committee of the «Avilés seeks its most innovative company» competition announced Room 2030 as the most innovative company in the municipality. Thus, on 15 June, the mayoress, Mariví Monteserín, and the architect, Sergio Baragaño, will defend the proposal from Avilés against 30 others in a four-minute presentation.

«We have an absolutely innovative and highly motivating project for the city, and not only as an innovative profession where innovation is based on products that are made in the city and manufactured in the city,» said Monteserín.

Baragaño said he was «delighted» to represent Avilés with a project that «was born here, has an industrial and technological mission and involves companies from the surrounding area». Very connected with the city».

‘Camino de la Innovación’ brings innovation opportunities to SMEs all over Galicia

The Xunta de Galicia, through the Galician Innovation Agency (Gain), launches the Innovation Road initiative, a travelling space that will visit 18 municipalities in four Galician provinces during the months of November and December – in uninterrupted hours from 9 am to 6 pm – with the aim of advising SMEs and disseminating among them the need and possibilities of innovation as a key factor to gain competitiveness and growth.

The event, which will take place on board a trailer, will have 18 stages, the first of which will take place on Friday 5 November in Vilalba. The Innovation Road is part of the Programme to Boost Innovation in SMEs launched by the Second Vice-Presidency and the Regional Ministry of Economy, Enterprise and Innovation, a specific action subsidised with 12 million euros to help Galician SMEs and micro-enterprises to invest in innovation, aimed at companies that have the potential to innovate but have not yet done so, especially those in non-urban areas.

Each stage will feature three cases of innovative SMEs from across the region, for a total of 54 success stories that compete in international markets and exemplify how innovation can be introduced in any sector and company. Attendance to the meeting requires pre-registration through the Gain website.

In addition, there will be more than 200 counselling sessions for SMEs to analyse innovation opportunities and how to implement them using tools that work in other companies. To this end, experts will be able to provide an objective view of the innovation capacity of each SME.

On the basis of this advice, each company will be assisted in developing a plan that will enable it to implement action plans leading to tangible results. Companies interested in applying for advice can do so via the Innovation Pathway section of the Agency’s website.

Explanatory materials on innovation tools and techniques will also be made available to the public, which will be expanded with new content during 2022, as well as an online course on the basics of innovation.

Large Spanish companies have been and are the driving force behind innovation, but their role is changing. «Traditionally, large companies innovated because they had the resources, but in the 1990s they began to realise that this was not sustainable, that their capacity was very limited,» says Santiago Descarrega, CEO of Fitalent, part of NTT DATA. Little by little, new ways of fostering innovation outside the home and in a more cost-effective way are emerging. «It’s a way of diversifying, creating innovation hubs for each of the big companies separately,» he adds. In the 21st century, open innovation programmes based on collaboration with people and organisations outside the company have begun to emerge.

After the last two years, Spanish companies are taking systematic innovation much more seriously. It is no longer desirable, but mandatory. It is now on the agenda of CEOs and boards of directors, from the CIO to the director of strategy, marketing and human resources,» says Clara Jiménez, director of innovation at Accenture’s Spanish office. Before the pandemic, innovation was very much focused on the creation of new assets and businesses, whereas «now we are much more focused on scaling and industrialisation». The time for proofs of concept and pilot projects is over.

Jiménez believes that open innovation is the only way to go, «but this is something that large Spanish companies, both public and private, have understood very well and have been doing for 10 years with more or less success». However, he considers it necessary, on the one hand, to strengthen the two fronts of this innovation model, incorporating more scientific and technological centres that are very comfortable in their status quo, but which nevertheless «provide the necessary knowledge for more differentiated and even disruptive innovation». On the other hand, strengthening the transmission bandwidth with the business areas of companies so that innovation really takes off and has a tangible return. He points out that more than 90% of IBEX companies and many public companies have mechanisms and/or initiatives related to the entrepreneurial ecosystem. «Every year, most of these companies identify more than 1,000 Spanish startups or with operations in our country and analyse a hundred of them in search of innovative solutions or new business models and even investment.»

Strategic change

Santiago Descarrega acknowledges that in the beginning, when it came to open innovation, there was a rather voluntary approach, «the ecosystem was not very prepared either». Today, the situation has reversed, with a significant number of start-ups and universities getting ready. «Collaboration between universities and companies is more fluid and is starting to show results, new strategies are emerging». He also notes a difference in the behaviour of companies in the start-up world. Whereas before they were looking for exclusivity, «now big companies understand that innovation has to flow and let them be free because at some point they will benefit from that innovation». In other words, innovation has gone from being an almost exclusive domain of large companies to being a consistent learned innovation, and «now innovation is less directed, it is created by the ecosystem and society joins in», says Descarrega.

Eric Viardot, professor of strategy at the EADA Business School, points out that «one way to succeed is to buy more and more small innovative companies, and the open innovation model, in which large companies that are market leaders buy smaller innovative companies, is catching on». What’s more, «those that don’t are being left behind». There are many differences between sectors when it comes to innovation. Healthcare, for example, is a clear example of open innovation, where there is public-private collaboration. In other sectors, such as chemicals, the opposite is true and innovation is still very closed. Unlike in the previous crisis, there is now a lot of money in the market «invested in innovation». In Viardot’s opinion, big companies are not big innovators per se because they have their own business models and «when they buy innovative companies, they appropriate part of the innovation, but not all of it».

The role of the driver

Accenture points out that large Spanish companies are and will always be the engine of the value chain from their suppliers to their customers (if they are SMEs). This is because «they have the financial and human resources to transform their sectors through innovative projects that make the whole chain more competitive,» says Clara Jiménez. «This ability to gain traction is not limited to innovation, but also to digitalisation and sustainability. Large companies are innovating in sectors such as telecommunications, energy and finance. At the end of the day, they all want innovative suppliers and they want their customers to do well,» she says.

One example of the innovative power of large Spanish companies is Ferrovial. The company has been committed to open innovation for years and «recognises the great potential of start-ups». It offers the opportunity to test technologies and validate the business models of start-ups through its numerous infrastructures: «Working with entities whose business strategies contemplate similar horizons allows us to co-create the scenario of the future and respond more quickly and effectively to challenges. Open innovation thus offers the opportunity to accelerate the process of exploring and building the future of transport infrastructure and mobility,» say Ferrovial sources.

In 2020, for example, it signed 12 collaboration agreements with universities and research centres and carried out 38 projects with startups. It regularly participates with other companies in startup challenges to find the best startups in specific areas and sectors. Examples include the Construction Startup Competition 2021, 5 prinG and Madrid in Motion. In addition, it launched the open innovation platform Foresight in 2020. Proof that R&D is no longer a long and lonely race.

Investing in housing. A classic that never fails. Spain is the country of housing. We are already seeing how the market has dried up after the pandemic, because the recovery has made people buy houses as if there were no tomorrow, and there is a shortage in the big cities.

From an early age we have been told at home and at school that you have to study, work, etc. to buy a good house and not «throw money away» on rent. Home ownership is a «guarantee». But… a guarantee of what?

An investment in a house is supposedly «safe» in the sense that there will always be a return, and a profit, when it is sold. But is this true and will this prophecy, which nobody knows who invented it, but which is practised like a religion in this country, come true?

Because if we look at the hard data, we see that it has not been fulfilled lately… In particular, since the 2008 crisis.

Investing in housing is no longer profitable

The data do not lie. In the last 13 years, those who bought a house and sold it have not recovered their initial investment. Because prices have not stopped falling. First sharply when the crisis hit, and then more moderately. And all over Spain.

According to the latest Idealista report, in these 13 years there has been an overall fall in prices of 11.7%, from 2,053 euros per square metre in June 2007 to 1,813 euros in September this year.

This has occurred in all provinces without exception, although in some the decline has been more pronounced than in others. Some of them have remained at the same level, such as Guipúzcoa, where the price per square metre has remained at 4,978 euros since 2007, or Málaga with 2,433 euros.

In other countries, however, there has been a sharp decline. For example, in Castellón (-42%), Ciudad Real (-41%), Toledo (-40%) or Ávila (-37%), cities in inland Spain that have also been shaken by depopulation and where nobody wants to move.

What does this mean? That investment in housing has long been unprofitable in Spain, more so in some places than in others, yes, but in general it will be difficult these days to recover the initial investment, let alone exceed it. Even if there is a great demand for them.

In fact, we have to realise that we have long been living in a parallel reality with unprecedented prices in a country where housing cannot cost that much at existing wages. Therefore, the market will continue to regulate itself, and downwards. And even if demand increases, the price cannot go up like that, and even less so in the middle of a recovery.

That is why we should not pay too much attention to the housing investment gurus, get out of the comfort zone of the brick and look for profitability in other options that are not so typical and can work much better.

And renting is not a waste of money.

What is sustainable investment?

An investment discipline that takes into account environmental, social and corporate governance criteria to achieve long-term competitive financial returns and positive social impact. It is also referred to as «responsible investment».

Sustainable investment is a broad term. There are many rationales, approaches and definitions. They are based on different concepts, ranging from ethical principles to the simple pursuit of better investment outcomes. There are different approaches to sustainable investing, such as active ownership (engagement and voting rights), integration of ESG factors, best-in-class approaches, thematic investing, impact investing and exclusion.

It is also called «responsible investment».

Sustainable investing is no different from traditional «value» investing because both focus on long-term returns, according to one asset manager.

Value» investing is a strategy of selecting quality companies that appear to be trading below their intrinsic value and have the potential to perform well over the long term.

Incorporating ESG factors can help investors find such companies, said Yimei Li, managing director of China Asset Management, or ChinaAMC.

Environmental, social and governance criteria are used to measure a company’s performance in a range of areas, from carbon emissions to contribution to society and employee diversity.

«I believe investment is about finding the best long-term value. And for fundamental investors, there is nothing more important than sustainable growth,» Li told CNBC television on Thursday at the Sustainable Future Virtual Forum.

Last year, ChinaAMC, in partnership with Dutch asset manager NN Investment Partners, launched a global ESG-focused fund targeting Chinese equities. It said the fund performed well and that over the long term sustainable investments would not offer a «poor» return.

However, ESG standards need to be adapted to local conditions, Li added.

She explained that, globally, corporate governance standards usually emphasise the presence of women on company boards, but in China «it is not so difficult to achieve».

Li said his company has its own «localised» ESG ratings to complement international standards.

No simplistic filter

Sustainable investment has become increasingly popular in recent years, but there has been criticism of this investment strategy.

One of the critical voices was Tariq Fancy, BlackRock’s first global head of sustainable investments in 2018 and 2019, who said that such investments can be a «dangerous placebo that harms the public interest».

Loh Boon Chye, CEO of the Singapore Exchange, also acknowledged the fallacies associated with sustainable investment.

He cautioned investors against using ESG criteria as a «simplistic filter» or a «shortcut» when selecting funds and companies. Instead, investors should assess whether a company is integrating sustainability into its business model and practices, he said.

«One of the problems is that ESG or sustainability or ‘green’ is often used as an umbrella term for different strategies, sectors and investments,» said Loh, who also spoke at the virtual Sustainable Future Forum.

Companies that understand the risks associated with ESG and find ways to address them will be able to increase their long-term financial profitability, the CEO said.

As always, here is our personal recommendation in case you want to go deeper into sustainable investment. Click on the image and discover sustainable foreign investments by Rafael Velázquez Pérez.

Time is up. And the multimillion investment of Aena in the expansion of El Prat has been definitively postponed due to the lack of political agreement in the Generalitat. This Tuesday, the Council of Ministers will approve the DORA, the investment plan for 2022-2026, and the 1,700 million euros that had been prepared for El Prat will not be in the document. In recent weeks there have been attempts at political rapprochement and some sectors, especially the employers’ association Foment, led by Josep Sánchez Llibra, have tried to avoid losing this money, but there has been no room for negotiation.

It was already clear in the meeting between Pedro Sánchez and Pere Aragonès less than a fortnight ago that there was no internal consensus in the Generalitat. Mainly because ERC had rejected the extension agreed in the summer by the government and the vice-presidency of the Generalitat in the hands of Jordi Puigner of the Junts. Some groups, such as the PDeCAT, continue to exert pressure and yesterday, Monday, a non-legislative proposal was approved in Congress with the votes of the PP and Cs in which they ask for further negotiations, but the plan is closed this Tuesday for five years.

The document, which includes an investment plan for all Spanish airports for the coming years, will include an item for the expansion of Barajas airport, which presents an even greater political contrast. In Madrid there is no environmental tension and almost no political debate, so the distance between El Prat and Barajas will continue to grow.

As with the El Prat expansion, the plan will include an initial investment of 179 million euros in the Barajas expansion, which is only a small part of the planned total of 1 694 million euros. The big investment will come in 2026, but plans are already starting to be drawn up.

El Prat will have to wait at least five years, although the government is not too hopeful that a political agreement will be reached at some point in Catalonia. In fact, Aena’s engineers insist that the expansion cannot be carried out without affecting the protected area in any way, as ERC and Unidos Podemos are demanding. The investment will be suspended.

However, this does not mean that there is no money in this plan for El Prat and other Catalan airports. However, the document will be limited to the normal investments already planned to improve the airport, some 250 million euros over five years.

This money will essentially be divided into three actions that are considered essential. On the one hand, there is the work to resurface and improve the surface of the runway, an intervention that is regularly necessary to mitigate the noise and commotion caused by the passage of aircraft. In July 2017, due to the poor state of the maritime runway, the landing gear of a Vueling plane fell into a sinkhole that appeared on the runway.

In addition to the refurbishment, the baggage handling system will be adapted to the new standards required by the European Union. The third major package concerns improvements to the operation of Terminal T1. Security filters and check-in counters will be expanded to speed up passenger check-in on the ground. According to Aena, the old DORA contract, which is still in force, included an investment of 157 million euros for Barcelona.

Tuesday’s approval of the DORA project by the Council of Ministers thus closes the debate on the most important investment raised so far by Pedro Sánchez’s Catalan government. However, the government is preparing many others that it wants to conclude in the framework of the open-ended budget negotiations.