On its second day, the Metal Industry & Technologies International Trade Fair focused on start-up innovation, automation and robotics and the role of women in the industry, among other issues. Here we bring you all the details!
Mindtech Startup Event
The Mindtech Startup Event (MSE) is a startup competition promoted by the Mindtech fair together with the Xunta de Galicia. At the heart of the fair, the final of this competition was held, in which The search is on for start-ups with the most innovative ideas, capable of transforming Industry 4.0 with a unique technological solution.
During the final pitching, the following companies were the winners:
- Category Transformation and digitisation of industrial processes
- Xoia Extending Realitydevelopers of Augemented Factory, a suite of augmented and virtual reality solutions for Industry 4.0, which converts traditional technical manuals into contextualised instructions accessible from anywhere in the world, so that operators can see in the work environment how each start-up or maintenance operation is carried out.
- Category Energy Efficiency and reduction of environmental impact.
- Enercraft: Design, development and manufacture of Energetic Ground Support Devices for aircraft. Finalists for the technological maturity achieved with their hybrid battery and portable power solutions in their Energy Mobile Assistant devices.
- Circular Economy in Industry and Sustainability category.
- Velca: manufacturer of 100% electric city vehicles with a removable battery that can be charged at any household socket. Finalists for their initiative to reuse batteries, which when they reach 2400 charge cycles are used as energy accumulators, and for collaborating in Unites Wy, a project that provides solar energy kits so that families can generate electricity in a self-sufficient and sustainable way.
- The jury also awarded an honourable mention to Kaleido Ideas & Logistics, a benchmark company for its track record in direct investment in startups.
“The MSE is a vehicle to promote and give visibility to the most innovative projects. We seek to promote open innovation, with the winning startups helping established companies to solve different challenges that are fundamental for the industrial and technological sector”.
Enrique Mallón, Director General de la feria Mindtech
Precisely in order to boost these synergies, the event featured the participation of prominent international leaders in the startup world.
Antonio Iglesias, Director General of Endeavor Spain, spoke about the importance of high-impact entrepreneurs and their multiplier effect. Florent Bannwarth, Director of Marketing and Operations, BlaBlaCar Spain and Portugal, presented their success story. as a French startup that has managed to become a unicorn in the startup sector with its shared mobility or carsharing proposal. Carlos Ruisánchez, Head of Scouting & Dealflow, WAYRA – Telefónica Open Innovation, highlighted the importance of open innovation as a driver of change in corporations.
Tecnolóxicas Forum
Today at Mindtech we talked about industry and technology for women. The Tecnolóxicas Forum conference, part of the project with the same name promoted by Asime and the Deputation of Pontevedra, gathered together female leaders in the industrial-technological sector with prominent management positions in multinational companies such as Microsoft, IBM and Telefónica to discuss the reality of the sector and to highlight the profiles of leading women in the STEAM field.. Current topics such as artificial intelligence, sustainability and innovation were discussed.
Eva Laín, Founder and CEO of Lain Tech, explained the revolutionary E-LIX technology. patented by this young engineerwhich allows the extraction of polymetallic ores (containing copper, zinc, lead and silver) in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way, opening up an unprecedented sustainable mining opportunity for the geological belt from southern Portugal to Seville.
Doris Gomes, Director of Cloud Adoption and Innovation, Microsoft Spain, outlined the challenges of artificial intelligence for the industry.If organisations do not engage in a process of continuous innovation, they will not be able to meet the challenges of today’s landscape. All businesses need to be driven by AI, not just by collecting data, but especially by providing value, which is what generative AI is making us see more tangibly than ever before.
María Jesús Vázquez, Head of Planning and Digitalisation, Operations, Network and IT, Telefónica, highlighted 5G networks and telecommunications as the essential enabler for a truly interconnected industry and society. “5G allows us to target very low latency and high reliability, such as the Internet of Things, assisted driving, industrial robots or remote surgeries, but these networks must be automatic, flexible and programmable and we must continue to work on their expansion, because the reality is that we are already working on 6G, to enable virtual reality in all contexts.”
Virginia Toural, Partner – Hybrid Cloud Transformation Leader, IBM Consulting Spain, Greece & Israel, gave a comprehensive overview of the gender inequality that still prevails in the industrial and technology sector. “Since 2019, the pool of women for leadership positions has shrunk, we need to change our strategy. We are facing challenges that cannot be addressed without incorporating female talent, because Europe lacks 1 million technology professionals to face the current challenges in sustainability, generative AI, digital product, user experience, metaverse, reconversion of value chains and the demographic changes and lack of skills.
Automation and Robotics Workshop
Leading companies from the technology sector presented the latest developments in automation, industrial and service robotics and how they can transform the industrial fabric towards Industry 4.0.
Silvia Blanco, a member of the fair’s Board of Directors, pointed out that the implementation of automated systems and robotics brings with it the challenge of integration and initial investment. However, the long-term benefits, such as reduced costs, increased production and improved quality, can far outweigh these initial barriers.
Álex Salvador, Manager of AER Automation, indicated that this is a transversal sector, as 3 out of 10 industrial robots in Spain are installed in the metal sector, which represents the Mindtech fair.
Óscar Vidal, Murrelektronic Northwest Area ManagerThe move to smart industry is much easier than it might seem at first glance,” he explained. IO-Link, the language of machines, is the key and at Murrelektronik we have created simple and efficient solutions that make the transition to digitalisation efficient and simple, facilitating IIoT.
Javier Quintano, CEO of Murrplastik, spoke about the hygienic dynamic line, an intelligent robot solution that specifically automates the canning and fishing industries, especially in terms of wiring, as the robots must be integrated at the plastic level in a sustainable way and in line with the food sector.
Albert Ferrer, CEO of Imecnor, commented on the main causes and models for predicting machine failures that allow us to make a good design and what are the limits of intelligent and predictable maintenance.
Aitor Fernández García, Business Development in Galicia and Asturias at Robotplus, presented the latest news on the most commonly used accessories in the field of collaborative robotics, both hardware and software.
Business meetings
Today the Ifevi focused on business meetings and exchanges. The fair organisers set up the now customary B2B meetings, which included 50 meetings between Spanish and international companies, with a further 400 meetings planned between exhibitors and visitors throughout the duration of the fair.
In addition, in order to promote networking, two business meetings were organised with limited seating for senior executives from the sector. One of them was dedicated to the offshore wind industry at national and international level, with the participation of representatives from the Xunta de Galicia, Navantia, Iberdrola, Windar Renovables, Ocean Winds and Nevión Naval Offshore.
Likewise, taking advantage of the presence of Japan as a guest country, a meeting was held with institutional representatives from both countries and important Japanese companies, such as Sacho Kai, Univergy Solar, OSG Ibérica and Aomori Wind Energy Promotion Council, NPO and NTT Data.
Speakers’ Corner
The Mindtech fair also has a space reserved for discovering the latest innovations from leading companies, in the heart of the Mindtech Startup Arena. On this stage, presentations, product launches, inspirational talks and much more take place in concentrated half-hour formats throughout the day. Today, representatives of leading companies have been there to talk about different topics: ABB on welding, Inycom on MES/MOM systems, Bosch Industry Consulting on MES system architecture, Prox consultants on subsidies for the metal sector or Randrade on industrial warehouse 4.0.
Afterwork
In the evening, the traditional Afterwork evening was held at the Hotel Bahía, where exhibitors, visitors, international delegations and professionals from the sector were able to enjoy a networking cocktail in which to continue networking in a relaxed atmosphere, with one of the best views of the city of Vigo.
