Trust, action, dialogue, agreement and union to face the crisis have been repeated throughout the business meeting #MovamosNavarra, organized by the Navarre Business Confederation as a forum for reflection on economic activation.
The conference, in which 26 businessmen, professionals and experts from the Navarrese and national spheres participated, began at 10 am. With the opening ceremony in which Juan Miguel Sucunza, President of CEN, Antonio Garamendi, President of CEOE, Alfonso Sánchez Tabernero, President of the University of Navarra and Manu Ayerdi, Minister of Economic and Industrial Development of the Government of Navarra, have participated. .
Succunza has underlined the value of dialogue to reach consensus regarding the recent agreement reached on European funds. In this sense, it has stated that "the speed and rigor" in its application will determine the speed of economic activation and has asked the Government of Navarra for effective management so that Navarra will greatly benefit from these funds. Furthermore, the president of CEN has considered "vital to attract investment to Navarra", to grow in the industrial sector and to facilitate the work of companies "be they agricultural, service or manufacturing".
For his part, Antonio Garamendi, President of CEOE, has valued the celebration of this conference "because private initiative is what has to take the economy of this country forward and contribute positive ideas". As keys, he has pointed to the confidence and stability to attract investment and has stressed that society requires consensus, agreement, moderation and returning to work. It has also highlighted the strength of industrialization in Navarra and the need for its strengthening.
The Minister of Economic and Business Development of the Government of Navarra, Manu Ayerdi He has highlighted the commitment of the Navarran business community to the future of the community and has pointed out that the situation of the pandemic has generated relevant transformations accelerating aspects such as digitization.
After pointing out the priorities identified by the Government of Navarra in the framework of Strategy S3, he underlined that we must work to strengthen innovation, roots and a new model of companies and labor relations that is more appropriate for the 21st century. It has also insisted on the necessary public-private collaboration and the adoption of consensus.
Finally, the rector of the University of Navarra, Alfonso Sánchez Tabernero, He stated that it is "better to work together" and that in Navarra we share a lot to face the situation. "Entrepreneurs are a treasure, always, but more now than ever" because it is up to them to create wealth and employment, the president pointed out.
After the opening ceremony, the first block of the day called "Trends" was developed, in which the economic situation was framed and a global vision of sectors as strategic as financial, energy and digitization was offered.
In the panel of experts have intervened:
Isabel Moreno, Territorial Director of Navarra, La Rioja and Aragón of CaixaBank, has emphasized that "all crises always come out" and that in this, financial institutions have been essential for the support provided and the liquidity provided to self-employed and companies to continue with their businesses and avoid "collapse". For Moreno, the great challenge is to expand technological penetration, digitization and innovation in the Navarran business fabric due to its atomization and the small size of companies, so that "new technologies must be incorporated into the value chain."
Loreto Ordóñez, CEO of Engie Spain, has considered that the energy transition and the path to a decarbonised model has no turning back and "that is everyone's task". According to Ordóñez, the crisis has exposed “many of our weaknesses” and we have learned the need to act with concrete sustainability measures. "The debate is not in the what, but in the how and when, referring to the speed at which the actions are implemented. On the other hand, there are opportunities for energy efficiency companies that improve their competitiveness, with environmental benefits, but also economic benefits such as cost reduction and less energy dependence. "The technological moment we are experiencing puts us in an optimal moment."
On the other hand, Ana Lledo, director of Robotics at Deloitte, commented that “robotics, in particular, and artificial intelligence, in general, not only allow executing existing processes, extracting better information from data and increasing agility and control, but are also a Powerful tool to innovate and increase the capacity of humans.
What has been experienced in recent months has been a boost for the implementation of these technologies on a larger scale and has shown that the creation of ecosystems of related technological assets (Intelligent Automation, Digitization, Artificial Intelligence applied to data analytics, Cloud, etc.) generate much more value for the company ”.
By last, Javier Vega de Seoane, president of DKV and Fujitsu and former president of the Businessmen's Circle, has mentioned that we have to recover the climate of trust, public-private collaboration. It is essential to have the entrepreneurs who are the ones who really know the reality. In addition, Vega de Seoane has referred to the European agreement on restructuring funds, which he has described as “great news” and has indicated that they must be channeled through entities that know the reality. "Companies are the social shield, generating wealth and employment," he stressed.
Subsequently, the block of dialogues has been developed in which businessmen and professionals have shared their experience, knowledge, ideas and measures to face the crisis. In this section, four thematic tables focused on four sectors have been maintained.
The first has been on Food and Distribution in which they have participated:
Augustine Markaide, President of the Eroski Group, has begun his intervention highlighting the very important role of the food sector and its response "up to the challenge" in the face of the crisis. And he has advocated to continue managing the situation that is coming, save, be strong to spend this time and get out fast, building the future post-pandemic and post-crisis. Lastly, he recalled that the crisis has left vulnerable groups in need of urgent help.
Benito Jiménez, President of Congelados Navarra has pointed out that the food chain is an essential sector in Spain, which has proven “to be strong, robust and resistant” to situations of great adversity.
Among the challenges, he has highlighted that they have guaranteed the safety of workers and products and, as a novel measure, has indicated that they have encouraged workers to telework, working properly. As a request, Jiménez has asked the Administrations to "hear the voice of the businessmen."
Eduardo López, Gutarra's president has emphasized the growing importance that healthy eating and sustainability will have in the near future and that, above all, there will be the need for all of this to be traceable from the beginning, to be demonstrable from face to a customer and a consumer more demanding and informed every day. "Business models must be robust, they must be real." In his opinion, during the pandemic the essentials of strategic sectors such as food have become evident, which has taken a leading role, being a driver of employment and economic recovery, for "what must be supported". Finally, López has considered that "the scarce good worldwide is going to be employment and also employers, whom he has described as" very brave. "
The second thematic table has focused on Restoration. Moderated by María José Ballarin, CEO of Obenasa and Vice President of CEN, it was attended by:
Mario Sandoval, chef of the Coque restaurant, who has explained how his family began in the restaurant adventure and that with “a lot of effort and passion” they have managed to become a reference in the world of restaurants. Sandoval has sent a message of hope, with a thought of growth and of continuing to push economic activity.
For his part, Juan Mari Idoate, President of the Idoate Group, has confessed the uncertainty and the difficult moments they have gone through in the hospitality sector with the pandemic. But, also, it has considered that, despite the situation, it is necessary to go ahead and that Navarra has great gastronomic potential, which is why it has requested to create in Navarra a pole of gastronomic innovation and training, aligned with the powerful agro-food industry implanted in the Foral Community. Also, it has demanded a three-year strategic plan for gastronomic and Navarre promotion ”.
Next, the thematic table focused on Industry, which was chaired by Carlos Fernández Valdivielso, CEN Secretary General, discussed the need to reindustrialize Navarra.
José Antonio Canales, Viscofan's executive director, has thanked the great family of the company for their “exceptional” response to the situation and has appreciated the great commitment of the workers. On the other hand, he has advocated betting on talent, health and “Movamos Navarra”, as well as promoting a consistent fiscal policy to make Navarra fiscally attractive so that “we attract and retain talent”.
For his part, Enrique Ordieres, CINFA president has emphasized that in the face of uncertainty, progress must be made, mainly in two aspects. In the first place, in the concept of bringing R&D and innovation closer to the real economy and, secondly, in betting on the local. For Ordieres, it is necessary to invest in the pharma sector, which is profitable, generator of wealth and employment. Lastly, he stated that it is necessary to push and invest and create local industry.
Alejandro Legarda, business advisor, has pointed out that in "exceptional times, you have to have an open mind on economic and industrial issues." He gave as an example Germany, a country that has articulated the necessary mechanisms to “defend its companies”. And it has presented the Government of Navarra with a proposal for action: be proactive to help companies by creating a temporary agency to provide financial support and channel aid.
The last thematic table has focused on digital transformation.
Arantza Ezpeleta, Acciona's general director of Technology and Innovation, stressed that confinement measures have served as an accelerator of technology, not only in the workplace, but also for new applications, such as, for example, its use against the pandemic. In his opinion, "technology and innovation are going to play a very important role in the near future". Therefore, resources must be released to invest in training and promoting the digital talent of people who will be the future of future companies. Ezpeleta has advocated establishing cooperation mechanisms between the public-private spheres and working from the base, from primary education.
Veronica Pascual, CEO of Asti Technologies Group and director of Telefónica, pointed out that “from now on, the robotization of logistics processes has to be placed among the urgent priorities for the digitization of our industry. This bet will not only serve to address the economic recovery, after the slowdown in activity during confinement and in the so-called new normality, but it will also be an opportunity for the Spanish market not to miss the train to a new, more technological and automated economy , which allows job creation and new growth possibilities. It has to be an intelligent robotization, which seeks not only to automate what is repeated, but what is predicted. But not only in the industry, but also in other sectors, such as healthcare, where the safety of professionals and patients is an essential premise that mobile robotics gives us. ”
By last, Diego Cenzano, CEO of Biko 2, has stressed that digitization in Navarra is accelerating in everything related to production and manufacturing processes, as a way of improving production processes. "Where there is a greater" must "is in the application of technologies in relation to customers, especially when we refer to the final consumer." In addition, it has defended the development of telework as a real and future option in the workplace because it opens up great opportunities for regions like Navarra. Lastly, he has reported that the drive in Navarre companies requires above all collaboration between areas, the use of data to make decisions in the application of these tools, especially the behavior of their users, and the change in work processes applying read and agile aspects more adaptive.
After the dialogue tables, the President of the Government of Navarra, María Chivite, the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, and the President of CEN, Juan Miguel Sucunza, participated in the closing ceremony.
#Movamosnavarra
This business meeting, organized by CEN, aims to continue promoting debate and reflection on economic activation and the future of the Foral Community. To do so, it brought together 26 businessmen, professionals and experts from the Navarran and national spheres who, throughout the day, shared vision and experience and lessons learned regarding the situation and current challenges.
This initiative is part of a new cycle called DiálogoCEN that the Confederation is launching as a lever for reflection, which will run during the last quarter of 2020 and throughout 2021.
The event, which started at 10:00 with the opening ceremony, ended at 14:30, taking place around two blocks: trends and dialogues. of its streaming broadcast on the CEN YouTube channel (cenavarratv).
It has been structured according to a first block of "economic and business trends" moderated by Nuria Vilanova, president of Atrevia and member of the CEN Advisory Council, which has brought together the interventions of Isabel Moreno, territorial director of Navarra, La Rioja and Aragón de Caixabank ; Loreto Ordóñez, CEO of Engie Spain; Ana Lledó, director of Robotics at Deloitte and Javier Vega de Seoane, president of DKV and Fujitsu.
This section has been followed by a second block called "dialogues" structured in four thematic tables on different sectors. Thus, the first table was on "Food and Distribution" and was attended by Agustín Markaide, President of the Eroski Group; Benito Jiménez, President of Congelados de Navarra; Eduardo López, president of Gutarra; and it has been moderated by María Osés, financial director of Grupo Nafosa and member of the CEN Executive Committee.
At the second table "Restoration", whose moderation was given by María José Ballarín, CEO of Obenasa and vice president of the CEN Executive Committee, Mario Sandoval, Chef of the Coque restaurant and Juan Mari Idoate, president of the Idoate Group, spoke.
In addition, an "Industry" table has been developed with the participation of Alejandro Legarda, business advisor; José Antonio Canales, executive director of Viscofán; and Enrique Ordieres, President of Cinfa; and it was moderated by Carlos Fernández Valdivielso, CEN general secretary.
Finally, the fourth table focused on "digital transformation" and was attended by Arantza Ezpeleta, CEO of Technology and Innovation at Acciona; Verónica Pascual, CEO of Asti Technologies Group and director of Telefónica; and Diego Cenzano, CEO of Biko2. The moderation has been carried out by Javier Vidorreta, CEO of Vidorreta Design and president of AJE.
