Ferrovial has participated in the fourth edition of Spain Startup (South Summit) which took place in the Las Ventas Bulllring in Madrid and served as a strategic meeting point for startups, business and investors.
The new edition of Start Up Spain was opened by co- founder of Apple Steve Wozniak and the president of the Spanish government Mariano Rajoy. More than 12,000 people attended the event overall with 7,000 attending on just the first day. The King of Spain was present for the closing ceremony.
Ferrovial has actively participated in this new edition, with a stand in the market place, where startups and entrepreneurs were able to get in contact with the organization and present their projects and business models. Ferrovial also had an important role in several of the roundtables that took place during the three day event, where representatives from Ferrovial talked about innovation and collaboration opportunities with startups.
Focus on innovation and entrepreneurship
Ferrovial, in its commitment to innovation, has been part of two panel discussions. In the first one, Federico Flórez, General Director of Information Systems and Innovation gave his thoughts on why it’s important for a large company like Ferrovial to work with startups and how this way of working is changing the way infrastructures are managed.
In the second, “Open Innovation in Industry”, Alberto Lopez-Oleaga, Director of Innovation and Processes, talked about the company’s open innovation strategy and how collaboration with startups can be an answer to the challenges that face the business.
In addition to this, he talked about the continued acceleration of technological advances and knowledge, companies strive to innovate and stand their ground in this competitive market. Small businesses can now compete with big brands and industry leaders should be captivated by the power and potential of startups and be willing to explore new ideas and how these new technologies can make a difference in their businesses.
The awards ceremony and closing ceremony was chaired by King Philip VI and also attended by Íñigo Meirás, CEO; María Teresa Pulido, Director of Corporate Strategy and Federico Flórez, General Director of Information Systems and Innovation, plus all the Ferrovial innovation team.
An entrepreneurial ecosystem
During Startup Spain, the top 20 projects were selected from those that participated in the contest. The event allowed the participants to give visibility to their ideas, it also served as a node between entrepreneurs, large companies and financial institutions who use these summits to find solutions and develop them through their organizations.
Ferrovial was on the panel for the awards for best startups in the industry category which was won by Plactherm thanks to their intelligent heating system. This Madrid initiative is based on a system consisting of tiles with temperature sensors which are controlled by smartphones.
The six winners in each category were announced at the closing ceremony. In the category of Healthcare & Biotech, the winner was the startup S-Biomedic, a probiotic cosmetic project to prevent and combat acne relapses. The Bulgarian start up Imagga has won the Tech category for big players, dedicated to API image recognition using an automated process of assigning keywords which can be easily integrated with cloud or client devices. Finally, the award for Digital solutions for mass markets went to Habitissimo, a Balearic startup connecting supply and demand in the field of home improvements and repairs.
The winning proposals will be financed and will receive support to give them greater visibility and access to strategic agreements.
