Eva Pando focuses on digitalization and the circular economy the challenges of Asturian industry in the post-COVID19 era
Eva Pando, General Manager of the Economic Development Agency of the Principality of Asturias (IDEPA), considers that Asturias is in a privileged position to lead the reindustrialization process that will necessarily have to take place once the effects of the COVID-19 give way to economic recovery.
“Asturias is an industrial region, we have a long tradition and a history of industry that we carry in our DNA. And these weeks of crisis have seen the supply of engineering linked to that industrial trajectory,” said Pando in an interview with Conecta Industria in reference to the proposals that are emerging from our region to fight against COVID-19.
According to IDEPA’s director general, in the post-COVID19 future “everything will be different. Digitalization has to be a fundamental pillar. And in the industry it is crucial to do it quickly. This will allow industry and companies to stay in the market”.
“We cannot stop: in the day after, we have to think of new formulas to maintain markets, to diversify, to look for new ways of doing business. And for that you need investment. Investment will allow us to continue maintaining the industrial fabric of Asturias, which is the basis of our economy“, said Pando about a sector that combines the activity of large Asturian companies with leading multinationals that generate thousands of direct and indirect jobs.
Innovation linked to industry
Another key in the immediate future will be to advance in the application of innovation linked to the industry. According to Pando, “these weeks have shown that we have the capacity to create, design and engineer, and we also have many companies capable of manufacturing what we design”.
“This leads us to think that we must walk towards a reindustrialization based on innovation, based on these capabilities that we have and that will allow us to access new markets and diversify,” she added.
Sustainability and the circular economy
According to Pando, the future of Asturias’ industry must also be more sustainable: “The decarbonisation we are already working on has to be a must for our way of life, our mobility and our industry. The circular economy for Asturias must be a great opportunity: reusing waste, less intensive consumption of basic materials, improving processes…”
The message of moderate optimism of IDEPA’s General Manager despite the difficulties is clear: “If the very powerful Asturian industry adapts quickly to digitalisation and the circular economy, we are going to have a lot to say. Because the West has to recover its industrial capacity in order to avoid depending on other markets that are putting us on the ropes at times”.
The chemical industry led the entry of inflows into the region
Foreign productive investment grew by 886% in Asturias in 2019 compared to 2018. It is the fourth position at national level in terms of annual increase, according to data made public by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism.
Specifically, gross investment (discounting Foreign Securities Holding Entities) increased in our region from 11 to 117 million euros. Asturias increased its inflow thanks to significant investment from the Chemical Industry, specifically the Artificial and Synthetic Fibre Manufacturing subsector, whose investment in the first quarter of 2019 represented an injection of 103 million Euros into the region. It is followed by Wholesale Trade and Programming and Consultancy sectors.
With respect to Spain as a whole, foreign productive investment fell by 54.8% in 2019, to 22,376 million euros gross. This represents a drop of half compared to the investment generated in 2018, a year in which a historical maximum of 49,549 million euros was set, which was almost double that of 2017.
In relation to the rest of the Autonomous Communities, the Community of Madrid is in first place in terms of gross productive investment in 2019 with 13,702 million euros, 67.5% less than in 2018. It is followed by Cataluña, Castilla León and Andalucía.
A large delegation from Asturias was present this week in Copenhagen (Denmark) at ‘WindEurope Offshore 2019’, the most important international conference of the offshore wind industry and in which our region demonstrated that it has a very important role to play in the future of this sector.
Invest in Asturias was part of the Asturian institutional delegation at the conference, organised by the Sociedad de Promoción Exterior Principado de Asturias S.A. (ASTUREX) and integrated by the Ports of Gijón and Avilés, the technological centre IDONIAL and a representation of Asturian companies that already work for the offshore wind sector.
This year´s edition will be focused on the attraction of investments to favour the economic development of Asturias
The President of the Principality of Asturias, Adrián Barbón, will attend on December, 12th., the XXVIII Asturian Business Forum. This annual meeting of business representatives, regional and national Administration, economic promotion bodies and entities, technology and research centres, universities and those people interested in the economic development of Asturias will be held at the Hotel de la Reconquista (Oviedo).
In this year’s edition, we will tackle the attraction of investments as one of the necessary strategies to favour the economic development and productive diversification of Asturias.
The alliance between ArcelorMittal and Frankstahl innovates from Asturias in the field of additive manufacturing
TheSteelPrinters, the alliance between ArcelorMittal and the Austrian company Frankstahl with its factory in the Principality of Asturias Business Park (PEPA), begins to bear fruit. It projects to manufacture around 2,900 spare parts for the industrial sector in two years.
It recorded a stock of Foreign Direct Investment of 16,352 million euros at the end of 2017
Asturias occupies the fourth position among the autonomous communities in foreign productive investment in Spain, according to last data collected in the Register of Foreign Investments of the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness.
Specifically, our region recorded a stock of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of 16,352 million euros at the end of 2017, 4.1% of the Spanish total.
Spain is one of the main recipients of foreign investment worldwide. The total position of FDI in Spain in terms of accumulated stock stood at 659,000 million dollars (592,280 million euros) at the end of 2018, according to the latest data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in June 2019. This means that Spain ranked as the fourteenth recipient economy.
The stock of productive FDI already represents 46.2% of Spanish GDP, the second highest ratio after that of the United Kingdom among the five main European countries.
In terms of employment, 1,394,968 jobs in Spain depended on foreign investment at the end of 2017, 28,165 of them in Asturias.
By autonomous communities, the distribution of the FDI stock is concentrated in 89.5% in four of them: Madrid (68.1%), Catalonia (13%), Basque Country (4.3%) and Asturias (4.1%), although the so-called “headquarters effect” tends to overestimate the locations in the major economic poles.
The stock of FDI is an indicator that shows the longest lasting confidence of investors in the local economy and its companies. It is a “photograph” of companies that are installed in a territory. It adds up everything invested except divestments and amortizations.
The institution returns to the world’s academic elite and offers companies a wide range of possibilities for collaboration in the design and development of projects
Asturias has a highly qualified and active population with a deep-rooted industrial tradition. Education, talent and creativity are part of the set of powerful reasons why our region is a very desirable destination for foreign investment.
In this area, the University of Oviedo plays a strategic role, which will be reinforced now that this institution has returned to the world academic elite. The prestigious Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), elaborated by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China) and that analyzes the research excellence of the campuses, has placed our university among the 500 best in the world.
The Asturian academic institution was one of the first nine Spanish universities to obtain the seal of Campus of International Excellence, and it did so with a project in which research of excellence, specialisation and the transfer of knowledge to the productive fabric are its main assets.
The university offers new degrees adapted to the European Higher Education Area with degrees that cover most areas of knowledge. Around 30% of its more than 25,000 registered students study technical degrees or postgraduate courses in areas such as chemistry, geology or mining, deeply rooted in Asturian industrial tradition, and in others such as energy engineering, biotechnology or biomedicine, with a very promising future in Asturias.
The European Higher Education Area opened up new expectations for collaboration between university and business, allowing for the incorporation of lines of research in the university environment promoted by the business sector.
The University of Oviedo has seven campuses with a very complete technical training. Some of the degrees that can be studied are the Degree in Mining Technology Engineering, the Degree in Electrical Engineering or the Degree in Physics. In addition, among its wide range of own postgraduate courses there are some as interesting as the Master in Geomining, the Master in Mining Geotechnics or the Master in Management and Development of the Food Industry (MGYDIA).
In Asturias, the technical qualification of the workers is completed with regulated Professional Training, with 17,000 students enrolled, more than 35% in technical careers. In this field, theoretical training is complemented by practical training in companies.
Biomedicine and Health and ICT industries, strategic sectors in Asturias
Medicine and the bio-sanitary industry are strategic sectors in Asturias. The region is making a strong commitment to the development of biotechnology, bioinformatics and biomedicine, based on the promotion of infrastructures such as the Central University Hospital of Asturias (HUCA), the support for R&D projects of the University of Oviedo or the marked innovative activity generated by the Fernandez-Vega Ophthalmological Institute.
The biomedicine and health training at the University of Oviedo is one of the most prestigious in Spain and hosts multiple research related to biotechnology.
Along these lines, it is great news that the institution is going to incorporate the Master in Biomedical Engineering into its strategic degree plan. Biomedical engineering offers a wide variety of job opportunities.
The Spanish Association of Biotech Companies (ASEBIO) publishes an annual report on the state of the sector in Spain. According to the 2018 report, biotechnology companies have had an impact on the Spanish economy of almost 7.000 million euros (0.7% of GDP) and have generated 92.384 jobs.
Also the sector of Information Technologies and Communications (ICT) has acquired greater prominence due to the profound transformation of the Asturian industrial fabric in recent years. Several Spanish and foreign companies have been located in Asturias in the last decade, and their contribution to employment in the sector is very important.
In fact, Data Engineering is one of the priorities of the Polytechnic School of Engineering of Gijón. The university also offers postgraduate studies in Automation Engineering and Industrial Informatics or in Materials Science and Technology, among others.
Research centres of the University of Oviedo
In order to facilitate as much as possible the lines of research of business interest (one of the priorities of the University of Oviedo), the institution has Departments and Research Centres or Institutes, and organizes all research activity around Research Groups.
In some strategic sectors for investment in Asturias, the university has cutting-edge centres that help to develop avant-garde research at European and world level.
For example, in the Food and Beverages sector, it has nearly one hundred research groups and teams related to Biotechnology. The University Institute of Biotechnology (IUBA, Plant Biotechnology, Microorganisms and Bioprocesses), the Biotechnological and Biomedical Trials Unit and the Food Technology Unit stand out.
With regard to advanced materials and nanotechnology, the university has the University Institute of Industrial Technology of Asturias (IUTA), which carries out R&D&i activities in fields such as mechanical design and manufacturing, materials technology and structural calculation or environment and energy.
And in the field of health, another pillar of the future for the economy of the Principality, highlights the Foundation for Biosanitary Research and Innovation in Asturias (FINBA). FINBA is the body in charge of managing excellence in biomedical research in Asturias. Promoted by the Government of the Principality of Asturias in alliance with the University of Oviedo, it has the support of several companies that participate in it as patrons or as benefactor entities.
It was created with the aim of promoting biomedical research by taking advantage of synergies with the Central University Hospital of Asturias, taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge of Asturian health and promoting the joint work of research teams.
And it is also important the collaboration of the Government of the Principality, through the Institute for Economic Development of the Principality of Asturias (IDEPA), with the University of Oviedo in the field of future mobility.
Within this framework, IDEPA has carried out an inventory of the capacity and potential of the Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation System of Asturias (University of Oviedo, Public Research Bodies, Technology Centres and Institutes) with respect to the “green, connected and autonomous vehicle”.
The foreign capital company AGR Catalyst Recovery (AGRCR) reinforces its presence in Asturias and will install in Carreño a plant dedicated to the valorization of metals contained in exhausted catalysts.
The plant, a pioneer facility in Spain, will create eight jobs in two years. This operation is part of the Asturias RIS3 Intelligent Specialization Strategy and fits into the circular economy model promoted by the European Union.
The technological process of valorization of metals contained in exhausted catalysts resulting from chemical processes has been developed by one of AGCR’s partners, the Asturian company Aprochim-Getesarp-Rymoil, S.A. (AGR). AGRCR’s 65% is owned by AGR, which in turn has 27% of French capital (APROCHIM).
The Sociedad Regional de Promoción del Principado (SRP) is financing this AGRCR initiative with 700,000 euros. The support of SRP ensures a global project of 2.5 million euros. The investment will be mainly devoted to the acquisition of ancillary equipment and systems.
Reduction of resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions
The metal concentrate obtained in the process will be reintroduced into the life-cycle of the catalysts, which will lead to a more sustainable management by avoiding landfilling. This will reduce consumption of primary mineral resources as well as energy and greenhouse gas emissions associated with mining.
Catalysts are substances that have the ability to alter the speed of a chemical reaction, increasing or decreasing it, in a process known as catalysis. They are used in a multitude of industrial processes to optimize them, increasing the speed of the reactions they need.
Since 1998, the Asturian company AGR has been treating oils and equipment contaminated with PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), a toxic chemical compound.
This company was the first of its kind implemented in Spain and currently has the country’s largest capacity and Europe’s second largest. Its facilities are located in the Logrezana Business Park, in Carreño, on a plot of 8,500 square metres and pending an extension of 5,000 square metres.
AGR is an authorized manager for all types of catalysts out of use, both for those which it is not profitable or possible to recover metals from and must be managed environmentally, as well as those whose metals can be recovered and returned to the owner, or valued and paid according to the price of the metal exchange.
Together with AGR, the majority shareholder, AGRCR includes the British company BMJS Investments Limited, made up of two firms with extensive experience in the management and treatment of spent catalysts and the international marketing of metals from these catalysts.
Circular economy project supported by IDEPA
This initiative of sustainable treatment and valorization of metals is a brilliant circular economy project that was born from another Research and Development (R&D) project launched by AGR and financed by the Economic Development Institute of the Principality of Asturias (IDEPA). After studying its viability, the company is now moving to the productive investment stage, accompanied by international partners and with the support of the regional administration, through the SRP.
The presentation of Asturias as a versatile and competitive investment destination was one of the objectives of the visit that a delegation from the Principality of Asturias made the first week of July to Tarapacá, a region located in the far north of Chile.
The delegation was headed by the general directors of the Economic Development Institute of the Principality of Asturias (IDEPA), Eva Pando, and the Sociedad de Promoción Exterior Principado de Asturias, S.A. (Asturex), Teresa Vigón. This initiative is part of the International Urban Cooperation Programme of the European Union (IUC).
Circular economy, Industry 4.0 and renewable energies
The meetings maintained with significant entities in the Chilean region served to detect lines of collaboration for Asturian companies in areas such as the circular economy, Industry 4.0 and renewable energies, mainly solar photovoltaic.
Regarding circular economy, our delegation was able to learn about the project for the implementation of a technology center at the national level, developed by the Center for Innovation and Economy Circular (CIEC), along with the Government of Tarapacá and the Corporation for the Promotion of Production (CORFO). Also interesting for Asturian companies could be the Tarapacá Hub, a center of entrepreneurship focused on circular innovation in mining, logistics and solar energy.
In the area of Industry 4.0, the important fishing industry of the country is implementing technologies related to artificial intelligence, opening potential lines of collaboration with Asturian companies included in the catalogue of key enabling technologies (KETs) that are part of the strategy Asturias Industry 4.0, led by the Government.
Another market niche for Asturian companies is that of renewable energies. In 2020, Tarapacá will have an energy mix in which renewable energies will play a leading role, generating more than 80% of electricity.
The region of Tarapacá has two key infrastructures, the Port of Iquique, and a free-trade zone, the Free-Trade Zone of Iquique, S.A. (ZOFRI S.A.), which represents a competitive advantage and makes it very attractive for international trade. The Port of Iquique has a privileged location, considered the natural door of the central cone of South America from and towards international markets. In addition to that, the Free-Trade Zone, is equipped with a platform of services to commercialize and facilitate business in the southern cone of Latin America, where more than two thousand companies develop their activities.
Promotion of sustainable urban development
The European Union’s International Urban Cooperation Programme aims to promote the exchange of good practices and more sustainable territories between different regions of the world. It is part of a long-term EU strategy to promote sustainable urban development in cooperation with the public and private sectors, as well as with community groups and citizens.
This initiative has a budget of more than €5 million and will run for three years. Twenty cities and regions in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru have been selected under the programme for collaboration with their European counterparts.
The plant owned by the Swiss company Nestlé in Sebares, Asturias, has started to be provided with organic milk for the production of liquid milk products meant for children.
In the first year, around one million liters of milk -from the 26 million that the plant in Sebares receives annually- will come from the organic milk production farms that already work with the factory.
The Sebares facility employs around 200 workers and in 2018 registered a production volume of 51,000 tons.
The multinational has another plant in Gijón, which is dedicated to the manufacture of tinned and sterilised dishes, including the preparation of the well-known Litoral fabada, with a history dating back some 60 years. Likewise, cured meat are produced in that plant exclusively for pre-cooked dishes Litoral.
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