The Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras (APBA) took part on 3 November in the Innovation Forum for Nautical and Cruise Ports of Andalusia and the Alboran Sea, held at the headquarters of the Port Authority of Malaga. Under the theme “Seas of Opportunity: Innovation at the Heart of Maritime Tourism”, the event brought together representatives from port authorities, institutions, companies and academia to share experiences and explore the role of innovation in transforming ports and strengthening their relationship with tourism destinations.
Organised by Suncruise Andalucía y Mar de Alborán and the Port Authority of Malaga, with the support of the Regional Government of Andalusia, the event combined several panel discussions and applied innovation experiences with the presentation of Project Nexus and the awards ceremony for the fifth edition of the Open Innovation Challenge Prize, organised in collaboration with espacio_Res, an initiative aimed at connecting the needs of ports with the capabilities and solutions offered by the innovation ecosystem.
The Port of Algeciras participated in the first discussion of the day, “Innovation in Ports”, moderated by Juan José Sibina Calderón, Manager of ACEMAR – Association of Shipping Agents and Port Companies of Malaga. The discussion featured Juan Antonio Herrera Salas, Head of Innovation at APBA, and José Hernán, Head of Technology at the Port Authority of Huelva. The panel provided an opportunity to share the experiences of different ports in their transformation processes and to explore how innovation and new technologies can help address the challenges facing port activities while improving processes and services.
During his contribution, Juan Antonio Herrera Salas shared APBA’s vision of the need to understand innovation as a continuous and systematic process, beginning with listening and identifying real needs and, from there, driving projects designed to address them. From this perspective, innovation is not simply about developing one-off technology projects, but about creating an ongoing dynamic that enables challenges to be identified, ideas and needs to be channelled, and these to be transformed into concrete initiatives, involving both teams within the organisation and the Port Community and wider innovation ecosystem.
The event also explored innovation in relation to tourism and destinations. In the second discussion, “Innovation and Its Interaction with the Destination”, representatives from cruise terminal management, the tourism sector and academia discussed how innovation can help connect port activities with the services and experiences available to visitors when they arrive in cities.
During the event, Project Nexus was also presented as a successful example of innovation applied to the tourism sector. The project consists of a platform that provides companies, destinations and professionals with the tools they need to improve decision-making, adapt to change and grow with a forward-looking vision.
Another key focus of the Forum was the Open Innovation Challenge Prize, presented by Esther Molina Crespo, Managing Director of Suncruise Andalucía y Mar de Alborán. The programme is based on needs and challenges identified by port institutions themselves and seeks to connect them with companies and stakeholders from the ecosystem capable of proposing innovative solutions with practical application potential.
In this fifth edition, the awards went to Signicat and Sebka Technology, winners of the challenges promoted respectively by the Public Ports Agency of Andalusia and the Port Authority of Almeria. The selected proposals address areas including secure digital identity for the port ecosystem and the use of digital technologies and augmented reality to strengthen the connection between the port, the city and citizens.
The event helped strengthen cooperation and knowledge exchange among Andalusian ports, institutions, companies and other stakeholders within the innovation ecosystem. For APBA, participating in forums of this kind provides an opportunity to share the experience developed at the Port of Algeciras while gaining insights into other approaches and solutions that can be applied to the challenges facing the port and logistics sector, supporting progress towards an open, collaborative innovation model connected to the real needs of its users and its wider environment.
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