APBA, represented by Cristina Recio, Sales and Marketing Manager, and Jesús Medina, Head of the Innovation and Digital-Solutions Business Unit, participated in the 2021 edition of the Expo Tic Cádiz event, held virtually in March.
Expo TIC Cádiz – the international business summit in which the most important companies of the technological sector come together to promote the Spanish IT sector in Mexico – is supported by its institutional partners ICEX, Extenda, Promtel México, the Mexican State Secretary for Communications and Transport, the OnTech Cluster and APBA.
During the third day of the event, which included workshops, demonstrations, conferences, a business space and an exhibition zone, among others, APBA took the opportunity to present the Port of Algeciras’ capacity and potential, as well as its Innovation and Digital-Transformation Plan.
Cristina Recio launched the presentation by highlighting the importance of the Port’s geo-strategic location, with more than 200 direct connections to ports in 72 countries and the continual investment made into port infrastructure to meet the technical needs of new megaships of more than 24,000 TEUs, factors that have made it possible for PBA to maintain its position as the leading port in the Mediterranean and the fourth-busiest European port in terms of total traffic. In this regard, she noted the increase of import and export traffic and, in particular, the transport of refrigerated goods, which has increased by 222% in the last 10 years.
Jesús Medina also commented on the evolution of the Port Authority’s role, which has changed in recent years from that of a manager or regulator of port infrastructure and services, to become an orchestrator of the port ecosystem, facilitating decision making and creating value for all stakeholders.
In this regard, Medina explained how APBA is working to achieve these goals, on the one hand, through the development and implementation of a digital operations-orchestration platform which allows it to coordinate all agents involved in the value chain and, on the other, through the consolidation and systematisation of innovation as a key business process. On this matter, he highlighted the organisation’s Innovation-Management System certification according to the UNE 166002 standard, the dissemination and communication activities carried out both internally and externally and the launch of innovation awards and collaboration with start-ups, offering the port up as a full-scale laboratory for testing solutions in a real operational environment (Algeciras Port Living Lab), among others.
Before closing, Medina wished to remind attendees of the recent award received from the European Sea Ports Organisation, the ESPO Award 2020 – an award through which this European institution has recognised the role of APBA in promoting the integration of innovative companies and local entrepreneurs within the port sector. Over the three days of the event, various activities and presentations were carried out, such as the ‘IT in Mexico: market situation and Trade Office support’ speech offered by EXTENDA – the Andalusian External-Promotion Agency of the Spanish Government in Spain’s Economic and Trade Office – or the virtual ‘Andalusian IT Sector’ talk from OnTech Innovation, the cluster of Andalusian Digital-Economy companies.
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