CAF reaffirms its commitment to the development and growth of innovation

In collaboration with Vocento, the newspaper Diario Las Provincias and with the city of Valencia as host, CAF -development bank of Latin America- organised the VI Jornadas Futuro en Español in Valencia. The aim of this forum is to disseminate experiences and promote a debate that contributes to the development and growth of the innovation ecosystem in both Latin America and Spain.

First of all, in charge of welcoming the 6th edition of the Jornadas Futuro en Español were Jesús Trelis, director of the newspaper Las Provincias, and José Antonio García Belaunde, CAF's representative in Europe, who acknowledged that for the entity it is an "enormous pride and honour to hold this event in Valencia, one of the six most innovative cities in Europe, as recognised by the European Commission", and reaffirmed CAF's commitment to the development and growth of innovation. 

For the CAF executive: "If we analyse the evolution of Latin American economies, we can see that the progress achieved in terms of macroeconomic stability, poverty reduction and growth of the middle classes has been eroded as a result of the pandemic". Therefore, he said, "at CAF we consider it essential to move towards a productive transformation that allows the economies of the region to be less vulnerable and dependent on external changes, placing value on natural wealth". 

García Belaunde ended his speech with the reflection: "Innovation and technological development are the fundamental anchor to raise levels of productivity and competitiveness and to advance in the preservation of natural wealth and biodiversity"; and he pointed out that "for CAF, the main challenge is to seek innovative solutions that allow the confluence of actors and that, with an adequate allocation of resources and risk mitigation, significant improvements can be achieved that can be visibly transferred to society".

The institutional inauguration was carried out by Pedro Pernías Peco, territorial director of the Regional Ministry of Innovation, Universities, Science and Digital Society, which served as a preamble to the special intervention of Patricio Montesinos, OEI High Commissioner for the Promotion of Innovation Ecosystems, who spoke about projects to strengthen ecosystems. 

The Minister of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications of Costa Rica, Paola Vega Castillo, intervened in the first expert round table dedicated to "Innovation Ecosystems: triple helix articulation", moderated by Jairo Tiusabá, Director of CAF's SME Development Directorate. The round table also included the participation of Jimena Estrella, Secretary of RRII and postgraduate studies at Uncuyo University, Miguel Burdeos, President of the Innovation Commission and Vice-President of the Business Confederation of the Valencian Community and Sergio Calvo Fernández, Vice-Rector of Institutional Relations & University Life at the European University of Madrid. 

Minister Vega Castillo insisted on "the need to provide institutions, companies and administrations with capacities and resources to undertake and develop innovation in an effective and operative manner, because innovation is not just a word and requires the essential elements for its development with public support". 

This was followed by the second of the day's round tables, entitled "Business innovation in SMEs". On this occasion, in charge of moderating the table was María José Carchano, from the newspaper Las Provincias, with the participation of Ángel Buigues, BStartup Advisor at Banco Sabadell, José Manuel Díez, Head of Strategic Planning and Innovation at Valenciaport, Nacho Mas, CEO of Startup Valencia and Alex Penadés, Brand Director for North America at Jeanología.

Finally, to close the day, the closing ceremony was led by Sandra Gómez López, First Deputy Mayor of Valencia City Council.

After five years of history, Futuro en Español has established itself in Valencia as the great annual event for reflection on the opportunities offered by a language shared by hundreds of millions of Spanish speakers. Futuro en Español is an initiative of Vocento and CAF - Development Bank of Latin America - which was born in 2011 with the aim of disseminating the possibilities offered by the use of Spanish in the world and to demonstrate the strength of the language as a bridge for business and culture.