Quest Global, one of the world's leading engineering services companies, has successfully concluded the second edition of the Quest Global Innovation Awards, which took place in Madrid. Held in the emblematic Florida Park Hall in Madrid's El Retiro Park, the event brought together leading figures and top representatives of the country's engineering sector to celebrate and recognise the exceptional contributions that the industry makes to technological development and social progress.
Under the slogan "Think out of the box", this second edition recognised those people, companies and institutions that have distinguished themselves by producing technological improvements, creating innovative reference models or contributing to their development. During the ceremony, five awards were presented, this year debuting the award for disruptive innovation:
- Technological Innovation Award, to Mr. Francisco Quereda, CEO of ISDEFE.
- Disruptive Innovation Award, to Robert H. Miller, co-founder and CEO of Skydweller Aero Inc. The award was accepted by Sebastian Renouard, Chief Commercial Officer of Skydweller.
- Globalisation of Innovation Award, to Ricardo Rojas, President of Airbus Commercial Aircraft in Spain.
- Sustainable Innovation Award to Leopoldo Maestu, President and CEO of Alstom Group in Spain and Portugal.
- Lifetime Achievement in Innovation Award to Ginés Clemente, Executive Chairman of Aciturri.
The sixth award, Institutional Support for Innovation Award, was given to the President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and will be presented at a reception with the President in the coming weeks as, due to scheduling problems, she was unable to attend the event.
Víctor Fernández, general manager of Quest Global in Spain, highlighted the company's commitment to continue this initiative that values the contribution of companies, institutions and, above all, the professionals who make the constant evolution of society possible. For his part, Alfonso Martínez, Global President of Transport and Spain at Quest Global, revealed that this idea was born from a conversation with Ajit Prabhu, co-founder, CEO and Chairman of the company, in which they commented on the scarce recognition that exists for engineering professionals who work so hard to develop new ideas, trying to make people's lives easier, and contributing to leave a safer, cleaner and more efficient world. Thus, the initiative was born to recognise the great professionals and institutions that every day work on this mission.
All the award winners thanked Quest Global for the recognition during their speeches, feeling honoured by the award, and leaving us valuable messages in their speeches. Francisco Quereda, CEO of Ingeniería de Sistemas para la Defensa de España (ISDEFE), encouraged all innovators, individuals or companies, to continue developing ideas: "Innovation, especially in public companies, should not be seen as a business, but as an investment to improve people's quality of life". In addition, Sebastian Renouard, from the company Skydweller, which has succeeded in developing a solar-powered aircraft, commented: "We will be on the market in 2025. Count on us to prevent fires, to monitor forests, to stop illegal fishing. Count on us to serve society".
On the other hand, the president of Airbus commercial aircraft in Spain, Ricardo Rojas, praised the industry and added that "we are living a unique moment in the aviation industry and within the industry in general. Given the moment of climate change that we are living, all companies have the ambition to work on the decarbonisation of the industry and the planet, and in this sense Airbus has a firm commitment that represents a paradigm shift in aviation, an important commitment to use alternative energy sources".
Leopoldo Maestu, President and CEO of Alstom Group in Spain and Portugal, continued: "Innovation is unequivocally part of our DNA. Not because we want to innovate for the sake of innovation, but because we must, thanks to innovation, create and manufacture sustainable and intelligent mobility solutions that enable us to achieve our objectives and commitments to sustainability. Moreover, we know that sustainable innovation is also a driver of wealth and talent development".
Finally, Ginés Clemente, Executive Chairman of Aciturri, was moved by the award in recognition of his great career of more than 45 years, in which he went from being a single worker in a 25m2 machining workshop to developing a company with a team of more than 2,500 people and 200,000 square metres of facilities in Spain, France, Portugal and Brazil. "I am very grateful for the fact that you value my career, which I sincerely believe has no other merit than that of having never set limits to the will to grow in every sense, feeling the satisfaction that comes from effort, work, commitment and passion. [...] Innovation together with the support of my family and the professional and personal quality of my teams have made this growth possible," he said.
