“The innovations that we will see at SIL Barcelona demonstrate the innovative, dynamic nature of the logistics sector”

Blanca Sorigué, general director of the Barcelona Free Trade Zone Consortium

We interviewed Blanca Sorigué, general director of the Barcelona Free Trade Zone Consortium, about the next edition of SIL Barcelona, ​​the leading logistics, transport, intralogistics and supply chain fair in southern Europe, which will be held from May 31 to June 2 . With it we also address the success of the Spanish foreign sector in these two decades of the XNUMXst century and the role the logistics sector has played in it.

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Since 2001, Spanish exports have not stopped growing (except occasionally with the financial crisis of 2008 and the covid crisis in 2020), what do you think has been the role that logistics and transportation have played in this growth in international trade? Spanish companies?

Blanca Sorigué: “The truth is that growth is unstoppable because e-commerce has had a spectacular impact on this acceleration. In fact, what Covid has done is accelerate it. We, as organizers of the Logistics Fair, which is a benchmark in Spain and the first in southern Europe, have been there for 21 years, this edition is going to be the 22nd, we have seen an impressive evolution. 

 

At first, the first years of the Logistics Show basically We were talking about transportation and materialhandling, that is, the products that equip large industrial warehouses. All this has changed in a spectacular way, because during these two decades the growth, the beginning and the generation of new opportunities at the level of technological services, many software, management, data integrator companies... where technologies have been the most important part; What this digitization has precisely done is accelerate imports and exports.

 

In the end we are talking about data analysis, connectivity, generating a lot of information and this traceability of understanding it as such. This type of new economy that has been generated for years is now when it has gained the most popularity. All this has increased imports and exports, so that there was no type of barrier. You can see this in the content of the Logistics show and in the offer that we are going to have.” 

 

And looking ahead to its 22nd edition, what new features does the fair bring?

 

BS: “We have many. Right off the bat, we haven't held the fair for three years due to covid. We are the organization that has always held the show every year except on this occasion, which paralyzed the fairs but did not paralyze the economy, and The only thing that was not paralyzed during the pandemic was logistics. In fact, thanks to logistics we were able to have the masks, manufacture respirators, supply all the markets..., and that is precisely what we want to give more importance to in the show, the logistics itself. 

 

Logistics is an essential sector, that impacts not only business and commerce but also our lives, and we precisely want to give it the relevance that it really has and that sometimes seems not to be fully recognized. 

 

How are we going to do it? First of all, organizing the logistics room again. All the exhibitors of the last editions have repeated, with great desire, great enthusiasm, the truth is that we appreciate it very much because we see that they want to see each other again, to meet, to contact, to innovate. 

 

And in fact we are going to give out some awards, one of which is the innovation award. There are many companies that are innovating and are going to present new developments and innovations in this show, many of these innovations have been generated in the middle of the pandemic. We, as the Free Trade Zone Consortium, created a specific, hybrid event in the middle of the pandemic called Barcelona New Economy Week, and like us, many companies have grown and, above all, have innovated more than ever. These dramatic and critical situations that we all experience make it precisely Get out of your comfort zone and innovate more than ever, and this will be reflected in any space in the Logistics Hall.”

 

With 21 editions under its belt and the 22nd in preparation, what milestones  Would you stand out in the history of SIL Barcelona?

 

BS: “Of course, organizing the fair every year is not easy, because every year you have to present different dynamic spaces. At the time, in the middle of the crisis, we created the Logistics Circle, and this brand continues to be maintained because it is our space networks, is where the retailers and the directors of Supply Chain They meet to see what kind of business they can start. We have been doing this for more than 10 years, it is a space that works and is essential in any professional salon. It is a milestone that we achieved at the time and we continue to invest strongly.

 

Another topic that we have been betting on for four, five years is Startup Innovation Hub, that is, all startups that are created through a supply chain disruption. For example, we are going to see news such as there containers folding from a company in Valencia. All these types of innovations demonstrate the innovative, dynamic nature of the sector itself.". 

 

As we have seen, two decades have meant many changes when doing business on the international stage, and in logistics; Precisely in this sector and in the transport sector, looking to the future, what changes are expected? I imagine that some of them will be talked about at the SIL eDelivery Barcelona Congress.

 

BS: “This year the congress, which will bring together 300 speakers At the national and international level, which is obviously a hybrid congress, because the world is already hybrid, we divide it into three main themes: sustainability, digitalization and innovation 4.0. All these speakers They are going to debate around these three main axes. 

 

And above all the focus is going to be on talent. One of the characteristics that we see in this sector is the lack of talent. Talent exists but it is very difficult to retain it and, above all, to manufacture it. What do I mean by manufacturing it? You cannot study many of these technologies at university, they have to be taught to you in the company itself, these Industry 4.0 technologies: blockchain, machine learning, All those technologies that are fundamental for the industry and the logistics sector are technologies that you can only learn in the company itself.. Yes, this is one of the topics that we are also going to discuss at the congress.”

 

What figures do you expect for the next edition of the Logistics Show?

 

BS: “First of all, let everything go as planned, right now they gave me the information that we already have many registered. The level of registrations is growing significantly, surely at the end of the week we will reach the number of registrations of 2019, which was the last edition. We are very in favor of making an advanced registry because with this data what we do is speed dating, we organize crossed agendas between supply and demand, because in the end what it is about is generating business and new opportunities. 

 

At the exhibition level we are already at full occupancy, very few empty spaces. We have Extremadura as a guest community, which has shown a very strong interest in logistics, in fact they have some very important logistics projects that they are going to present. 

 

And at an institutional level we also expect a large influx. Lets organice Logistics Night, which is the big dinner of the sector, where they give out an innovation award, another innovation award and another award that I can't tell you because it is a novelty, that I don't think they have ever awarded.”