More than 1,400 have registered for the Basque Open Industry, the event that will showcase the power of industry in the Basque Country to Europe

• Framed within the European SME Week and under the slogan "Let's meet in Innovation Land", it will feature thirty presentations, a hundred exhibitors and meetings and appointments to learn about trends in areas such as talent, internationalisation and digital, energy and environmental transitions

An important representation of the most innovative Basque industry in the Basque Country will meet on November 13 and 14 at Basque Open Industry. The European SME Week attracts several international events to the Bilbao Exhibition Centre (BEC) , including this event that will serve as a showcase of the power of Basque industry. With ten days to go and with registration open until the day of the event, more than 1,400 people have already confirmed their participation.

What Basque Open Industry offers is extensive and shows the wide industrial and technological ecosystem of the Basque Country. Under the slogan 'Let's meet in Innovation Land',these two days take up the baton of the Basque Industry 4.0, held until before the pandemic, and has ensured a varied presence of public and private actors and companies. The European SME Week will continue in the following days with other events of international dimension, the SME Assembly and the annual conference of the Enterprise Europe Network-EEN

A wide and diverse offer

BOI will not only serve to demonstrate the capabilities of Basque industry to the representatives of European organizations. It will also offer SMEs the opportunity to learn about the different aids to the industrial sector, to test and validate technologies, to learn about support for internationalisation and, in general, trends in a wide variety of areas, ranging from everything related to talent to digital, energy and environmental transitions. For this, the BOI programme includes 150 headliners, with presentations by specialists and a hundred exhibitors. In addition, meetings between companies have been organised to encourage networking among them.

First level Speeches: Tom TerBush

Among the thirty or so lectures that will be given at the BEC during those two days, the most important will be by Tom TerBush, Vice President of Technical Services and Members of EPRI Electric Power Research Institute) and president of EPRI International. At the inaugural conference he will provide details of how decarbonisation presents an opportunity to generate new industry. The event will be chaired by the President, Iñigo Urkullu.

Experts in talent attraction and artificial intelligence

There will be more expert voices at the BOI, among round tables and colloquiums that will present the latest trends in the field of talent, artificial intelligence, industrial cybersecurity, digital transition and energy and environmental Transition.

In the area of talent, José María Peiró, professor of the University of Social Psychology of Organisations at the University of Valencia, and Daniel Mikolta, director of personnel at Ingeteam.

In artificial intelligence, Petra Püchner, Commissioner for Europe at the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism and Director of Steinbeis Europa Zentrumwill address European initiatives that enable new business models through AI.

Appointments to meet with exhibitors in the App, Networking Land

This is an important part, and one that is valued by the companies. It is the interconnections created between participating companies. For this purpose, an App has been enabled (called Networking Land) that facilitates exchanges, so that Basque SMEs will be able to easily access exhibitors and make appointments in advance with cybersecurity companies, startups and tractor companies of the BIND 4.0 programme, technology centres of the Basque Research & Technology Alliance (BRTA), and many more.

Live Trend Observatory

This will be a kind of live observatory of the latest trends in advanced manufacturing and emerging applications of Basque smart industry. The Basque Country has stepped on the innovation accelerator, in fact, it has risen 21 places in the European ranking.

The program includes conferences, round tables and practical workshops, with a structure in three blocks related, on the one hand, to talent, on the other to trends for smart industry and, in addition, energy-environmental and technological-digital transitions.

It will be possible to delve into specific topics such as internationalisation, entrepreneurship, cybersecurity and technology.

Accessible internationalization and Ukraine stand

In terms of internationalisation, Basque SMEs interested in accelerating their international expansion will have at their fingertips the SPRI Group's Foreign Networkwith its own stands offering information. Thus, 18 offices of the SPRI Group’s Foreign Network, coordinated by the Basque internationalisation agency, Basque Trade & Investment (BTI), will be represented. It has the capacity to reach 90 countries.

One of the stands will have special significance. It is dedicated to Ukraine, under the name 'Rebuild Ukraine'. Members of the Warsaw office (responsible for the Ukrainian market), as well as Ukrainian companies and associations will offer opportunities for Basque companies to participate in the country's reconstruction programme supported by the European Union.

Leading startups linked to BIND 4.0

Entrepreneurship will have an important place with stands dedicated to leading startups in the Basque Country and linked to the BIND 4.0 programme, which has accelerated almost 200 projects thanks to connections with other Basque companies of different sizes and industrial sectors.

It will be possible to contact their promoters to learn about the solutions they propose for the industrial sector, which can be incorporated into the Basque business fabric. It also encourages relationships between competitors who may seek a point of connection to open avenues of collaboration. On Monday the 13th, some of the program's success stories will be presented.

Space for cybersecurity

Another of the subjects especially requested by the participants has to do with industrial cybersecurity, where the Basque Country is well positioned around an ecosystem that offers advanced solutions in this area. There will be a specific area dedicated to companies specialised in this field.

Testing, evaluating and validating technologies with the BDIH

The SPRI Group, organiser of this great event of Basque industry, has prepared an agenda that will allow finding technological solutions with the team of the Basque Digital Innovation Hub (BDIH), which gives companies the opportunity to test, evaluate and validate technologies in their laboratories, so they can decide which of them is suitable for their needs. All this will be possible in the Sustainable Digitalization area, which will be installed in the BEC on conference days.

Discover the possibilities of the AI lab

Likewise, during the congress, Basque SMEs will have the opportunity to discover the possibilities offered by the Artificial Intelligence laboratory of the Basque Artificial Intelligence Centre (BAIC), designed to experiment and accelerate projects.

Technology within the reach of SMEs

The 17 Basque technology and research centres , grouped around the BRTA (Basque Research & Technology Alliance) , will also have their place, in order to bring R&D&I closer to SMEs.

Sectoral spaces on energy and microelectronics

The space dedicated to the two transitions of energy-environment and technology-digital will discuss the Basque microelectronics strategy (with the Basque Microelectronics Hub), opportunities in the field of energy (moderated by the Energy Cluster), the circular economy (with talks led by the public environmental management company, Ihobe) and internationalisation.

BOI speaker’s corner: Digital transformation case studies

In addition, as a novel proposal open for people to take part in, a dynamic format will be offered for short 15-minute presentations. It is the so-called speaker’s corner of BOI, where cases of cybersecurity, practical uses of Artificial Intelligence and 5G technology will be presented..

BOI registration remains open, both to participate as well as to sign up for networking with other companies.

SME Week 2023

The European SME Week will continue on subsequent days with other events with an international bias. The celebration of the SME Assembly between 13 and 15 November will be the most important event for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe. In a hybrid format, both face-to-face and online, the assembly will feature high-level panels and interviews, expert round tables, interactive workshops and informative master classes. 

In addition, the annual conference of the Europe Enterprise Network — EEN — will take place between 15 and 17 November. The Basque Country has been part of this organisation since its inception. In fact, the SPRI Group leads the Basque EEN consortium, made up of a thousand European representatives. It is the world's largest support network for small and medium-sized enterprises, active all over the world and bringing together experts from organisations recognised for their excellence in business support. It includes chambers of commerce and industry, regional development organisations, universities and research institutes, and innovation agencies.