Barcelona Industry Week unveils the most advanced and digitalised industry at the Gran Via venue

From 29th to 31st October Fira de Barcelona’s Gran Via venue will host the main fair platform that promotes smart, connected and autonomous manufacturing. The third Barcelona Industry Week will encompass the holding of seven events: IoT Solutions World Congress, Blockchain Solutions World, the AI & Cognitive Systems Forum, Industry From Needs to Solutions, MAX, the Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress and Ayri11, the automation and robotics congress. They will all address how disruptive technologies not only improve manufacturing processes but also reduce their environmental footprint from different standpoints.

The latest BIW (Barcelona Industry Week) will bring together 550 exhibiting companies and 600 speakers, who will take part in the 400-plus congress sessions, talks, workshops and panel discussions that have been scheduled. A total of 25,000 professional visitors are expected to attend.

According to Salvador Tasqué, Director of Own Business at Fira de Barcelona, “Barcelona Industry Week is establishing itself as the main fair platform for supporting and driving the digital transformation of multiple sectors, with a total of seven events that complement each other and offer a cross-sectoral vision of all the existing innovations for the deployment of the most advanced industry, with the aim of making production processes more efficient and sustainable”.


IoTSWC, another step towards smart connectivity

IoTSWC (IoT Solutions World Congress), the largest international event devoted to the industrial internet, will fill Hall 2 of the Gran Via venue with 350 exhibitors, including the world’s leading suppliers of IoT, artificial intelligence and blockchain solutions, such as Microsoft, Sas, Vodafone, Nutanix, Deloitte, T-Systems, Libelium, Kaspersky, Orange, Siemens, Fiware, Hitachi, Relayr, Thingstream, Zyfra, Emnify, Linux Edge Foundation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and ARM. It will also incorporate a test bench area to showcase ten experimental platforms that overcome challenges in real environments and an area that will provide visibility for startup projects from different countries.

As for the congress, with more than 300 speakers, it will analyse the benefits of digitalisation based on real cases that illustrate the achievements and new implications that are opening up in the era of smart connectivity. Directors of companies that already use IoT solutions, such as Hugo Boss, McLaren Group, Airbus, Sanitas, Carrefour Group, Daimler Motors, Ibercaja, Roca, SNCF Réseau, Maersk GTD and Brussels Airport, will also take part, as well as representatives of the leading technology companies. Attention will also be paid to the state of female leadership in the IoT ecosystem.


Blockchain and artificial intelligence

Together with IoTSWC, there will be two themed events on blockchain and artificial intelligence, two technologies that are taking off and reinforcing and reinventing the capabilities of the Internet of Things. These are BSW (Blockchain Solutions World) and AI&CS (Artificial Intelligence & Cognitive Systems) Forum, both organised by Fira de Barcelona in partnership with the IIC (Industrial Internet Consortium), as occurs with IoTSWC.

The former, BSW, will cover topics such as the use of blockchain to reduce digital threats and authenticate and verify people’s identities and for data control, the signing of smart contracts and all kinds of electronic transactions. Discussions will also be held on the impact of this technology on the generation, distribution and consumption of energy, food security, the new relationship that may be established between farmers and consumers, global trade, healthcare, mobility as a service and the offsetting of CO2 emissions.

The latter event (AI&CS) will analyse the state of the implementation of artificial intelligence and automatic learning technologies for improving processes. It will also address issues related to standardisation, as well as ethical aspects and the social responsibilities that arise in the relationship between smart machines and people. The list of speakers will include American analyst Joe Barkai, who will offer his forecasts on the future of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies and explain the opportunities and threats posed by autonomous machines.


Industry: advanced manufacturing

The fourth Industry From Needs to Solutions, which will occupy Hall 3, will enhance its industrial nature with the addition of a new machine tool exhibition area, which will join the spaces devoted to connectivity and data, 3D printing, automation and robotics, moulds and dies, new materials and design and services, with the aim of meeting the technological needs of companies in the industry 4.0 era. Industry From Needs to Solutions is organised by Fira de Barcelona with the support of the Consorci Zona Franca. It is also partnered by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, the Catalan Government and Barcelona City Council, as well as the Leitat, Tecnalia and IAM3DHUB technological centres.

The exhibition area, with more than 150 companies, will be complemented by the Innovation Arena, where some of the most innovative industrial solutions to boost smart manufacturing will be on display. In addition, the area devoted to 3D printing will continue to be important, with the holding of the In(3d) talks, during which more than 50 speakers representing industries that use this technology, such as Roland Berger, Mobility Goes Additive and RUAG Aerospace, will pool their experiences. Ayri11, the congress on automation and robotics, will once again bring together companies and young talents.

The Industry From Needs to Solutions programme will include MAX, a new congress focused on advanced manufacturing and its capacity to maximise optimisation in areas such as efficiency, products, business and talent. The congress will feature 40 speakers from companies such as DHL, Roche Diagnostics, Fluidra, Siemens, Damm, Seat and Cisco.


Industrial cybersecurity

Following the success of the first Barcelona Cybersecurity Congress, the forthcoming event will focus on cybersecurity in the industrial field, solutions, business and governance. The congress, to be held in Hall 1, will have 60 speakers, including representatives from Telefónica, Tata Communications and Microsoft, who will discuss the implementation of cybersecurity solutions in multi-cloud environments, the protection of medical devices and new tools to prevent identity theft in financial services, among other topics.

In addition, all the events that make up Barcelona Industry Week will be associated with other knowledge and networking activities involving more than 50 partner entities, including associations, professional bodies, technological centres and universities.

Barcelona, October 2019

Images Barcelona Industry Week (2018) available here 

Press Department – Fira de Barcelona
Tel. +34 93 233 26 59 

prensa@firabarcelona.com