Since your arrival at PITA as Director General last September, what has the landing been like? What new projects and lines of work has your arrival in the park meant?
From the first day I feel perfectly integrated, doing a job that I love, the first thing I did was to become familiar with the environment and know perfectly the reality of PITA and from that reality try to pilot this project with the greatest of success.
My priority will be to consolidate the PITA as a space favourable to innovation, a reference in our field, capable of attracting companies attracted by the differentiating elements, coexisting in an environment that allows them to generate business opportunities and develop added value.
The PITA is an example with regard to the organisation of days of interest for companies and entities, we can see the past events "PITA ForumInvest", "PITA Collaboration Day". What is the key to the success of these days?
Among our main objectives is the dynamization of the Park, in this sense we give great importance to our plan of dynamization, we have just closed 2017 meeting objectives and we are already working on advancing, improving and refining the dynamization actions for 2018 with increasingly consolidated bets that promote synergies between the companies of PITA and of these with the business environment as well as the promotion of participation in projects and cutting-edge sector training.
The EMPRENDEWEB action has already reached its sixth edition and has already left more than 30 projects in progress from previous editions. What is the added value of EMPRENDEWEB for its participants
This is a very interesting project that has had great acceptance. It consists of a free program that gives unemployed people, students and small entrepreneurs the opportunity to train in order to create content and e-commerce websites. It was launched in 2014, driven by the park and in its five editions, 135 projects have been carried out, of which approximately 40% are active.
The majority of PITA companies are agri-food and biotechnology companies. Where is this sector heading in Almeria?
40% of the GDP of the province of Almeria is based on agriculture and it makes sense that our efforts should focus on this sector. The change towards a reorientation of the agro-industrial model of our province has been debated for years, although it does not seem to move with sufficient agility to the reality of companies, but all the actors agree that innovation should be the driving force behind the sector, we have to bet on innovation and find the path that generates an adequate environment for it, where companies can participate in a cooperation network and be able to interact with other industries and organizations giving way and support to innovative processes, because innovation is a matter of survival.
PITA is currently engaged in a strategy to attract investment in the park. How is this strategy currently being developed?
Among our main objectives is to turn the Park into an attractive space and susceptible of location and implantation of companies, to create a space in which competitiveness is promoted by promoting the exchange of knowledge, innovation, globality, the attraction of talent, we want to be a binding and referential space in our area of influence, recognizable for its contribution to leadership, to achieve relevance as a center generating opportunities for companies.
PITA has recently applied to be listed as a Digital Innovation Hub by the European Union, how can this name benefit its companies and entities?
It is a first point of contact in digital innovation in the agricultural sector, it will be multidisciplinary and will identify technological specialties that we can lead at European level. This European ecosystem will boost new business and access to markets, promote the attraction of financing and investment.
A mandatory question, By 2018 what disruptive technology (Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Internet of Things, Virtual Reality....etc.) Do you think you are going to be the protagonist in terms of entrepreneurship and the creation of start ups and spin offs in your park?
We have to focus on all of them because we have to be up to date with what is happening, assuming that the technological revolution is not reversed and companies have to renew themselves, because the statistics say that four out of ten companies will disappear in the next ten years. We have to start taking all these technologies seriously, although I am optimistic because I recognize that there are fantastic entrepreneurs who are going to give a lot of game and surprise us with their projects.
To learn more about Trinidad Cabeo and the members of APTE, could you give us a brief curriculum presentation?
Since she was very young, Trinidad Cabeo, combined her studies with an active participation in social movements, becoming the leader of several associations from which she promoted civic activity, which made her visible in the youth scene and led her to become a Youth Councillor for the PSOE in the City Council of Almería at the end of the 1980s.
In 1994 he decided to give a decisive turn to his activity and faced the beginning of his business career with the foundation of the first company in Almeria dedicated to business tourism, achieving success with an innovative and pioneering project in Almeria that led the company to position itself as a benchmark in the sector nationally, reaching 150 workers. From that moment on, his professional career was linked to the world of entrepreneurship, participating in the creation and development of different business projects.
The jump to private activity together with her permanent social involvement leads her to occupy positions in the Almeria corporate and social scene, being vice-president of the Association of Young Entrepreneurs of Almeria, member of the plenary of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Navigation, as well as president of the Almeria Convention Bureau, and member of the assembly of the Almeria Tourism Board.
His training has been completed throughout his professional career through the efficient combination of three fundamental elements: life experience, regulated training and professional experience, improving knowledge in the field of business management and administration and management development with specialization courses in IESE programs, the San Telmo Institute, the University of Almeria or the University of Barcelona's online business school.
She has held the position of Secretary of the Social Council of the University of Almeria for eight years, has been president of the Logistics Committee of the Innovation Forum of the University of Almeria and co-director of the Andalusian Logistics Chair, currently being general secretary of the Foundation of the University of Almeria.
In 2007 she was appointed president of the Port Authority of Almeria. At that time, she was the second woman to occupy a position of this kind, facing challenges such as the recovery of fishing activity, the strengthening of sports sailing, the increase in container traffic, the promotion of passenger traffic on regular lines and cruise ships, as well as the strengthening of relations with North Africa. At this stage, it was important to highlight the strong impetus it gave to the Port to City integration process.
All this disruptive trajectory has led her to be an open-minded, independent, non-conformist professional who always moves in the search for new trends, sometimes questioning conventional knowledge.
She is currently the General Manager of the Almería Science and Technology Park (PITA) and has focused her work on the consolidation of the Park as an innovation ecosystem, that is to say, a space that is favourable to innovation that is capable of attracting companies attracted by the differentiating elements that the Park offers, coexisting in a space of constant flow of knowledge and technology that allows them to generate new business opportunities and develop added value in their products and services.
