You cannot travel to Milan and not visit the Fondazione Prada. Simply, you should not miss its exhibitions of contemporary art. Neither is its building with irregular geometry and imposing windows, the work of Rem Koolhaas, nor the Bar Luce signed by Wes Anderson. Yes, the Italian city is much more than La Piazza del Duomo, but that would be another article.
In this, what we are interested in telling you is that the walls of the Fondazione Prada are the same ones that in the past housed an old distillery that stopped machines for some time now. The Milanese example serves as proof that something is changing in Europe and that disused industrial areas are being converted into cultural centers, event spaces or even gastronomic markets.
The big, smoking chimneys have stopped working at full capacity. It is a matter of the new industrial transition that is coming. Now what's fuming is I D i, robotics or the metaverse, even.
A change of focus that has also modified the characteristic features of the sector because we are no longer talking about "a polluting industry that works on the transformation of raw materials, mainly, and uses large amounts of energy", explains Emma Fernández, an expert in strategy and transformation director and advisor in various technology companies.
“That was before. Today, we have an industry that is fundamentally dominated by automation, technology and knowledge. This industry also offers quality work, continuous training and the possibility of long-term professional careers, "he adds.
They call it the Fourth Industrial Revolution and, among other things, it must mean an empowerment of the human being –we leave it to be replaced by robots, for now, for science fiction movies–, greater autonomy for societies and more opportunities to generate wealth .
Those strategic technologies that Pedro Mier talks about are artificial intelligence, 3D printing, the Internet of Things (IoT), synthetic biology or supercomputing and can be applied transversally in most sectors – from electrical, even the automobile, or information systems- helping to make them more competitive.
It is Industry 4.0, Europe's great bet against other models of global competitiveness. “China is still an automated autocracy, it is a big data state. It is focused on technologies like semiconductors or artificial intelligence. The United States has been the leader so far. Theirs is a type of economy in which financial markets play a role. very important role, but also strategic missions, for example, aerospace", recalls Xavier Ferràs, innovation expert and professor at Esade.
The scenario of the European continent, on the other hand, "is made up of small and medium-sized companies that are highly technical, highly digitized and highly connected to knowledge centers such as universities and technology centers," says Ferràs.
In order for this new innovation-based economy to develop, several more things have to happen. The wish list is long. The first step must be taken in the classroom. Enlarge the gap of mathematics, programming and robotics already in the first years of school. Even for those who want to be journalists, lawyers or economists, because automation is also going to reach those types of careers.
For his part, Pedro Mier looks to the public sector because "good projects, innovative projects, and well-paid projects are needed, and the strategic role played by the administrations is very important there. Public procurement is vital, it is a motor," he insists . If we achieve this, "we will have good opportunities for our professionals, we will be attractive for them to come from abroad and we will be able to generate well-paid jobs," adds the president of AMETIC.
Because there is employment, there is it “when we talk about job offers in the scientific-technical sectors, we refer to thousands of jobs in Spain, millions in the case of Europe. However, right now, there is a lack of prepared professionals," says Emma Fernández.
And within this shortage of profiles, what is most missing within the famous STEM (acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) are female faces because "women choose their profession by vocation and not because of the opportunities it represents . So, the only way for them to opt for this type of career is for them to have the opportunity to meet leading women who work in these sectors at these early ages and thus be able to make an informed decision”, adds Fernández. If they continue not to participate, the new industry may be smart, it may be sustainable, but it will still be unequal.
