A photograph of the Basque business scene that ranges from the automotive sector, and the service companies that assist this industry, to precision aeronautics applied to the conquest of space, including the first European drug project based on microbiotics. They are the referents of the economic fabric of the Basque Country, recognized yesterday at the Guggenheim Museum on the occasion of the delivery of the annual ‘Euskadi Avanza’ awards that ELCORREO organizes with the support of Banco Sabadell.
In the photo there was a presence even for football. And it is that the winner of the recognition for Business Trajectory, Amaia Gorostiza, is the president of a “company like the cup of a pine”, the Eibar Sports Society, although with a long history in the manufacturing sector of automotive support in the company founded by his mother and which later became part of the CIE Automotive group. The common element in all cases, as highlighted by the Minister of Economic Development, Arantxa Tapia, who spoke at the end of the event, is “to be competitive, generate wealth and try to be the best”. Gorostiza herself claimed talent as one of the keys to success, especially if it is accompanied by values such as “effort, integrity, discretion or humility, as my parents have instilled in us.” In addition, and from a traditionally masculinized environment such as manufacturing and soccer, she pointed out that “more than quotas, I like to talk about talent, regardless of gender.”
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The context, as explained by the territorial director of the northern area of Banco Sabadell, Ignacio Navarro, “is not easy”, although he acknowledged that “the economy is behaving somewhat better than it seemed a few months ago” and “a businessmen’s commitment” in which “financial institutions must play a key role because it is our reason for being”.
The Chairman of Gestamp, Francisco J. Riberas, accepted the ‘Company of the Year’ award and highlighted the importance of “industry and the automotive industry as anchors of the economy”. A challenge that is going through “all kinds of problems” and that has maintained a 10% drop in vehicle sales since the pandemic. Despite the data, Riberas was optimistic because “from the sector we have done well” and pointed out that there is “retained” demand to feed production activity in the years 2023 and 2024. The president of Gestamp claimed the family nature of his company, which he shared with the also award-winning Amaia Gorostiza, and recalled the importance of those values attached to competitiveness. Thus, he pointed out that “we are a listed family business”, we maintain certain principles and “our goal is long-term”.
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The ‘SME of the Year’ award went to AVS, the acronym for Added Value Solutions piloted by the Vitoria-born engineer Miguel Ángel Carrera who have arrived on Mars to equip the Rover Perseverance, the vehicle that takes samples from the red planet. The firm will also participate in the second mission to Mars piloted by NASA by 2028 and is preparing to play a prominent role in the satellite sector. It is a market that, as Carrera himself explained, is experiencing an expansion that will double the launches in 2023 and that opens a line of business with the recycling, removal and reorbitation of these devices. Carrera pointed out that the aerospace business has been transformed in a very short time with the appearance of numerous players who have multiplied clients and no longer leave the contracting capacity in the European (ESA) and North American (NASA) space agencies.
Biomedicine is another of the fields that is experiencing the most development, especially since the pandemic. Even so, Juan Basterra, the CEO and founder of Mikrobiomik who received the ‘New Company’ award, recalled that the development of a drug requires time “up to 12 years of maturation” hence the importance of having partners and financiers that “believe in the project”. But, it is not only about money, Basterra also insisted on talent because “it is necessary, no matter how much investment there is, without a team, without talent, there is no project,” he recalled. The company had the backing of venture capital from the Basque administrations and with the contributions of the ‘Family Office’ of the environment to start the development of the first medicine based on intestinal microbiota to treat pseudomembranous colitis. Now, they are also working on the development of treatments for fatty liver and metastatic cancers of the colon, liver and pancreas.
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The head of the Basque Government’s industry portfolio, Arantxa Tapia, vindicated the business fabric based on industry and the manufacturing sector in Euskadi. She recalled that “we cannot forget our DNA” in the three transitions that must be faced in the economy: digital, sustainable and demographic. For her, Tapia, it is necessary to “go digital to be better”, bring supply chains closer and generate “energy from here”. “Let’s be smart, let’s produce close.”
“The four winners represent the taste for a job well done”
The president of ELCORREO, Enrique de Ybarra, highlighted that, using Miguel de Unamuno’s maxim of ‘renew or die’, the winners have sought permanent improvement by developing a vocation for public service supported by innovation and competitiveness in response to the needs of its customers and markets. The president of EL CORREO insisted on the vocation of the newspaper to “promote modernity”.