09 Abril 2026

Industry is betting its future

Leadership

Corporate Culture

Today, more than ever, the industry’s future hangs in the balance.

Following today’s session at the Advanced Factories presentation, I’ve identified three major challenges that are very clear… and, most importantly, very specific ways to tackle them through talent and AI-driven automation.

1. COMPETITIVENESS: quality, costs and decisions taken outside Barcelona

China is no longer just ‘the world’s factory’: it now also wants to be the one selling us robots, automation and technology, whilst also buying up European and Asian companies.
Service quality has become a critical factor in competitiveness.
We are seeing an increasing shift in decision-making: many strategic industrial companies are now in the hands of international groups.

💡 What can we do?

Committing to advanced automation and applied AI to improve productivity and quality, not just to reduce costs.

Promoting technological proximity: development, testing and know-how here, even though we sell to the world.
Demanding and promoting public policies and incentives aligned with industrial autonomy and investment in industrial R&D.

2. IMPLEMENTATION: AI and robotics, from theory to real-world applications

It has become clear from all the presentations: companies that do not take ‘native’ AI seriously by 2026 will be left behind.

More than 500,000 industrial robots installed worldwide.
China accounts for 54 per cent of new installations.
Spain is already the third-largest European market in terms of installations, but with plenty of room for growth and a long-standing heavy reliance on the automotive sector.

💡 Key points for moving from rhetoric to real impact:

Working with a vision of Industry 4.IA: merging OT (operations) and IT (data) to make real-time decisions.

Prioritising specific use cases, not ‘never-ending pilot projects’: predictive maintenance, vision-based quality control, production line optimisation, internal logistics, etc.
Accelerate the roll-out of collaborative and humanoid robots wherever there are:
- repetitive, low-value tasks
- occupational hazards
- bottlenecks caused by labour shortages

3. TALENT: the most complex bottleneck

Today we’ve spoken openly about an uncomfortable truth: we may have the best technology, but without talent there can be no transformation.

There is a critical shortage of technical, robotics and data professionals and, above all, AI specialists.
Companies that are already ‘AI-native’ are training their ENTIRE workforce in AI, not just their technical teams.

💡 Courses of action based on talent:

Stop talking about ‘digital talent’ as something in isolation and start talking about industrial talent with AI: maintenance, quality, operations, logistics… ALL with skills in AI, data and automation.
Design large-scale reskilling and upskilling programmes:
- training in generative AI as an everyday tool
- data skills for middle management and shop floor staff
Take diversity seriously: highlight female role models in engineering, robotics and AI through specific programmes to encourage more women to enter and progress in these roles (90 per cent of roles in automation and robotics are still held by men...)
Connect the education ecosystem with industry:
- initiatives such as those by Advanced Factories, bringing 1,200 vocational training and university students to learn about technology and real-world opportunities
- collaboration with schools, universities and technology centres to align curricula with ‘Industry 4.IA’

There has also been much discussion about the risks posed by heavy regulation, current geopolitical tensions and tariffs.

But there are clear pillars on which we can act and work from NOW: competitive advantage, industrial autonomy, the genuine adoption of AI, and the attraction and retention of talent.

The good news is that these challenges can be your three levers for change:

AI as a cross-cutting layer of productivity.
Automation and robotics where they add the most value.
A talent strategy that moves away from being reactive and becomes strategic and forward-looking.

As an AI specialist who has worked for many years with technical talent, I am absolutely convinced that the next industrial decade will not just be about the most automated factories, but about those that manage to align technology, talent and purpose.

In another article, I will discuss in more detail a gem of a point that was mentioned in the presentation:

“WHAT WILL THE CEOs OF THE FUTURE NEED TO BE LIKE?” — until now, knowing a great deal about the business and people was enough; but the leaders of the future will also need to know A LOT about technology...

Is your organisation still just dabbling with AI ‘on the sidelines’, or is it already embedding it at the heart of its operations and its people strategy?

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