Digital transformation represents an opportunity for companies in South America. Industry 4.0 is the engine of this transition, which gives space for the emergence of new business models that lead to new products and services, which generates impacts on various ecosystems, organizations and individuals.

In June, the virtual encounter Industry 4.0: Building Bridges between Catalonia and South America was held, where companies from Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile and Catalonia participated. The purpose of this event, within the framework of Industry 4.0, was to generate opportunities to strengthen and promote relations between the two continents within the framework of Industry 4.0.

The event lasted three days, brought together more than 300 companies and was divided into two formats. The first was a brokerage event with 20-minute meetings between the participants through the same platform; the second format was a set of 6 webinars on different topics that took place in the afternoons.

According to Nina Morales, Director of Business Cooperation at Eurochile, this virtual event was held within the framework of the Enterprise Europe Network, and Eurochile, in its role as co-organizer and only contact point for this network in the country, worked together with its partners from Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay and Catalonia, with the aim of promoting this instance to create opportunities between companies from both continents.

“We at Eurochile see these as unique opportunities for entrepreneurs in Chile. Industry 4.0: Building Bridges between Catalonia and South America had the purpose of connecting entrepreneurs to generate ties for future businesses, projects and exchange of experiences. In addition, in this event, companies had the opportunity to participate, not only in meetings but also in thematic webinars with exhibitors from both the private and public sectors”, indicates Nina Morales.

Both the webinars and the meeting sessions were aimed at companies that were inserted in Industry 4.0 in the sectors of Agriculture (livestock and fishing); Food (drinks); Construction (infrastructure); Energy (chemical and resources); Manufacture; Mining; Mobility (logistics); Health wellness); Sustainability (circular economy) and Retail.

According to the Director of Business Cooperation, Eurochile was in charge of organizing the webinar 4 “Success stories of digital transformation in SMEs” that took place on Wednesday June 9 and the moderation was led by the Director of Networks at Eurochile, Manuela Caruz. In it, speakers from Brazil, Catalonia and Chile presented their experiences in the digital transformation process and their formulas for success.

The objective of each invited company was to present their experiences in the commitment to digital innovation, for example, RepairCo, a Chilean company, through its partner and general manager, Andrés Moralés, spoke about “Implementation of the I4.0 for advanced remanufacturing of pumps for mining and other industries ”; the representatives of Catalonia Josep María Quintana, general director, ESINSA made his presentation on the “Creation of a tutorial platform and the digitized manual of the contents of control of the placement of the gaskets in the flanges during the technical stop” and Antoni Graupera i Garcia, manager of TAI Smart Factory on “Prototype with Augmented Reality for Manufacturing Guidance and for Quality Control in an MES System environment”; and Juan Antonio Jorge Silvera, CEO of GND Brazil, spoke on “Irrigation management platform for optimizing water and electricity consumption”. All these presentations can be seen on the event website link