• 6 min de lectura
• 6 min de lectura
Port Tarragona and the Leitat Technology Center organized a conference to publicize the economic opportunities arising from the dual transformation of companies and infrastructures. Under the title 'Business Duality, a Tool for the Logistics Transformation of Port Infrastructures', the conference emphasized how global geopolitical disruptions are accelerating the need to promote dual technologies in Europe, which can serve both civil and defense purposes. The speakers highlighted the boost that this transformation will have on economic and industrial activity, but also on innovation and infrastructure development. Likewise, the potential of Port de Tarragona as a key enclave due to its geostrategic position, both in the Mediterranean and on the peninsula, was highlighted. In this regard, the opportunity that this transformation represents for the Port to develop new port and rail infrastructures prepared for dual uses was emphasized.
The conference was attended by representatives from Puertos del Estado, the Generalitat de Catalunya, local chambers of commerce, universities, and the business sector. The president of Port Tarragona, Santiago J. Castellà, stated that "dual technologies open the doors to a stronger Europe." In this regard, he commented that "in the face of a predatory and wild world, our values, humanist tradition, human dignity, democracy, equality, and respect for plurality are at stake." He added: "For our values to have a voice in the world means that Europe has defense capabilities."
Likewise, Castellà explained that dual transformation is "a new line of work" that seeks to promote the Port's competitiveness with the creation or reinforcement of port and rail infrastructures so that they can respond to civil uses, but also to defense, if necessary. The president gave the example of the railway network. "The new scenario opens a window of opportunity to accelerate the improvement of connections and the railway network, and this will leave us prepared for possible continental mobility scenarios and, at the same time, will offer us solvent infrastructures that will allow us to increase freight transport by this route."
For her part, the head of territorial services for Economy and Business of the Generalitat de Catalunya in Tarragona, Mar Giné, noted that dual technologies are key to achieving "strategic autonomy." "We are facing great changes, and Catalonia wants to be part of the response to this new scenario," Giné affirmed. She also indicated that "all sectors—technology, talent and universities, infrastructures, companies—must get to work to make this transformation and take advantage of the opportunity to highlight the strengths of the territory."
The conference featured two presentations that contextualized the current panorama, a talk on dual transformation cases, and a round table where this process was analyzed by the various actors involved.
The former president of Puertos del Estado and current deputy director of Strategy and Business Development of this organization, Álvaro Rodríguez Dapena, offered the presentation 'Global Uncertainty. Civil-Military Dual Mobility in Europe'. Rodríguez Dapena reviewed the current situation of maritime transport and how it has evolved from a situation of stability to one of uncertainty: "Before, work was based on solidity, and multimodal logistics chains were proposed. Currently, synchromodal logistics is being promoted, which is characterized by flexibility, adaptation, and data management to analyze uncertainty in real time."
To this paradigm shift, Rodríguez Dapena explained that the need to rethink infrastructures from the point of view of security and defense is now added: "The feeling of danger experienced on the continent, especially since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, has changed the rules of the game, and now the countries of the Union must be multimodally prepared to respond to any scenario."
In this context, Puertos del Estado is working on the dual transformation of port infrastructures. "Defense can reinforce infrastructures, improving their security, developing new ones, and adapting existing ones to new needs with ro-ro ramps, greater loading capacity on the docks, complementary facilities such as OPS or bunkering, etc."
To delve into the new scenarios, the conference featured the participation of Miquel Àngel Fuster, secretary of the Col·legi d'Economistes de Catalunya – Tarragona and financial director of Schwartz Hautmont. Fuster outlined a global paradigm shift, caused by multiple factors such as climate change, the proliferation of weaponry and its distribution to non-state groups, the irruption of AI, confrontations between great powers, and intergenerational fracture. All these elements, Fuster detailed, have shaped a new reality.
In the logistics field, this is causing "the value chains that we once took for granted are no longer so," Fuster assured. In the economist's opinion, "We must reconfigure public spending and dedicate it to productive sectors that generate wealth and increase our strategic autonomy." He added: "We must be aware of today's geoeconomic reality and have a plan B for everything." In addition, the expert defended the need to promote new alliances and strengthen ports to gain "security in a turbulent environment."
The Leitat Technology Center was responsible for presenting the options companies have to start a dual transformation process. The head of Defense at Leitat, Eric Ferrando, explained the process that companies wishing to be defense suppliers must follow and emphasized the new European funding framework that will allocate funds to this objective.
For his part, the Business Development Director of Leitat, Dirk Saseta, explained the dual transformation process promoted within Leitat. "As a technology center, we specialize in the fields of health, digitalization, sustainability, and chemistry and materials. All these areas can provide solutions to civil needs, but also to defense, which is why we promoted our dual transformation with the aim of being able to help our clients innovate and take advantage of these new economic opportunities."
This approach was further explored in a round table on the current context of duality in Catalonia. The table included the participation of General César de Cea, military commander of Barcelona and Tarragona; David Garriga, CEO of SIRT; María Lorenzo, industrial engineer and project manager at Telefónica; Santiago Ballesté, president of AEROS; and the president of Port Tarragona, Santiago J. Castellà.
The speakers agreed on the need for defense to have private companies as collaborators and allies providing all kinds of solutions. The table emphasized that many technological innovations currently come from the civil world and subsequently move to the military world; a fact unprecedented until now, which highlights the need to strengthen the link between the business fabric and defense. Likewise, it was stressed that dual transformation represents an opportunity both from an economic point of view, in terms of competitiveness, innovation, and new markets, and socially, as a stimulus for the creation of quality employment and the attraction and retention of talent.
