Puertos del Estado launched for the first time in 2020 the Ports 4.0 Fund in its idea program, pre-commercial project and commercial project modalities. The fund aims to promote and actively incorporate disruptive or incremental innovation as an element of competitiveness, efficiency, sustainability, safety and security in the Spanish port-logistics sector. It has had a high participation and has allowed different port authorities to develop innovative projects.
Following this success, a second call for ideas and commercial projects was launched in October 2021, followed by a third call for pre-commercial projects, which was published on March 10. The new calls have 50% more funds than the original one, which will allow more projects and ideas to be subsidized.
PORTS 4.0 AS A CATALYST FOR INNOVATION
Ports 4.0 is a clear driver of innovation in the Spanish port-logistics community. Both port authorities and companies in the ecosystem are committed to promoting projects with new technologies, incorporating innovation activities in their strategic plans and setting objectives that increase their competitiveness through technological change and digitization.
Several port authorities, such as Valencia, Barcelona and Bilbao, have already started to develop their innovation hubs with the aim of attracting, promoting and developing an innovative port-logistics ecosystem. These hubs generate synergies between actors in the port community and with the cities and regions in which they are located, as the following examples demonstrate.
