Inauguration of LAB Santalucía Impulsa

On Wednesday, January 22, the inauguration of the LAB Santalucía Impulsa with attendees from Grupo Santalucía, a new space for innovation, transformation, technology and business, which will connect the company's internal ecosystem with entrepreneurs, startups, experts and universities, among others. The LAB has digital elements, large and modular spaces and an agora for making presentations and exchanging knowledge; in addition, its design allows working with agile methodologies.

Ángel Uzquiza, Director of Innovation at Santalucía, said that the LAB will: internal and external innovation coexist in the same nucleus and will facilitate and accelerate the digital transformation of the company, creating new, much more disruptive business models. It is a space designed to be open, flexible and digital. The objective is create a inspiring, creative and collaborative work environment.

The company's CEO, Andrés Romero, welcomed the attendees and noted that several areas will coexist in the LAB that will guide Grupo Santalucía on its journey towards transformation. For his part, Rubén Muñoz, General Director of Operations and Technology, assured that success in an innovation process is based on achieving a sustainable innovation that brings value to the business, through new technologies and ways of working. In turn, he indicated that the culture of innovation must permeate all people in the organization and that a balance must be achieved between experience, innovation, technological transformation and training.

Two work ecosystems

In the LAB itself, two work ecosystems will follow one another. On the one hand, a external ecosystem which will facilitate and enhance collaboration and contact with innovation agents, entrepreneurs, startups, other companies, corporations, universities, Think Tanks of experts in innovation and events. On the other hand, a internal ecosystem linked to the culture of innovation From the program of Intrapreneurship | Santalucía Impulsa, which includes training, workshops, events with experts, work on internal innovation projects and future designs.

Innovation in other sectors

To conclude the inauguration, there was a presentation by Juan Luis Moreno, Chief Innovation Officer at TheValley, who led the launch of The Place, the experimental innovation center for disruptive technologies. Juan Luis pointed out that understanding how we consume content is the key to innovation. The most successful companies in the world of innovation are those that understand the consumer, that use advertising to adapt to their characteristics and tastes, Big Data and other consumer qualities.

Finally, Moreno added that Innovation is a skill that can be learned and practiced, that it is not just a process and that it is necessary to make the employee the center or axis of innovation.