About sixty people participated in the MAV Day, the face-to-face meeting of the members of the MAV Cluster and the agents of the value chain of advanced materials and related technologies, which took place on Friday 1 December in Sant Cugat.

The day, which was focused on collaborative innovation, had the participation of companies and entities with a long history and experience in this field, and included activities and spaces to share ideas and establish new collaborations between the participants

Ona Bombí, Cluster Manager, stated that the aim of the meeting is to learn about topics of interest and to have a space to interact and explore new opportunities for collaboration between members. Likewise, he highlighted the working groups and the different projects of the association as spaces of the MAV Cluster to promote the interrelationship between members.

Maria Josep Riba, president of the MAV Cluster, explained that she assumes the presidency "with great enthusiasm and energy because I am convinced that the Cluster is a place where innovation and collaboration are very important", since "without collaboration collaboration there is no innovation". Riba pointed out that one of the most important sustainable development goals is alliances and collaborations between companies to make them "more inclusive, sustainable and innovative". He also claimed face-to-face meetings as the best way to encourage collaboration and defended the role of the cluster as a solving agent that can offer a lot to companies.

Enric Bayó (ACCIÓ): "Those companies that do not adapt to the transformation in the digital age will disappear"

Enric Bayó, Business Model Manager of ACCIÓ's Business Strategy Unit, opened the day with an introduction to collaborative innovation where he assured that "we are immersed in the transformation in the digital age", " the beginning of a new era marked by a new digital and technological revolution" where the most important characteristic will be the speed of change. "The most important word is transformation," he said, adding that "the big challenge facing the company today is how to remain relevant in a new era," because otherwise "those companies that don't do their homework will disappear."

Bayó pointed out that "companies that do not invest time and resources in reading the environment are destined to die" and pointed out that "what differentiates a competitive company from one that is not is that it is able to thrive in the face of a uncertain future". In this sense, he defended a business culture that bet to focus on people, to be agile in management and to avoid excessive hierarchies.

Salvador Borrós (IQS): "It is necessary to generate innovation to achieve technological change"

Salvador Borrós, general director of the Sarrià Chemical Institute, started the set of expert presentations talking about technological change through scientific research, technological development and industrial innovation. Borrós explained that "it is necessary to generate innovation to achieve technological change" and that "to innovate is to take these inventions and turn them into money" through competitive projects, contracts with industries, foundations, registrations... Although he assured that "all these elements are not enough to reach the market; we need the industry to take the technology and develop it".

Marc Gascons (COMPOXI): "We must value the properties of composite materials"

Marc Gascons, general director of COMPOXI, was in charge of presenting the functionalization project of advanced materials for electromobility (Smart Battery Case), which, in addition to COMPOXI, are driving Cooling Photonics, Rotimpres, CAT UAV, the Packaging Cluster and the MAV Cluster.

Gascons emphasized that it is a question of looking for markets where composite materials are an alternative to the classic materials of metals or pure plastics, and he highlighted that "we must start looking for what these materials can bring to compete", that is "how to try to value the properties of composite materials", and advocated collaborative innovation as a way to achieve this.

Carme Balcells (CEP): "If we are not accompanied by the administration or the clusters, we are not able to get in touch with technological centers"

Carme Balcells, responsible for technical and project consultancy at the Spanish Plastics Center (CEP), presented another case of collaborative innovation such as the technological innovation project for the control of recycled and bio-based plastic (TeraMAT ), where Oimo, Citsalp, Gaiker, the CEP and the MAV Cluster participate.

Balcells indicated that "if we are not supported by the administration or the clusters, we are not able to get in touch with technological centers and allocate these resources to survive".

José Ramón Natal (METAINDUSTRY4): "The role of clusters is to help companies continue to grow and reach where they have not yet reached"

Finally, Jose Ramón Natal, Cluster Manager of METAINDUSTRY4 (the Metal Cluster of Asturias), emphasized the role of clusters as catalytic agents for collaboration and innovation between organizations. According to Natal, "the role of clusters is to help companies continue to grow, to reach where they don't". Another goal, he added, is to "encourage companies to build alliances by providing them with the right opportunities and environments" and "generate confidence to start cooperating to build and generate more community, network among all partners" via, to example, cascade financing projects.

Along these lines, he pointed out that the first thing the clusters do is help companies define the starting points by doing an analysis from the segmentation of the value chain to focus efforts in each area, as well as an analysis of personal skills to work together with the administration and an analysis of the level of technological adoption of companies to accompany them in the digital transformation process.

According to him, it is about "having the ability to influence the economic promotion policies of the industry" to the point that the studies of the cluster are used by governments to guide the policies of the digital transformation of the industry.

Irene García Cano (UB and CPT): "Innovation is what moves a country forward"

During the open debate, moderated by Irene Garcia Cano, vice dean of Research and Transfer of the Faculty of Chemistry of the UB and director of the Thermal Projection Center (CPT), she emphasized the importance of the word transfer and stated that " innovation is what moves a society and a country forward."

Borrós defended that "with collaboration you get much further, but only with collaboration we will not achieve innovation", Gascons pointed out that "without collaboration there is indeed innovation but it is a matter of efficiency resources and risks" and Natal concluded that "without collaboration there is indeed innovation but it is slower, more limited and more expensive". "We have to see if it's really worth it to us to innovate without collaborating when we can have more vision and speed up these processes and put it more efficiently on the market," he said.

During the debate, we reflected on concepts related to innovation such as growth, future or survival. García Cano assured that "the cluster is a very good instrument to bring together the world of knowledge, research and the practical application of a company" and in this context he pointed out that "clusters are an instrument that works and that it has to go further."

The meeting included a Business Speed Dating activity where attendees could explore potential collaborations and ended with a networking lunch.