octubre de 2005
Newspaper: Revista Negocios en Navarra

"We have done our homework well on innovation"

“We’re on the right track, we have done our homework, we have some very interesting research centres and projects, we are attracting talent, and in the space of two or three years we will have specific research processes underway…” are some of the elements that define the current situation of R+D+i in Navarre, in the opinion of José Javier Armendáriz, the Regional Minister for Industry, Technology, Commerce and Employment of the Government of Navarre, with whom we discussed the state of this issue just a few days after the 5th Science and Technology Week.

Investment in R+D, thanks to the boost provided by our Technology Plan, will reach 1.9% of the region’s GDP in 2007, and Navarre is currently in a position to present sufficiently attractive infrastructures and human resources to stand alongside other EU regions in applying for specific funds for research projects that require multiregional and supra-national collaboration.

Europe will be doubling these resources in the next few years in view of the priority it is giving to R+D, with the aim of bringing the investment effort up to 3.5% of GDP and giving special attention to those countries that are still below this rate.

José Javier Armendáriz places equal emphasis on the work being undertaken in his Department with a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) which will result in the creation of a research centre into nanotechnology.

What is the current situation of the science and technology sector in Navarre?

The current scenario is certainly very interesting. The journey thus far in the 1st and 2nd Technology Plans has put us in a very reasonable position with regard to the future. In sectors such as energy, with a benchmark centre like CENER, biomedicine, with the importance of the CIMA, and the agro-biotechnology and agribusiness sectors, with the presence of another national centre in the Ebro Laboratory, we are putting together a network based on technology. The next step is that the activities undertaken by these centres will provide us with technology transfer processes that will enable some of the research projects to have a practical application, and we can thus complete the journey that goes from basic research to applied research, and from there to production processes or business projects associated with that research.

Is this network sufficient?

In terms of centres and specialisation, the work done so far is reasonable. Is it sufficient? Anything that helps or collaborates in development, in the consolidation of activities and employment in a sector, is worth exploring, but we believe that given our size and our socio-economic environment there is already an important spectrum, and it would not be a good idea to diversify or expand it too much because in future we need to be excellent at whatever we undertake.

And from a human resources point of view?

In the technology centres we have around 800 people dedicated to standard tasks, to which we need to add a recent statistic that indicated that 15 out of every 10,000 employees are dedicated to R+D work, while the national average does not even reach 10. This demonstrates that we are achieving some important things in this field, not only in our centres but also in our companies.

Are we also an attractive option for researchers?

The two parameters used by researchers when it comes to choosing between one centre and another is the project that the centre is offering and living conditions. In the fields of renewable energies and biomedicine, the projects being presented by CENER and CIMA respectively are very interesting from the perspective of attracting talent, and the backing offered by Navarre for this talent to settle here is fundamental. Our standard of living makes us very attractive in this respect. We are importing talent and this is 100% positive.

Will we have to wait a long time for the results of these research projects to materialise?

I hope not. We would like to see some specific results within a period of two to three years. Our presence in the centres is justified by the importance of technology transfer processes in consolidating the productive activity of our community, which is something we can drive forward. This is our objective and we are going to be insistent with the technical management of the centres where we have a presence to ensure these processes are as short as possible. We should not rush, because haste is a bad counsellor, but we do want the pace to be as fast as it can be.

What are we lacking in order to complete the science and technology framework?

With regard to creating technology centres, we need to make greater efforts in the field of nanotechnology, because our understanding is that Navarre is in a position to make an input in this area. There are some organisations currently working generally on the treatment and coating of materials and I believe that this is a good starting point when it comes to approaching the nanotechnology field.

Nanotechnology geared towards…?

Although the work we are doing in collaboration with a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is not yet complete, I believe that Navarre is in a very interesting position in terms of certain sectors: future sectors such as renewable energies, biomedicine and biotechnology, and other more traditional ones such as the agribusiness and automotive sectors, which necessarily need to feed off these technological developments based on molecules.

What phase is the project currently in?

It is at the analysis phase. We have spent the whole of 2005 working on it and in the last quarter of the year we need to conclude the diagnosis of the situation, looking at which sectors or sub-sectors it would be most opportune to focus on, and designing a roadmap to see how the Administration can drive forward the establishment of groups of companies or interested groups willing to collaborate and share in research projects. Once this diagnosis has been made, action plans will be set in motion during 2006-07.

Strategic plan for the sevices sector

“In the service sector, says Armendáriz, we need to make a major effort. Navarre’s GDP in this sector is still below the Spanish average, which is neither good nor bad, because it has been (and still is) very good that the industrial sector’s share in the GDP is 34%, which continues to demonstrate that Navarre is still a very competitive industrial environment.

The Department has started a coordination process to draw up a strategic plan for the services sector with the aim of strengthening certain aspects. What ideas will be defining this plan?

To develop a strong service sector, the size of the catchment area concept is important. We also believe that we need to make a segmentation in order to see which sub-sectors we need to be focusing on, as well as continuing to develop the industrial sub-sectors in which Navarre has a certain influence. Equally, it is fundamental for activities with an export capacity to be developed from the region’s point of view, because we have to be capable of designing services that can be offered to bordering provinces, to Spain as a whole and other countries. These will be the services that generate added value for the region.

What kind of services are we talking about?

On the basis of these ideas, there are three areas in which we can act: services for companies, the most characteristic example of which is engineering; the ICT sector, which is fundamental for the future development of the sector, but once again with this segmented and sectoral perspective, because we need to be very good, we need to have something to contribute in these niche segments of the ICT sector that are associated with activities that have a specific relevance in Navarre: the automobile industry, renewable energies, agribusiness, etc. It is, therefore, about identifying niche segments, not so much sectors. So, services for companies, the ICT sector and the area of training are the three fundamental elements that should allow us to focus on specific actions and undertakings that serve as support to the productive sector.

Although you divide your time between two ministries, transport and logistics are also the object of a competitiveness plan.

We are virtually coming to the end of work on the logistics and transport cluster, which is also fundamental for Navarre. The third extension of the City of Transport is also important, as is the institutional commitment that we are making to a huge Area of Economic Activity in Tudela with more than 5 million square metres of enterprise, where we believe that logistics should play a vital role. These projects, simply from the perspective of joint reflection, are extremely positive and I hope that interesting conclusions will emerge from this work to enable transport and logistics to continue contributing to growth in Navarre.

A time for endeavour and commitment

“Collective bargaining is going to be vital for achieving a scenario of ongoing industrial activity, whether multinationals or local companies”, believes José Javier Armendáriz, and in the case of Volkswagen he insists on the need for consensus to guarantee the future while at the same time asking the workforce for a new effort at flexibility and on the other side, a commitment to the future by the automobile consortium.

In the last few months there has been a growing fear of relocation. The facts are there, and this year we have witnessed two relocations: Ufesa and Robert Bosch, and now we have the case of Schneider Electric. On the other hand, this year we have also witnessed a major industrial boost to the paper sub-sector through two large investment projects. This is a positive balance, though this does not guarantee anything, nor does it signify that the relocation process will not accelerate in the coming months.

Relocation processes are going to happen in every sector. Fortunately, I get the impression that, as you say, the current balance is positive from a macroeconomic perspective, and I hope it continues in that vein, because this demonstrates that Navarre is still an attractive place to invest as well as to extend and consolidate existing productive processes and develop new ones. Obviously, we are going to slow down in terms of new production processes because all of us are aware that there will be other regions, in Spain, Europe and internationally, which are going to offer better terms for starting up or implementation. In any activity where we are only competing in terms of labour costs, the outcome cannot be positive for Navarre, but when we can bring additional factors into the equation apart from the simple cost of labour, Navarre has and will have a lot to contribute.

When talking about specific situations the subject becomes more delicate, but I believe that local employers and managers, as well as the trade unions, need to be aware of our strengths and weaknesses. For this reason, collective bargaining processes are going to be vital for achieving these scenarios of continuing industrial activity. I am not transferring or placing responsibility solely on social agents; this has to be the result of a balance between managers, employers and social agents, who will need to seek out these strengths so that, in the case of multinationals, their presence in Navarre continues to be attractive for future expansion or to maintain investment programmes that guarantee us continued employment. In the case of local enterprises, to encourage the balanced development of their activities.

This takes us directly to the negotiation coming up at Volkswagen.

Volkswagen is very important to our region and our economy because it is the biggest company in Navarre, the benchmark for the automotive sector and for many other companies in the industrial sector. I believe that what they need to be clear on at the moment, and we have said this to every party, is that the time has come for them to search for an alternative that allows them to properly organise production at the plant. This basically means flexibility in order to offer the consortium an incentive and so that greater production levels can be assigned than at present. This is also a time for endeavour and commitment from the consortium, because in a negotiating process of this type the people who are making a major effort believe they should be told what the objective is and what the results of making these efforts will be. In this case, the employees of Volkswagen want to know what their future will be with regard to activities at the Pamplona plant in view of the effort that the management is asking for in order to sign a collective bargaining agreement. The scenario in which they are negotiating stems from a courageous and pioneering agreement in December 2002, when the majority unions at the plant decided to agree with the company management on flexibility that would facilitate jobs that at that time were in danger. Given this, we need to maintain a climate of dialogue and consensus because this is the only way to build the future.

Who can guarantee this future?

The Landaben plant has the best guarantee it can possibly have – its productivity ratios. Neither public support or help, or any other external factors apart from the actual activity of the plant are going to give a better guarantee than the parameters offered by the workers. The conditions are therefore in place for the agreement that will be reached to signify a guaranteed future for the plant. Both parties must be aware of how delicate the situation is; the information we get about other similar circumstances highlights that this is a time for making a joint effort and commitment towards the future of the plant.

Objetive number one

Consolidating industrial activity is our number one objective to maintain the current employment rates in the economy of Navarre. These are the best figures in the history of Navarre and so it is very important that Volkswagen achieves production levels that will keep this balance.

“The President,” says Armendáriz ,”mentioned in the speech on the “Debate on the State of the Community” that we are currently enjoying the best employment rates in the history of Navarre. This is not only with regard to the unemployment rate, which tends to be the first indicator when discussing employment. There are two other very important aspects because the unemployment rate is always a relative rate, and in this case the numerator is just as important as the denominator.

The fact that the Active Population Survey currently reflects more than 265,000 people in active employment highlights the fact that this evolution has been considerable. But while our employment rate stands at around 68% it also indicates how balanced this evolution has been. If we talk about seasonal work and accident rates, Navarre has very good figures in comparison with national statistics, still with some way to go when we look at European statistics, but we are in a very interesting position. To maintain these parameters, the consolidation of industrial activity is the number one objective. At the moment, the final theory on the importance of Volkswagen to our economy is being demonstrated, which shows that to manufacture around 240,000-250.000 vehicles, a very interesting figure for VW Navarra around 7,500 jobs are needed, whether at VW or in supplier companies. It is going to be very important for Navarre to maintain those jobs associated with the automobile manufacturer’s activities”.