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December 2006
Attention to new areas and a greater number of projects have led to the reorganisation of our personnel through the creation of two departments: Investment Promotion and Investment.
Over the last twelve months the publicly owned company Sociedad de Desarrollo de Navarra (SODENA) has formalised its presence in the shareholder structure of 6 new companies, representing strong support for business initiatives and a clear commitment to innovative projects. Sodena currently has a portfolio of 30 companies representing a total investment of over 21.5 million euros.
It has also set up the first investment fund related to the nanotechnology sector, one of the ten that the III Technology Plan (2008-2011) considers strategic for the future of Navarre. Sodena’s collaboration with Principia, a spin-off of the MIT (Massachusets Institute of Technology) is one of the initiatives through which Navarre is taking a clear position in this sector. In the near future the region will have a nanotechnology research laboratory at the service of the business community, as well as facilitating cooperation between researchers.
Among the most recent investments made by Sodena are those in the following sectors and companies:
- Biotechnology: Idifarma
- New technologies: Open Bravo and Ingeniería Domótica
- Nanotechnology: Principia Group
- Services: Pamplona Learning and Smart Medical Group
At present Sodena is also participating in four projects in the biotechnology area by contributing objective criteria of selection, analysis and financing. The Universidad de Navarra, the Centro de Investigación Médica (CIMA), Digna Biotech, Genetrix and (more recently) Idifarma are institutions and companies that are working on biotechnology projects.
Sodena’s work in the sector has been clearly marked since the setting up of the ‘UTE’ (Temporary Union of Companies) that guarantees the financing of this project. To illustrate our support for the biotechnology sector one of Sodena’s experts, Antonio Martín, recently took over the management of the CIMA’s Biomedicine Project, located in Zizur Mayor (near the city of Pamplona). This clear commitment to the biotechnology sector locates Navarre as a European ‘bio-region’, as well as making it an active element in the European Research Area (ERA).
Sodena Director-General José María Aracama points out that “to take on these commitments and provide the best possible support for a larger number of projects, Sodena has reorganised its personnel on the basis of its vocation to service”. It works with other agents in coordinated actions to achieve the best possible level of competitiveness and international projection of the economy of Navarre. In these final months of 2006 Sodena is analysing a number of investment projects which, if they materialise, would represent an investment of around 34 million euros.
Señor Aracama highlights the fact that Sodena only invests in projects related to Navarre, and rejects any investment that could represent direct competition for companies that are already established in the region.
“Attention to new areas and a larger number of projects has led to the incorporation of new experts, who have been integrating into the company after a selection process last summer” says Aracama. Recent months have also seen the retirement of Jesús Zabalo and Carlos Amat.
The internal functioning of Sodena’s personnel has been divided into two new departments: Investment Promotion and Investments, which correspond to Javier Berazaluce and María Eugenia Lecumberri respectively. The profiles of the people who have joined Sodena’s team are multi-disciplinary, both in terms of their academic qualifications (telecoms or industrial engineers, lawyers, economists or graduates in Business Management and Administration) and their professional experience in different sectors (renewable energy, transport and logistics, and service and consultancy multinationals). Sodena’s personnel currently numbers 14 (including one scholarship holder).
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