Inditex joins IndesIA, the artificial intelligence consortium for the Spanish industrial sector

Press Release 23/06/2022 12:00
  • The Galician multinational, one of world's leading fashion retail groups, joins the ranks of Repsol, Gestamp, Navantia, Técnicas Reunidas, Telefónica, Microsoft, Airbus, and Ferrovial to help boost data technology and artificial intelligence in the Spanish industrial sector.

With the incorporation of Inditex, IndesIA continues to move forward in its efforts to boost competition across Spain's industrial sector by welcoming the country's top industrial companies into the consortium. IndesIA seeks to develop cases where it can apply data technology and artificial intelligence in its quest to solve the challenges of the sector across the board, which can then be applied to the companies' entire value chain.

This means that nine of Spain's major industrial companies are now part of this strategic, Europe-focused consortium, which is also supported by the Basque Artificial Intelligence Center (BAIC) and Accenture.

As a leader in its sector with an enormous capacity for innovation, Inditex is going to help IndesIA accelerate its growth and strengthen its foothold, so it can continue to offer Spanish companies a value proposition that helps them drive their digitalization, access data spaces and platforms required for implementing use cases, and boost capabilities associated with existing digital profiles.

The Inditex Group operates in the global fashion retail industry through physical stores across 95 markets and via its online platform that is available in over 200 countries. Innovation is a considerable part of its business model and the leveraging of the latest technologies has been a constant throughout its trajectory, always aimed at offering its customers the products they want with the best shopping experience. This move by Inditex to become an IndesIA development partner is in line with its strategy aimed at continuous process improvement in all of its areas of activity, commercial operations, industrial processes, and logistics.

This new member is further proof of the interest shown by companies and institutions in joining the digital transformation and driving the use of data and artificial intelligence to enhance and boost new business models. In fact, the association has already received over 100 applications from SMEs wishing to join the project. IndesIA currently has the support of six universities and training centers to further boost training, four technology centers, an association for promoting ethical data use, and the Spanish Association for Artificial Intelligence itself.

Without a doubt, artificial intelligence (AI) is creating many business opportunities in Spain by means of process optimization, energy efficiency, predictive maintenance, the creation of new products, and improved customer relations, among others. According to the map of artificial intelligence capabilities created by the Government of Spain, there are currently 235 entities that are either developing or offering AI services. This proves that artificial intelligence is one of the best growth drivers for Spain's economy. IndesIA estimates that its application in industry will have an estimated impact of €16.5 billion on Spain's GDP in 2025.

In this regard, and as part of its commitment to positioning Spain as a leader in the use of data and artificial intelligence in the industrial sector, IndesIA recently joined, along with 18 other companies, the cluster for the development and application of artificial intelligence led by the Community of Madrid. It also holds the vice presidency of Gaia-X Spain, the national hub for the data economy that promotes European data sovereignty in strategic sectors.

 

Use cases: AI for process improvement

The IndesIA member companies agree that the industrial sector is facing some big challenges: increasing competition by automating and optimizing industrial process, improving sustainability through energy efficiency, developing new materials, and strengthening the circular economy. To that end, use cases have been identified in which the use of data and artificial intelligence is of substantial help, making industrial data platforms and qualified talent available to the sector.

The application of these new technologies improves processes in companies, eliminating possible inefficiencies or detecting them faster, as well as offering solutions based on the knowledge provided by the data in question. Making organizations more efficient promotes the development of a new economy, one which generates economic growth for Spain. It also leads to a measurable improvement in competition and sustainability in industries that are key to the economy, as well as facilitating the creation of high quality jobs and talent retention.

Some examples of how artificial intelligence can be used include the creation of smart, autonomous, flexible, sustainable, and virtualized factories; predictive maintenance at industrial centers and plants; or improving efficiency to prevent potential incidents at production plants, generating a culture of prevention and anticipation that boosts productivity and efficiency.

About IndesIA

IndesIA is a Spanish association of Artificial Intelligence for industry made up of nine major Spanish companies, including Repsol, Gestamp, Navantia, Técnicas Reunidas, Telefónica, Microsoft, Airbus, Ferrovial, and Inditex, and which receives support from the Basque Artificial Intelligence Center (BAIC) and Accenture. Its goal is to position Spain as a leader in data and artificial intelligence applications for industry and boost the development of the economy and the country's recovery.