Andorra Sports Innovation Summit 2021
Andorra Business, Andorra Research + Innovation and the Global Sports Innovation Center powered by Microsoft (GSIC), with the support of SPSG Consulting, present the Andorra Sports Innovation Summit, an event on sport and innovation held on October 18 2021 in the Auditori Nacional d’Andorra in Ordino.
Keynote
Positioning Andorra as an Innovation Hub on Cycling, Mountain and Winter Sports
Speaker
Jordi Gallardo – Minister of Presidency, Economy and Enterprise of the Government of Andorra
https://bit.ly/3Cmgo4P
good morning everyone thank you very much be here it’s a great pleasure for us for me especially for my team andorra business and our research and innovation thank you to the authorities thank you to the companies thank you to the institution to help us to go ahead with this challenge especially to the jazic the partner the special partner the strategical partner that we have with this with this project i would like to to spend a few minutes with you trying to to share how the sport is challenging many projects in in andorra how from the government and the institutions the public sector and also the private sector we are trying to boost this sector uh to be more important than actually it is that i would try to to explain to you and especially how we are focused on innovation like a strategy to to to improve this sector and the ways that this sector has for us in tourism and in our economy they say that it’s quite difficult but it was close okay so let’s go the main target as i said is to position in andorra as a innovation hub of cycling mountain and winter sports due to our country maybe for you is the first time that you visit the andorra tomorrow morning maybe you have the opportunity to see that we are a valley in the middle of the mountains we have the city city town we have a lot of sports that could be done here but uh we are focused in these three disciplines the disciplines that we think that they match very well with the kind of country with our environment and with the idea that we have that we can be competitive as as a country i don’t know sorry i think we have a problem with okay i go ahead and we try to to to arrange the the presentation so in terms of gdp if we compare this sector and we i i am sure that you know better than me what uh what is the average and the weight of the support sector in europe if we talk about in terms of gdp we can say that in average we have the export sector with a 2.2 wage in the gdp in europe what happens here in andorra in this small country in which we have a lot of companies a lot of athletes that are here entrepreneurs and the public sector also so we are not in 2.2 in overall regarding the gdp we are in the 7.7 weights of the gdp so this is a main figure this is a huge number for us but is not enough we want to go ahead with more more increasing uh wage in our economy about the the sports so a snapshot about this 7.7 of the gdp let me give you some information we have a 105 companies with a total turnover of 2030 million europe that it’s 68 of which is generated by by tourism and occupies around 2250 employees so huge number huge weight in our in our economy we have also more than three kilometers ski slopes that is the main asset that we have as a country but it is not only this figure this wedge of the ski resort sector and the slopes that makes that sport is an astrological sector for us some other figures eighty percent of the turnover is generated of course about ski resort and sports retailer we have 47.3 is the weights of ski resorts we have 35 percent of sports retailer that are regarding and in the total with the skill resource the main weights in this in this sector but as you see local material producers sports facilities and gym sports activity and events organizers and sport medicine of course are the main sectors inside the sport sector that has this huge number of 7.7 of our gdp related to this sport sector this therefore the sport sector is for us for the government for the country uh priority it doesn’t work sorry sorry about that okay i go ahead how we try to boost this spore how we want to go ahead and increase this strategy and the weight of the sports in our our economy we use three main pillars the first one is innovation that’s the reason why we were very confident about this summit the first summit that we are going to do and we hope that will be not the the first and the least and [Music] digitalization is the second one and sustainability today we are going to talk about innovation i’m sure that with the strategy that i am that we are going to share with you with the panelists with your institutions the company entrepreneurs investors that all of you are here maybe some of you are at home we can make a huge networking session today in order to share this situation our strategy and maybe at the end of the year the the day or next week you have an idea a project that you can imagine that you can place here you can start here so that’s the main reason that we are focused on and if you at the end of the day or next next week you realize that you can be here andorra boosting and starting our project please contact the government contact our business we will be very happy to help you and to go ahead and with this project with with you but even though sports is one of the main sectors in which we are focused is not the only one for sure um as a country we were working from the beginning of the 2010 close to 2012 with a process of diversification because we realize i don’t know sorry okay we realized that our economy has to change we are a country very focused on services tourism of course and until 2012 we were a country close regarding foreign investors but the situation this situation changed in 2012. at this moment we approve a low we open our economy so foreign investors were welcome to come here and to invest directly they don’t need you don’t need if you are some of them are our local partner if you want it you can find it but it’s not it’s not an obligation so we start this process in 122 2012 and trying to diversify our economic economic model since then we achieved several double taxation agreements with some other countries that help us to to attract foreign investors but it it was not the unique strategy that we need in order to increase and to diversify our economic economic model of course we start and we implement a model of homologation regarding our tax framework but the result is true that until 2019 were not as huge as we desired so we were very very close to the private sector the enduring private sector asking them how can we diversify more quickly our economy so um sorry about that okay after this discussion with the private sector we have a target of 12 sectors that you have here in which we are focused as a government i can say as a country because these sectors um are sectors both boosted by their private sector those companies here the companies in andorra that they think that the sectors that we can have a niche an opportunity are those ones and as you see sports traditional sports sports sectors is one is one of them not only in the traditional way or in the industry also in the esports sector and industry in which that we are very confident that dora can have an opportunity and i would like to go ahead with some figures also to understand why we decide why the private sector and the public sector understand that uh of course we are a small country that we have a lot of tourism but we can use this tourism uh as as an engine also for the sports sector we have more than eight million visitors at the at the end of the year many of them came to the country just today and the half of them 4.4 million visitors stayed at least one night in the country we are trying to increase this this um this figure this number especially regarding to those that they want to stay and to spend one night in in the country and about 60 percent of these eight million people they come to andorra because sports they come to shops for material they come to practice the sport or they come to the country to participate or to see some events in which we participate as a country so even though we are a small country if you don’t know we have 468 square kilometers 80 000 people living here we receive 8 million visitors we are happy about that but even though we are a small country we have a huge number or international events that happens in in andorra in collaboration with the communes like like ordinal the government the private sector that we realize that even though we’re small we can challenge huge events international events and especially when those events take place here in andorra the balance is very good it’s really very good for the country for sure for our image our brand the way that we organize these events the way that people uh it’s involved in the national people residents are involved in these events it’s a good experience and the level of satisfaction it’s uh quite high so abnorah home of major sporting events like indoor sport festival by ironman tour de france la volta skin world cup btt world championship among among others so it’s a huge experience we try every year at least have one or two of these huge events some of them are quite new like multi-sports festival by iron man some of them have a long tradition like a competition in trial we’re happy when we have the tour de france the year that we don’t have the to the front to try to have the world espana so every year among the season we try to have a huge or more than one event to show the world that we are prepared that we have the infrastructure that we have their know-how and to show to some other organizations an event that they can think in andorra they can think to go ahead with a project or competition here in indore let me share with you a video [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] one of the advantages to be a small country is that in a short video you can show many things but no not all of them sure you have many things more more things to know about vandora about andorra and i think we are not in the same okay so the um the spores as i said i try to to to share with you that for us it’s a strategical sector for sure and from the government and from another business we try to to help the private sector to feel that for us it’s really a strategical sector which actions we have done in the recent years to work with the private sector and to show to the companies in andorra and to investors that we believe that this sector could be an opportunity to diversify our our economy we have created the andorra spurs cluster in 2018. actually we have 45 members it’s initiative done and mixed with the private sector and the public sector and the main objective is to support the private sector in sports in collaboration with the public sector and one of the main things that we have done recently it was [Music] declaring we have declared the sports as a national strategical sector in our our economy so this declaration was very important especially um during the pandemic because we were very close to the private with the private sector in the way that we have to manage the situation and the impact of covet in this sector the dialogue the strategy the needs the worries about the situation were discussed and agreed between the public and the private sector through the honduras clusters sports cluster and we realize with them that this sector is really a strategical one so that’s the reason why the minister of sports the ministry of health and the minister of economy we work together in order to declare this spur as a national strategical sector in in the country is the first sector that we have declared in this in these terms adding some other initiatives that will help us we hope and we are sure to to boost this sector to increase the uh the weight in our economy to to go ahead with a strategical initiative it’s a collaboration for sure with the global sports innovation center our partnership with microsoft is an important milestone in the line in the way to boost this sector through innovation i told you i shared with you that we are focusing innovation digitalization and sustainability and innovation will be through this collaboration with the global sports innovation center that we are confident that we are going to to achieve to achieve for sure we try to position it on dora in an international level among innovation hubs and startups that’s a the reason because of the reason why we think that this collaboration with the challenge that we work together will be the the way to improve and to to position it on dora as a living as a living lab so regard some other things that we have done some other projects some other tools that we we implement in the country not only a partnership with strategical partners as a to seek we have a physical project an executive project here in ordino that it’s called la casa de la montagna monterey home is a mountain living lab a focus especially as a meeting point um to keep in touch entrepreneurs companies public sector private sector focus on innovation and trying to to make the networking and to go ahead with project that could be done here in andorra in this environment especially in an environment that could be a living lab a real real living lab in the mountains okay so using andorra as a living lab focus on in an open innovation approach is the target it’s the strategy that we want to use to go ahead with this increasingly weight of the exports in our our economy of course we have the casa la montana as this living lab in which the public actors the academia the private companies the users entrepreneurs could expand and share knowledge and this is the main strategy uh as the model that we are going to use uh through innovation and positioning andorra as a as a real living living lab and this living lab will be will be the the main will be in the center of our ecosystem that we are working and trying to sorry sorry about that okay so dora has this strategy to being a living a living lab trying to create this sports innovation ecosystem in partnership with the private sector in partnership with entrepreneur in partner with partnership with the companies trying to develop this ecosystem with the castle montana the international agreements that we want to to have like the agreement that we have the with the global sport innovation system center story and that’s the main thing that we want to share with you showing to the world showing showing to you that we are prepared to be and to have an sports innovation ecosystem with uh research and development with industry with players big players in many of the sectors inside the the sports industry with startups that we have actually in the country but that we want to to attract to the country and this strategy is at the same time boost by a national strategy of innovation so we have the sectorial in strategy in terms of sport but we have as a country a strategy to go ahead with this diversification of our economy through the innovation we have strategical plans we have laws some laws that are boosting this strategy some laws that will be approved during this year especially the digital economy innovation and entrepreneurial entrepreneurship law that will be approved if everything goes well at the end of the year that will be bring to investors to the companies to the entrepreneurs framework with enough legislation to go ahead with their project to prototype something some projects here in andorra in a living environment so that’s the main thing that’s our strategy that’s what that’s that is what andorra offers to you and i hope that many of you decides to come to andorra to invest in andorra and to start a project here in andorra i think we have final video if i’m not wrong because it was quite complicated but i think we have a final video to close this speech okay so thank you very much all of you for your attention sorry about this uh small problem with the presentation i would have the pressure during the day to have somewhere with some of you if you if you want of course and to share our strategy our ideas our project maybe yours and thank you very much again to be here [Applause]
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Interesting