MATELEC 2016, a specialised trade show for the electrical, electronics, lighting and Smart factory industry, brought nearly 700 direct exhibitors together under one roof, 45% more than last year's edition, and 40,000 professional participants from the sector, boosting its geographic coverage across the Iberian peninsula and internationally.

MATELEC INDUSTRY impresses the sector by presenting an industry-specific trade show, with 250 companies as direct exhibitors in two pavilions, for the development and acceleration in Spain of Industry 4.0, smart factories and advanced manufacturing.

The first edition of MATELEC INDUSTRY, which showcased industrial automation, electronics, energy management and the digital factory, is positioning itself as the Iberian event for development of Industry 4.0 in Spain by bringing together the entire Iberian industrial fabric and showing thousands of automation and industrial electronics solutions.

The specialised nature of the content attracted new professional profiles specialised in the industrial sector to MATELEC INDUSTRY. Thus, of the total number of visitors to MATELEC INDUSTRY, 37.26% corresponded to industrial know-how, planning and processes, manufacturing and production, and maintenance and quality. Another 23.4% were engineers working in the area of industrial design, IT systems and technology, and R&D+i; 24.2% were from sales and distribution departments; and 11.6% corresponded to middle and senior management. As for their areas of interest, these were: industrial electronics (22.39%); installations and electrification (21.42%); automation and robotics (19.55%); energy control and management (15.58%); digital factories (8.23%), and other industrial suppliers (12.83%).

For Eloy Madrid, Engineered Solutions Iberia Regional Sales Leader of General Electric, the company that chaired the contest organising committee, 'we understood from the start the commitment MATELEC INDUSTRY has wanted to make, to provide the necessary boost to make an electrical industry event a leader in southern Europe, and so, at GE Industrial Solutions we made a commitment to be at this edition and to support with our presence an event that we want to see regain its importance, as this is what the market and our customers are asking for. General Electric, moreover, asserts that MATELEC INDUSTRY 'is a perfect forum for showing our products and solutions, our new ideas, our capacities, and it represents a magnificent opportunity to analyse market trends as well as to benefit from a perfect venue for thanking our customers for their confidence in us'.

Over the course of the four days of MATELEC INDUSTRY, a broad programme of technical workshops was offered, which served to complement the intense trade activity of the trade show. Thus, FORO 4.0 was the scene of various meetings and forums addressing the implementation of Industry 4.0 in different economic sectors. These include the food industry, as this was the subject of one workshop in which the great opportunity Industry 4.0 represents for the food industry was stressed. In this respect, Víctor Audera, Managing Director of Industry and SME (MINETUR) stated that 'digital transformation of the food industry is a train already in motion which must be caught in time to avoid being left behind'. Additionally, during the workshop, there was a round table at which experts on the subject spoke about the need for all food companies to participate in this digital transformation process and offered opinions on the best way to go about it.

The session on industrial cybersecurity based on digital development (Industry 4.0/IIOT) led by ISA ESPAÑA and CCI (Industrial Cybersecurity Centre), for its part, addressed the types of risks cybersecurity defends against in a context in which '25% of organisations receive these types of threats, making it foreseeable that more and more experts will be needed in the sector. Implementing cybersecurity from the beginning offers an advantage, even if it means a major investment', explained CCI director José Valiente, for whom 'proper cybersecurity prior to production can save the company from losses in the millions', he asserted.

At the 'Current situation in the industrial sector in Spain and technological innovation trends' workshop organised by Automática e Instrumentación, the experts concluded that digital transformation of business is the basis for optimising the productivity of the industrial fabric. At this event, the current situation of domestic industry and the path to be followed with regard to technological innovation necessary to fully adopt Industry 4.0 were examined.  Along these lines, Begoña Cristeto, Secretary-General of Industry and SME (MINETUR), analysed from an institutional standpoint the industrial situation in our country, the degree to which companies are adopting new technologies in their production, and the path to be followed within the framework of Industry 4.0. For Critesto, the first step in achieving digital transformation of the industrial fabric is to 'change our educational plan to introduce interaction with new technologies at earlier ages'.

The Secretary-General of Industry also participated in the 'Spain 4.0' workshop organised by AMETIC, which aimed to position our country as a leader in connected industry in Europe and Latin America, in collaboration with the 'Connected Industry 4.0' initiative and the set of strategies and plans that exist at the European and international level.

During MATELEC INDUSTRY, there was also a workshop on the differential value of ESCOs (energy service companies) in industry through actual cases, organised by ANESE.

Another outstanding session in Foro 4.0 was entitled 'Industry 4.0 and the automotive industry', in which the MATELEC INDUSTRY director Raúl Calleja, along with the IFEMA Motor director, Miguel Aguilar, and the rest of the participating experts reviewed current technology in the industry, the real possibilities that exist with respect to digital transformation of vehicle manufacturing, and the process to be followed for the automotive industry to fully embrace Industry 4.0.

General satisfaction among exhibitors at MATELEC INDUSTRY was also high. Gema Ortega, of the WAGO-DICOMAT y MALLOL ASETYC Marketing Department, explains that her stand 'was visited by more than 1,000 people and hosted hundreds of business meetings with important customers. We closed some deals, acquired new customers and presented a range of products. Alessandro Sossa, of DELTA ELECTRONICS, states that they were able to 'show five different technologies', and that 50% of the visitors were new, and we held more than 200 business meetings'. And Josep Balcells, Sales Manager Iberia of WÜRTH ELEKTRONIK, indicates that his firm 'held dozens of meetings each day, boosted contacts with customers and presented new products'.

The 2016 edition of MATELEC has achieved the best results in its digital reach on social media. Thus, prior to and during the show , the MATELEC Facebook and Twitter profiles promptly released the latest news of the show, the novelties of its exhibitors, and the various events held within the framework of the show , reaching 598,987 people on FB, while the official #matelec2016 hashtag reached 750,002 on Twitter. Likewise, the social media channels of MATELEC INDUSTRY gained users every day, with special interest shown in the audiovisual content of the different trade show profiles.