Aragón’s ecosystem

In October 2014, Aragon put itself forward as southern Europe’s automotive hub. It made the announcement at an event of the calibre of the IZB show in Wolfsburg, home to Europe’s biggest vehicle manufacturer. Eighteen months later, AutoRevista has taken a firsthand look at how the members of the region’s automotive ecosystem are contributing to that goal. One of the conclusions of this review is that the industrial base there is working to gain a new global dimension by focusing on specific parameters. On the one hand, it is developing the local innovation potential that is now starting to embrace Industry 4.0. On the other, it is implementing a training strategy led by a proprietary automotive industry master’s degree and learning factory environments designed to have a double impact —train young people to use current and future technologies and give hundreds of people who have dropped out of the labour market an opportunity to rejoin it via the automotive industry. Meanwhile, the CAAR’s 2016–2019 Strategic Plan strongly emphasises corporate social responsibility. Finally, at a time when the region is demonstrating its attractiveness to multinationals, Aragón’s dynamic and innovative SMEs are highlighting the vital role they play and are seeking to achieve higher levels of differentiation.