Experts in technology and economy from Spain and Latin America gathered in Madrid at the forum EL PAÍS Retina to discuss the key trends in the digital world for 2016.

The ‘liquid digital world’ is the main theme of the newly founded EL PAÍS Retina, according to Mosiri Cabezas, digital transformation evangelist and global vice president of Digital Transformation and Business Acceleration at Telefónica. The forum brings together IT professionals, entrepreneurs, big companies, investors, academics, and politicians to focus on digital evolution in the Spanish-speaking and Ibero-American environment.

The first meeting took place on 1 December at the Palacio de Congresos in Madrid. Under the heading of Tendencias IT 2016 (IT Trends 2016), 14 presenters outlined the most important lines of development for the sector in the next year. These include further progress of ‘big data’, normalisation of the Internet of Things and cybersecurity. In course of their meetings the members of Retina will carry on analysing various aspects of big data and cybersecurity, as well as the influence of technology on the representation of government and politics in the virtual world.

As Cabezas pointed out, according to El País, “the economy dematerialises; from an economy of products we are moving to another one, that of services.” It is in this context that the digital currency bitcoin and blockchain technology were also mentioned. According to El País, Maite Agujetas (Head of Technology at Banco Santander) praised blockchain and its role in the transformation of financial transactions:

“Blockchain was born together with bitcoin, but it is independent and it has improved and evolved.”

This is not the first time Spanish banks show interest to the development of the blockchain technology. In July 2014, the Santander group founded Santander Innoventures, a London-based $100 million investment fund whose objective is “to support the digital revolution” by partnering with small FinTech businesses and start-ups. As CoinFox informed previously, in June 2015, a paper published by Santander Innoventures suggested that by 2022 the blockchain technology may save banks $15-20 billion a year by reducing infrastructure costs associated with cross-border payments, securities trading and regulatory compliance.

Diana Bogdan