EL PAÍS Retina: a forum for the digital revolution in Latin America

The number of users who use Spanish on the Internet has increased tenfold over the past ten years, making it the second-most used, as well as fastest-growing, language on Facebook and Twitter. In an effort to better understand the digital transformation sweeping across the Spanish-speaking and Latin American world, yesterday saw the debut of EL PAÍS Retina, a forum that brings together the main players involved in this change: professionals, entrepreneurs, corporations and policy makers. At this their their first meeting, titled IT Trends 2016, participants explored the main trends that will shape the industry over the next year.

According to Jaime García Cantero, director of Content for Retina, business opportunities in the digital world are closely linked to the wider use of Spanish and the growing influence of Latinos in the United States: "The Hispanic online market is the fastest growing. We are increasingly seeing the emergence of more entrepreneurs and start-ups in Latin America." New companies are joining veterans in the market, large companies such as Banco Santander, Telefónica and Ferrovial, which have already embarked on their own digital transformation and who are sponsoring this forum. "It was time to give a voice to this technology market," he said, adding: "In the Spanish-speaking world there was no forum such as this one till now."

Latin American countries have come to the digital revolution later than those in the English-speaking world, but certain markets, especially in the United States, are now leading the way. By 2050, the US will be the first country in the world in number of Spanish speakers. Today, "this digital market is already the third highest in terms of Spanish speakers," said García Cantero, who gave the first of 14 five-minute talks, a format that is popular in English-speaking forums. He surprised attendees with a study from the University of Sussex (UK) which found that more developed countries tend to discuss more frequently the year ahead.

Three main themes for 2016 ran through the different presentations. Firstly: The power of big data, which is set to become the new black gold ("We are in a world with lots of information, and analysing it will spark a change in business models," said García Cantero). Secondly: the new year will see the normalization of the Internet of things ("the Internet is no longer merely confined to our screens, it spreads out like a digital skin covering the physical world," he stressed). And thirdly: the spread of the digital world and the enormous volume of information also leads to specific risks and new concerns, meaning that cybersecurity and privacy will increasingly become of interest to experts, entrepreneurs and policy makers.

The digital world as a liquid world

"The world today is liquid," said Mosiri Cabezas, digital expert and global vice president of Digital Transformation and Business Acceleration at Telefonica, who outlined the ideas of Polish philosopher Zygmunt Bauman. "With this simple metaphor, it is easier to understand what happens to us as individuals and as professionals," he said, adding: "Formerly rigid limits are now lighter, the economy is becoming dematerialized; we are moving away from an economy of products to an economy of services". Cabezas spoke of the end of the need to possess things: "People no longer want to have a house or a car, the keys are enough."

This lighter digital realm was also explored by Maite Agujetas (Director of Technology at Banco Santander), who sang the praises of Blockchain, an online open database of transactions, which allows for quicker and less costly transactions without compromising security, by means of a cryptographic algorithm. "Blockchain emerged alongside Bitcoin, but it is independent and has improved and evolved," said the executive.

Despite the virtualization of accounts, the digital world does, however, have to keep one foot in the physical world, according to Alberto Lopez de Oleaga, director of Innovation and Processes at Ferrovial. The multinational infrastructure group (chiefly buildings, cities, airports, and highways) has 70,000 employees, 45,000 vehicles and manages 300,000 streetlights, especially in Spain and the UK. Without the Internet of things, public lighting would be very difficult to manage: "[The Internet of Things] allows us to anticipate failure." He also spoke of wearables that facilitate traffic on highways and reduce the number of casualties to a minimum. 

Alberto Barreiro (Director of Experience at Prisa, the publisher of El País) focussed on people rather than machines and businesses, even if he did start his presentation with Facebook and Airbnb: “Airbnb doesn’t have any rooms on its inventory; Facebook, the channel with the world’s highest content consumption  does not generate its own content". This phenomenon "confuses" traditional industry. "Digital is a new mindset that allows us to navigate the liquid world." Bauman's liquid modernity once again made an appearance at the forum. Alberto Barreiro speaking of human beings said: “Platforms empower all the elements that compose them, including people. Technology has put people back at the center of the process," he concluded as live music signalled the end of his five minutes. 

Bridging the digital divide in Latin America

This first forum served as a prelude to future events where Retina will analyze macro data and cybersecurity. In May, a bigger event will address the influence of technology on government and policy in Latin America  and in an increasingly virtual world, a world which the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking worlds have joined late.