Discurso de Antón Pradera, Presidente CIE Automotive; Premio a la Transparencia Empresarial FAEB

Authorities, gentlemen, thank you for this award. When State called me and mentioned this, I was thrilled because I believe these types of foundations are important. I think we have a lot at stake in the world of information, not just within your world - those of you who have dedicated yourselves to this - but all of society and the entry of all new players, which fundamentally means we all have more tools to obtain information, because that's what it's about. When we're in the economic world, all the change that the digital world is establishing always refers to information. Any business where information is important will immediately change - banking will change, commercial services will change, everything that requires information will change. So we're staking everything on this issue.

Transparency is one of those fundamental issues. I've tried to look at the world of transparency at home, in the company, inside, and what I've realized is that there are a series of factors that have arrived at the business world over time. At first, you receive them thinking 'this isn't my thing, it's not proper,' but little by little you implement them and you end up realizing that not only is it your business, but without it you won't be able to survive.

These are processes that have happened to us, for example, when the whole quality issue arrived - the quality world was a novel, heavy topic. I remember many old businessmen saying 'we're going to spend money on this?' And then you realize that if you don't focus on quality, there's no future. Then the same thing happened when environmental issues arrived - all the waste management topics - and you realize that if you don't manage waste, there's no future either, because it creates a serious productivity problem. That's the foundation of everything.

Now we've arrived at the world of information. If you're in a business with many customers, without information, nothing exists. Even in our world - a B2B company - information is fundamental because transparency is at the center of everything, of your entire management. If you don't manage with transparency, things won't work out. All the gray and hidden areas within a company are very negative for productivity.

Information - I believe we're now transitioning from the era of knowledge to the era of information, and information will be the foundation of everything. We're staking everything on this in all fields, not just social and political, but in everything related to business productivity. Let's remember that productivity is wealth, and with it we'll move forward.

I'd like to take this forum to ask for one thing: I'd like the media to present change more as an opportunity. Everything that's coming, all the new tools, what they'll do is increase productivity - they're massive increases in productivity and production. Sometimes we only focus on what's losing prominence. Let's look at what's coming, let's look at the new, and if we increase productivity, we'll always end up with more wealth and much more wealth to share.

To finish, I'd just like to say that this board of trustees has one advantage: every year it will always know who the most deserving person is to receive this award, because it will always be Alejandro Echevarría - and the rest of us, what we can receive is a kind of honorary prize. Thank you very much.