Today, April 21, the World Creativity and Innovation Day is celebrated, established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2017. The commemoration of this day matches with the birth of Leonardo Da Vinci, an icon of interdisciplinary creativity in the arts and science, considered one of the most creative people in history, who stood out as a painter, sculptor, architect, urban planner, inventor, anatomist, botanist, musician, poet, philosopher and writer, a curious man who dedicated his life to continuous learning.

The purpose of this commemoration is to foster original ideas, encourage society to think differently, promote the use of brainstorming and other creative techniques, and encourage us to do things with passion. The UN decided to establish this World Day due to its firm conviction that it is in creativity and innovation where the wealth of nations can be found, being essential components in solving problems and in economic, social and sustainable development.

At the same time, the United Nations General Assembly observes that it is necessary to focus on the important role of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals related to innovation, creativity and decent work for everyone:

Promoting inclusive, sustained and sustainable economic growth drives progress, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation.

Achieving more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities.

Guarantee sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Alliance for Sustainable Development.

In Globalvia, sharing this same vision and with the faithful premise of innovating to transform the world, at the end of 2018 we officially welcomed innovation. A challenge with capital letters for all areas and departments of the Company, but 2 and a half years later it is already a reality.

As a starting point for this great adventure, in Globalvia we realized that it  was essential to identify the people who had the right skills and abilities to lead this change in the Company (both inside and outside), curiosity being key to question the way of doing things, to get out of our comfort zone and not to be afraid of error.

And, with this objective, we launched an internal contest to search for Globalvia’s “Innovation Champions”. All those employees interested taking part of this challenge and act as ambassadors of innovation in the Company, only had to send a video explaining why they should be chosen.

Through this fun way, we select the 25 employees who have been the 25 levers of change in Globalvia, accompanying us in our great work of spreading the innovative mentality to the different areas and departments and participating in projects launched by the Innovation and Transformation Department itself.

Once immersed in the change, we had a double objective: to continue being leaders in the management of transport infrastructure but thinking that our actions today will define our future. Therefore, in order to adapt and diversify our business, Openvia, our technological and innovation platform, was born. From here, new mobility models, new business opportunities are developed, Globalvia’s competitive position is strengthened and new synergies are created.

Today, Openvia Mobility has three centers dedicated to innovation: in Madrid there is an Artificial Intelligence center, in Portugal a mobility services platform for third parties and the USA acts as a spearhead to transform the user experience of our infrastructures. Because if there is something that we have learned along the way we have traveled in innovation, it is that the user must be at the center and that is why many of the projects we have launched are focused on understanding the user and detecting their pain points in order to develop interesting mobility solutions for them. Among our star projects that have passed the barrier of failure and error and are now a success are:

Slora by Globalvia, the new digital solution to travel quickly, comfortably and without stopping on toll roads, allowing users to pay directly from their mobile for their trips, without using cash or a physical card. Pocahontas Parkway, the concession we managed in North America, becomes the first in the Group to offer this new system for paying tolls for the main highways in Virginia.

Tap&Go, contactless validation and payment system that makes out of Metro de Sevilla the first metro in Spain to have this new ticketing system with EMV technology. It allows users to validate their ticket directly with their card, physically or from their mobile, without using the vending machines.

Meep Sevilla by Globavia, our first MaaS (Mobility as a service) project and an example of collaboration with the startup ecosystem. It is the first multimodality platform in the city of Seville that allows the route to be planned through its app.

KarAI, for the operation and management of highways with the aim of being more efficient.

Mobility Platform, intelligent mobility platform for operators made of the following three systems:

• GMOM: First homogeneous Operation and Maintenance System for all our concessions. Its great value lies in the standardization of the way of doing things by Globalvia and its ease of use, being able to establish comparisons between the different concessions to ensure compliance with the Company’s strategy. It is currently in production in seven of our assets.

• GBOS: First Back Office System Platform operating on cloud for our concessions in real time, with instant control of revenues and processed transactions, collecting complete information on processed transits. It is already in production in four of our concessions.
• GTOLL: First Toll System capable of controlling and managing any type of toll system in real time. It is currently in production in two of our assets.

These are just some examples of all our projects, because at Globalvia we are continuously working to find the best mobility solutions accessible to all, because you are the most important thing in this great journey that we travel together towards innovation.

Globalvia – Changing the world together!