Andrea Urrecho's challenge at ADItech to boost the digitalisation of hundreds of companies. #IRISEDIH
Searching for the origin of things to discover the roots of the world. This has been Andrea Urrecho's passion since she was a child. A native of Miranda de Ebro, she forged her career in Campofrío and CNTA before joining ADItech. Today she is responsible for Digital Innovation at the foundation and is the coordinator of IRIS EDIH, which after two years of existence has eighteen allied hubs (seven at national level and eleven at European level); it has held more than 70 events, attended by more than 2,000 people; and has boosted the digitalisation of more than 200 companies.
Andrea Urrecho was never satisfied with simple answers. As a child, her big, bright eyes, always full of wonder, reflected a mind that never rested. She knew that, somewhere in the universe, millions of answers were waiting to be discovered. And she was ready to find them.
"I wanted to go to the origin of things, I wanted to know the background of everything", she recalls at 44 years of age and after more than two decades of professional career, aware that this is precisely what somehow marks her work as head of Digital Innovation at ADItech and coordinator of IRIS EDIH. To satisfy her hunger for curiosity, she "devoured" books and enjoyed endless walks in nature. At weekends, she became immensely excited. "Mummy, Daddy, where are we going on a trip?" she would constantly ask. Laughing, she remembers well that energy and vitality that she exuded and continues to exude wherever she goes: "My mother used to say that I was insatiably restless".
In order to do more and more research to be able to answer all the questions that were piling up in her head, she decided to study Biochemistry at the University of Navarra. Thus, she left her native Miranda de Ebro behind to land in Pamplona. After finishing her degree, she completed her training with a Master's Degree in Food Technology and Control at the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Pharmaceutical Industry in Madrid. And then it was time to enter the world of employment.
PASSION FOR INNOVATION
She joined Campofrío as a quality technician at its Burgos plant and, during the seven months with the company, she had the opportunity to work with the R&D Department. "That's when I knew that this branch was definitely my thing. I was passionate about innovation", she states firmly.
In 2004 she joined the National Centre for Food Technology and Safety (CNTA), based in San Adrián, as an R&D&I researcher. During the five years she worked there, she was the main researcher on numerous projects, until the need arose to tackle a new food preservation technology based on "high hydrostatic pressures". So, she set to work. "Another new challenge. Devising a strategy, deploying it, executing it... I loved the challenge," she says. Once she had managed the purchase of the new equipment, implemented it and fine-tuned the technology, Andrea became part of the Technology Watch and Competitive Intelligence team: "I contributed to improving the technology watch bulletins that CNTA sent to its partner companies".
IRIS EDIH offers 50 activities and 50 services, structured in different categories and adapted to the needs of companies according to their sector and level of digital readiness.
But that is not the only memory she cherishes after that "fruitful professional period". Proudly, she mentions a project which she was "so lucky" to participate in as coordinator, editor and publisher. It is El libro del Zumo (The Book about Juice), in which CNTA collaborated. "I was very excited about it. We addressed the analytical perspective of the properties of juice, among other things," she says.
ADItech, the coordinator of the Navarra R&D&I System SINAI, then emerged. "CNTA was a founding partner, and they proposed that I take charge of the Technology Watch and Competitive Intelligence Area in ADItech. We wanted to incorporate it in the food, health, industry and energy sectors," she explains. The goal? To have a platform capable of automating the collection of information which, until then, had been done manually: "The idea was to make better use of time and invest it in analysing the data and adding value". During that stage, she also designed, implemented and deployed CNTA's technological watch platform, called 'Alinnova', which is still in use today.
"DIGITALISATION" WINDOWS
From "challenge to challenge", Andrea joined ADItech's European Project Management Department in search of funding to help boost the Digital Innovation Hub, IRIS Navarra. Within the framework of the Digital Europe, programme, the IRIS Hub was selected by the European Commission to form part of the first network of European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH).
EDIHs "combine the benefits of their regional presence, by acting on the local innovation ecosystem, with their presence in the pan-European network, where they have direct access to the best practices and latest digital trends". Thus, IRIS EDIHs offer "specialised and advanced" services and activities to contribute to the digital transformation of companies and the administration in three fields: Artificial Intelligence, supercomputing and personalised precision medicine.
"In particular, EDIHs are digitisation tools for the European Union. The target for 2030 is for 90 % of European SMEs to achieve a basic to medium level of digitisation. This allows us to act as a catalyst for their digital transformation by offering our services to regional, national and European companies and public entities", she explains.
After two years of operation, IRIS EDIH has eighteen partner hubs, seven at the national level and eleven at the European level.
The mission of these EDIHs is to "act as tools that enable digitalisation", advising companies in their digital transformation process and providing different services, offered by twenty-two partner entities. "If a company has a need that cannot be addressed in Navarra, we rely on a series of alliances with other EDIHs", Andrea explains and then goes on to stress that, in the case of IRIS EDIH, promoted by the Government of Navarra, the evolution during these two years of existence has been "complex but very enriching".
In 2024, it added thirteen partner hubs, six being national and seven European. Today, the total number is eighteen, seven at national level and eleven at European level. In addition, it recently signed an agreement with twenty-two EDIHs in the agri-food sector. The national collaboration agreements include Andalusia, Galicia, Extremadura, the Basque Country, Valencia, Cantabria y Catalonia, and the European agreements include Italy, Greece, Germany, Slovenia, the Netherlands, France, Latvia, Sweden, Austria y Finland.
With a funded budget of 5 million euros, IRIS EDIH offers 50 activities and 50 services, structured in different categories and adapted to the needs of companies according to their sector and level of digital readiness. "We focus on four strategic sectors for Navarra: healthy and sustainable food, green energy industry, electric and connected mobility, and health and advanced therapies," says Andrea.
Satisfied, she points out that during these two years, more than 70 events have been held, attended by more than 2,000 people. "We have boosted the digitisation of more than 200 companies", she says with a smile, just before placing special emphasis on the key to its deployment, public-private collaboration, as well as and on the access provided to first-class infrastructures and equipment.
"The European Commission's commitment is ambitious and firm. That is why we are already working on publishing the first call for the consolidation of the existing EDIH network in the near future. I am working on it, on this occasion in collaboration with the team from the Digital Innovation Hub, IRIS Navarra", she says after mentioning that, if the application is successful, it will allow to continue coordinating the European Digital Innovation Hub of Navarra until 2028.
Tackling challenges strategically and collaboratively with a common purpose, authenticity, trust and long-term vision. For our protagonist, this is the key to innovation. No matter how much time passes, she still has that curious look, that spark of tireless searching. In fact, she tries to pass it on to her three children so that they understand that, in every question asked, there is an opportunity to rediscover the world from a new perspective: "I encourage them to get in touch with nature, to search for their origins and to admire the simple things in life. Thinking about ourselves on a transcendental level helps us to connect with our essence. It is important to make time for that or we will live without purpose. We have to pause, breathe, look for the background of things and allow ourselves to just be. And at ADItech we pursue that too.
