On 16 June 2026, the BSC AI Factory held the first workshop of Spain's Sectoral Hubs, bringing together representatives from across the innovation ecosystem to explore where artificial intelligence can deliver the greatest value for strategic sectors. A total of 163 participants from 116 organisations took part in the session.
The Sectoral Hubs are one of the flagship initiatives of the BSC AI Factory in Spain, providing a collaborative space where organisations can identify shared challenges and support the development of open AI solutions with sector-wide impact.
The workshop brought together companies, SMEs, startups, technology centres, universities, public research organisations, public administrations, business associations and other organisations from six strategic sectors:
A methodology built around listening to the ecosystem
After an introductory plenary session, participants joined sector-specific workshops to identify the main challenges affecting their industries and discuss where AI could provide the greatest value. This collaborative approach ensured that priorities came directly from organisations working in each sector while fostering a shared understanding across the ecosystem.
Common ground across sectors
Although each Hub focused on its own sector, several common priorities emerged. Participants highlighted the importance of high-quality, accessible data as the foundation for AI adoption, as well as the need for trustworthy AI, including transparency, explainability and security, particularly in highly regulated sectors.
Discussions also emphasised the value of AI approaches beyond generative AI, such as predictive models, optimisation and multimodal systems. Many participants stressed the importance of developing open, reusable resources—including datasets, taxonomies and benchmarks—and strengthening collaboration between different types of organisations to maximise sector-wide impact.
What happens now?
The workshop marks the first of the Sectoral Hubs' activities, which aim to transform input from the ecosystem into concrete BSC AI Factory initiatives. Over the coming months, each Hub will review and prioritise the challenges identified before moving towards the development of open AI solutions that can be shared and reused across the sector.
Through this process, the Sectoral Hubs aim to strengthen collaboration and knowledge-sharing while laying the foundations for AI solutions that deliver impact beyond individual organisations.