• The event was attended by different authorities from the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, the Basque Government, Bilbao City Council, Arrasate City Council, MONDRAGON Corporation, as well as representatives of other entities from the IKERLAN ecosystem.
• The event called Urrats bat, 50 urte included a round table on the contribution of innovation and technology to the market, with the participation of directors from CAF, Fagor Automation, Laboral Kutxa, LKS Next and Orona.

IKERLAN is continuing its programme of activities to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its birth and, on this occasion, the technology centre brought together more than 200 people representing companies, customers and collaborating organisations at an event in which it paid tribute to all the presidents and directors that the co-operative has had during its half-century of existence. The event was also attended by various authorities, including the Deputy General of Gipuzkoa, Eider Mendoza, accompanied by Koldo Peciña, Director General of Strategic Projects, and Jon Gurrutxaga, Director of Innovation and Internationalisation of the Provincial Government. The Basque Government was represented by Jaione Ganzarain, the new Deputy Minister of Technology, Innovation and Digital Transformation, Xabier Ochandiano, Vice-Minister of Institutional Relations, Alberto Fernández, Director of Technology and Innovation, and Leire Madariaga, Director of Digital Transformation and Entrepreneurship. Representing Bilbao City Council, where IKERLAN has also had an office since 2023, was Javier Garcinuño, general director of Bilbao Ekintza. The Mayoress of Arrasate-Mondragon, Maider Morras, and the Councillor for the Economy and Employment, Jaime Bengoa, also attended the event.  MONDRAGON Corporation was represented by Leire Muguerza, President of the MONDRAGON Congress, Juan Ángel García Fernández, Vice-President and General Manager of the Equipment Division, Zigor Ezpeleta, Director of Social Management at the Corporate Centre, Juan Andrés Joaristi, Director of Innovation, as well as Javier Marcos, Director of Communication, and his colleague in the department, Iban Garate.

Representatives from the IKERLAN ecosystem, such as BRTA, MUBIL, MGEP-MU, SPRI, the MONDRAGON Promotion Centre, ACICAE, the Energy Cluster, SPRILUR, AZTI, CEIT, Ideko, Leartiker, Lortek, Tekniker, B+i, EUSMEX, HUB Advisory, IK4 and INNOLAB BILBAO were also present.

The event, which took place today at the Amaia Antzokia Municipal Theatre in Arrasate-Mondragón and was entitled Urrats bat, 50 urte, was full of very emotional moments and a staging that covered 50 years of IKERLAN's life.

The staging began with the symbolic laying of the first stone of IKERLAN in 1974 and a phrase representative of the centre by José María Ormaetxea, director of Caja Laboral at the time and one of the driving forces behind the IKERLAN project, which was projected onto the screen: ‘Utopia is a plan, a project, perhaps unrealistic but not impossible. Time and perseverance have shown us that utopia becomes reality’.

Afterwards, a dance performance gave way to the laying of a second stone, which opened the way for a unique meeting between the first president of IKERLAN, Xabier Retegi, and Ane Blázquez, currently a researcher in IKERLAN's Artificial Intelligence team, who reviewed the past and present of the technology centre.

The laying of the third symbolic stone marked the start of a round table discussion on the contribution of innovation and technology to the market in recent decades, chaired by Ion Etxeberria, General Manager of IKERLAN, and attended by Josu Ibarbia (CAF), José Pérez (Fagor Automation), Xabier Egibar (Laboral Kutxa), Elena Zárraga (LKS Next) and Alberto Maritxalar (ORONA).

The event continued with an emotional tribute to the directors and presidents of IKERLAN's history. Leire Muguerza, President of the MONDRAGON Congress, and Adolfo Plaza, President of IKERLAN, concluded the tribute. In his speech, Plaza invited those present to preserve the legacy of all the people who have participated in the IKERLAN project over the last 50 years, and to continue building a sustainable, competitive and exciting project for the future; values that have made IKERLAN the benchmark technology centre in the Basque Country today.

About IKERLAN

IKERLAN is a leading centre in technology transfer and in providing competitive value to industry. It offers integral solutions combining different technological domains in three main areas: digital technologies and artificial intelligence, embedded electronic systems and cybersecurity, and mechatronic and energy technologies. It currently has a team of 420 people and offices in Arrasate-Mondragón, Donostialdea and Bilbao. As a cooperative member of the MONDRAGON Corporation and the Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), IKERLAN represents a sustainable, competitive business model in permanent transformation. In 2024 IKERLAN will be 50 years old and remains faithful to its founding objective: to develop technology to improve the innovation and competitiveness of the companies in its environment.

The event, which took place at the Amaia Antzokia Municipal Theatre in Arrasate-Mondragón, highlighted the generosity and broad-mindedness of the people and organisations that have made this half-century of work possible.