Entrepreneurship and open innovation in the port sector: Ports 4.0
Ports 4.0 is the capital fund promoted by Puertos del Estado that aims to create an open innovation ecosystem to attract, support and facilitate entrepreneurship in the Spanish logistics port sector, through the technological maturation of ideas and innovation projects with market orientation.
Spanish ports are a crucial element for the country’s economy. According to Eurostat, in the third quarter of 2024, Spanish ports were third in the European ranking by volume of goods, behind the Netherlands and in a technical tie with Italy. The Port of Algeciras, for its part, ranked fourth in Europe in terms of volume of activity, behind Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg. For large container vessels, the ports of Valencia and Algeciras ranked fourth and fifth respectively in Europe, behind Antwerp, Rotterdam and Hamburg.
In this context, the Ports 4.0 program was born as an innovative and transformative initiative. This program aims to attract, support and facilitate the application of talent and entrepreneurship in the port logistics sector, promoting disruptive technological solutions that improve the competitiveness, efficiency, sustainability, decarbonization and security of the sector. As of early 2025, more than 900 ideas and pre-commercial and commercial projects have been submitted in response to the four calls to date, with more than €30 million awarded in grants to 133 selected projects.
Since 2024, IDOM has been managing the Ports 4.0 initiative in all its phases, from the management and dissemination of the new calls for proposals of the “Ports 4.0” fund to the evaluation and monitoring of the selected scientific-technological innovation projects. In the initial phases of each call, the mentoring of ideas and disruptive technological projects in the field of maritime ports is carried out, in order to evaluate the applications at the end of each call according to the criteria of sustainability and technological innovation. Once the projects have been selected, the implementation of the accelerated projects is followed up in detail through monitoring and control from an economic-financial and scientific-technical perspective.
IDOM has also provided the program with a technological tool that facilitates the management of all phases and contents related to the “Ports 4.0” Fund. Our goal is to maximize the impact and success of the projects financed by the “Ports 4.0” Fund, from idea to implementation, transforming ideas into realities that revolutionize the port logistics sector.
