Mafex prepares an intense agenda of activities for 2023

IN ADDITION TO THE INTERNATIONALISATION ACTIVITIES, THE ASSOCIATION CONTINUES TO ENDORSE INNOVATION AS A PATH TO EXCELLENCE.

In the international area, Mafex is once again committed to continue promoting Spanish railway services and technologies abroad.

Foreign promotion: Conventions and fairs

As in previous editions, Mafex will participate in renowned sector fairs such as Middle East Rail in Abu Dhabi and TransMEA in New Cairo.

During this year, it is worth noting the celebration of the 8th International Railway Convention to be held between 8th and 10th of May in Toledo, and where representatives of more than 30 countries, delegates of the Spanish railway industry and the main Spanish organisations will meet in a new edition. This biannual activity has an extensive programme of conferences, business meetings and technical visits.

It is also worth highlighting the celebration from 29th November to 1st December, and for the sixth consecutive year, of the fair and congress “Rail Live!”, which has become the main international reference forum of the railway sector in Spain and where Mafex is co-organiser. This new edition is expected to reach 10,000 attendees. It will have a congress programme with more than 300 speakers and an exhibition area where more than 250 exhibitors will demonstrate their latest developments and solutions.

Trade policy

The Association will pay special attention to trade policy and its impact on industry issues. In addition to the special focus on the latter, the Association will look at the different recovery plans of the member states, given the importance of promoting investment in sustainable transport infrastructure. The negotiations of EU Trade Agreements with third countries will be followed with particular attention since in order to create new business opportunities and overcome barriers to trade it is necessary to closely observe trade defence instruments, also ensuring effective protection of the interests of the sector and avoiding poor practice.

Strategic surveillance

There will be further development of “FocusOn” reports on identified strategic markets as well as the renewal and improvement of the current intelligence platform with the most relevant news and business opportunities of the national and international railway sector.

Networking
New conferences of the sectoral forums on Digitalisation, Mobility, Sustainability, Hyperloop, and International Markets are planned over the next year. Likewise, the working groups that emerged within the new dynamics defined in the Association’s 2021-2024 Strategic Plan will continue.

Competitiveness and Innovation

In addition to the international and strategic intelligence activities, innovation is key in the services offered by Mafex given its differentiating nature in the competitive improvement of companies. That is why Mafex acts as a facilitator of supply and demand for innovation in different activities, supporting R+D with the aim of continuing to maintain the technological rhythm with other means of transport and aiming for the member companies to be more competitive, innovative and technologically advanced.

In addition, the Association considers that collaboration and the implementation of joint initiatives are necessary to support the sector in different areas such as: project technical office and R+D, talent attraction, technological training and the organisation of training sessions and technological missions. Likewise, Mafex will carry on with the continuous approach to universities and technology centres, as well as start-ups with technology to promote collaboration between academia and the industrial sector.

During the year work will continue on the identification of calls at national and European level, encouraging and managing consortia for the presentation of projects and promoting the participation of partner companies in R+D projects in a collaborative way.