Consolidates its role as the major international event for the digital economy

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The second edition of DES - Digital Business World Congress (DES2017), the largest international rendezvous for digital transformation, closed recently, having once again exceeded expectations and reached the figure of 18,000 participants.

The event, which took place in Madrid on the 23, 24 and 25 May in the IFEMA exhibition centre has also left an economic impact in the city of more than 34 million Euros, resulting in large part from the increase in international visitors.

The profile of attendees at this second edition was marked by a strong international presence, from countries like the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, France, Italy and Mexico, among others.

In addition, one of the most valued aspects by the exhibiting companies was the quality of the participants, of which 69 percent were senior management and members of boards of directors, which shows the importance given by companies to digital transformation and the development of new business models.

Blockchain, with Alex Tapscott at the helm, and Artificial Intelligence were the leading trends at this second edition, alongside a review of the present and future of 12 industrial sectors, including retail, banking, industry, tourism, health and logistics.

DES2017 was supported by over 300 exhibiting companies, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Accenture, Deloitte Digital, KPMG, Intel, IBM and Fujitsu, who showed their latest launches and technological solutions to attendees over these three days. Support backed by Madrid City Hall, Madrid Regional Government and the Spanish Ministry of Finance, Industry and Competitiveness, converting the city, once again, into the World Digital Capital.

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More than 450 speakers filled 10 auditoriums over the three days of the congress, imparting more than 160 hours of knowledge, around Blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence and Cyber-security.  

DES2017's three days filled with presentations and roundtables featured the presence in Europe for the first time of great gurus like Alex Tapscott, Lilian P. Coral, Susan Fonseca and Anders Indset who led the most memorable moments of the congress.

From the organization, Albert Planas, CEO of DES summed up this second edition very positively: "Madrid has once again shown itself to be the best forum to host a worldwide congress on this scale, one that is focused on boosting the digital economy. We are very proud of the partners that have accompanied us, the thousands of attendees and the support of all the institutions, with whom we are leading the impetus of the digital economy through the union of knowledge and experience.

"Madrid's ecosystem will favour a considerable growth in the scale of the congress over the next few years. A good example of this is the commitment shown by large multinationals in setting up their global competence and technology centres in Madrid."