We have been awarded the Digitalisation and Innovation Distinction in Gipuzkoa, Spain, at the tenth edition of the 2026 SME of the Year Awards. Promoted by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce and Banco Santander, with the support of local Chambers of Commerce and other partner organisations, the award recognises our long-standing commitment to innovation and technological development as key drivers of the company’s growth and evolution.
For us, this award represents much more than recognition of the technology we develop. It reflects an approach to innovation that has guided us since the beginning: identifying real needs, understanding how technology can help and turning it into tools capable of delivering tangible impact.
It is an approach we apply both in education and in industry, and one that continues to guide our development, investment and growth decisions.
Innovation starts with understanding the problem
There is one fundamental difference between technology with potential and technology that delivers value: its ability to solve a specific need.
At Innovae, we therefore do not view innovation as the continuous adoption of the latest technologies, nor do we consider innovation an objective in its own right. For us, innovation is about finding better ways to learn, work and share knowledge.
This means starting with the challenges faced by the people and organisations we work with, understanding how their processes currently operate and identifying where technology can add value.
In some cases, the challenge is to bring training closer to the situations students will later encounter in professional environments. In others, it is about ensuring that an organisation’s technical knowledge reaches employees when and where they need it, helping to improve safety, standardise processes and ensure operational traceability.
This approach enables us to move beyond purely experimental innovation and focus our efforts on developments that can genuinely become part of the day-to-day operations of educational institutions and companies. This is when innovation stops being an abstract concept and translates into tangible improvements.
A sustained commitment to technological development
Innovation also requires continuous investment. It is not only about creating new developments, but also about evolving what already exists, incorporating new capabilities and anticipating emerging needs in the sectors in which we operate.
This commitment allows us to maintain our own technological capabilities while continuing to explore new ways of applying emerging technologies to specific challenges.
One area in which we are making significant progress is artificial intelligence, exploring how it can help improve efficiency, expand opportunities for personalisation and simplify the management of training and technical processes.
The principle remains the same: we do not adopt technology simply because it is a trend, but because it enables us to do something better.
Recognition of how far we have come and how far we still have to go
Receiving the Digitalisation and Innovation Distinction in Gipuzkoa recognises a journey built on technological investment, in-house development and, above all, our approach to applying innovation to real needs.
It is recognition of how far we have come, but also an incentive to keep moving forward. As Pablo Ayala, our CEO, explains: “This recognition encourages us to continue developing solutions that bring technology closer to the real needs of education and industry.”