Supply Chain Frontiers issue #50
The Zaragoza Logistics Center (ZLC), Zaragoza, Spain is 10 years old, and is planning a series of events to mark this important milestone.
Since ZLC’s inception in 2003, both the Center and PLAZA – Europe’s largest logistics park – have become major centers of logistics excellence. In 2009, ZLC moved into a four-story, 2,000m2 building located in the PLAZA complex. Currently, about 350 companies and 12,000 people work in the logistics park.
Nearly a thousand professionals from all over the world have passed through ZLC’s classrooms. Fifty percent of all ZLC graduates are working for companies in Spain, many of them in Aragón and at PLAZA. Former ZLC students are also designing and managing the supply chains of global companies in over 50 countries.
The center has carried out more than 100 research projects with global and local companies as well as public institutions. In 2012, ZLC obtained over 1.6 million Euros in direct funding from outside Spain for public and private research projects and education. And despite the recession in Spain and weak economic conditions throughout Europe, ZLC’s revenues increased by 25% in 2012 compared to the previous year.
The 10th anniversary celebrations are scheduled to take place on October 24 - 26, 2013, in Zaragoza, and will include an institutional event with relevant local government and industry representatives, guided tours, and social activities. During the week, ZLC is also hosting meetings of the most important EU logistics and supply chain innovation projects (CO3, FUTUREMED, SoCool@EU, MODULUSHKA and WINN), and co-organizing the 6th European Conference on ICT for Transport Logistics (ECITL), in collaboration with the Technical Institute of Aragón.
This means that Aragón will celebrate a European logistics innovation week. As a result of the smart specialization strategy of the EU (known as RIS3), the Industry and Innovation department of the local government has identified logistics innovation as one of the key areas to enhance the regional economy. With a research institute like ZLC currently involved in six EU projects, a logistics cluster representing 30 main local companies as well as a demonstration center for logistics ICTs, Aragón is determined to choose logistics as a differentiating factor for competitiveness, and ZLC is a key tool for supporting this goal.
For more information on ZLC’s 10th anniversary celebrations contact the Center’s Marketing Manager, Cristina Tabuenca.