On June 13, the Círculo Ecuestre held a colloquium in which it had the honor of having the presence of Marc Murtra, president of Indra. After the welcome from the president of the Círculo Ecuestre, Enrique Lacalle, the executive began a dialogue with the renowned journalist and writer Màrius Carol.
The conversation began when the moderator asked the speaker about his beginnings at the head of Indra. Although Marc Murtra defined that his entry into the company was accompanied “with a certain noise of rejection”, he explained that he focused on “the project and the results” and that, thanks to that, “in three years, the company changed its strategy, renewed the board of directors, changed the top executive team and in 2023 the results were a historical record and the share price tripled”. “In 2024 we have achieved the best quarter in history”, added the speaker.
Asked about the power that Indra has, one of the main global defense, aerospace and technology companies, as well as a leader in digital transformation and information technologies in Spain and Latin America, Murtra defended that “it is managed in a very professional way, it is frankly transparent and all the decisions that are made and will be made are absolutely professional", emphasizing that "it has a strategic alignment with the Ministry of Defense".
The dialogue continued covering one of the topics of greatest interest, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the role of the European Union. In this sense, the president of Indra assessed the following: "the European Union does not have full strategic autonomy, since it depends on its ally, the United States, for the supply of technology, the supply of logistics or defense materials".
Continuing with that theme, the manager said that "in the West, in the values of democracy and peace, but my professional criterion is that a democracy and an advanced society must have the ability to defend itself". “It is not acceptable for one country to invade another in a brutal way. Right now what we observe and there seems to be a tie between Russia and Ukraine, a stagnation of the situation”, he added. “Indra's job is not to determine industrial or defense policy, but to execute technological and industrial projects. Without defense there is no society. In a more orderly and peaceful world there would be more technological investment and we would all be better off”, he stated.
During the colloquium, Murtra assured that he sees “the glass of the European project quite full”. “In the social and health field, Europe is an extraordinary power and continues to have enormous economic weight”. Likewise, he appreciated that “there are technological areas where I would like us to be. Europe is at 60% of its potential, but it still has 40% to go.”
Regarding the positioning of Indra and its main competitors, Marc Murtra informed the public that “in command and control, or technology and defense, there are 10 or 15 countries with their own technology; In the field of consulting there are many companies, but there are about 20-25 companies the size of Indra in the world”.
In conclusion and given the visible concern of the moderator about the belligerent growth of artificial intelligence, the president of Indra pointed out that “we are in a disruption”. “The acceleration and speed of change of disruptive technologies does seem greater than in the past”, he said. He expressed to the public that “whenever a new technology has appeared, it has generated costly and painful transition costs for some groups”, he also played down the issue by ensuring that “the changes are scary, but they are the same fear that we could have had 40 years ago”.