The fourth edition of the Tech-Automate Solutions Day brings together six industrial suppliers to analyse how artificial intelligence and digital twins are reconfiguring production plants.
Industrial automation is advancing towards integrated models where artificial intelligence and digital twins are no longer pilot projects but have become tools for competitiveness. This is the main conclusion of the fourth edition of the Tech-Automate Solutions Day, held last week in Sant Joan d'Alacant and jointly organised by Festo, Pilz, Rittal, STEMMER IMAGING, Troax, and Yaskawa, as reported by ecosistemastartup.com.
The event, which gathered professionals from the sector, focused on the need to design competitive plants as integrated ecosystems of components, safety, artificial vision, electrical enclosures, fencing, and robotics, rather than adding isolated decisions by department. The organisers highlighted that digitalisation, sustainability, customer experience, and collaboration between companies were the thematic axes of the day.
"AI is not just for reading about it. In the community, we apply it: automation, AI agents, and real tools for entrepreneurship, not just for information," the organisers pointed out.
The programme addressed the integration of artificial intelligence into industrialised processes without compromising reliability, combining automation, robotics, safety, and information analysis. Among the conclusions, experts emphasised the importance of incorporating digital twins to make plant automation processes more competitive, while maintaining safe and precise processes after automation.
This event is not new. The Tech-Automate Solutions Day celebrates its fourth edition in 2026, and the previous session took place on 22 April 2026 at the Aimen Technology Centre (Porriño, Pontevedra). In that session, participants included Ismael Sánchez (Festo), Daniel Martin (Pilz), Ángel Castillejo (Rittal), Rafael Caride (Troax), David Ferreirós (Stemmer Imaging), and Ana Watanabe (Yaskawa), moderated by Nacho Armesto from the University of Vigo.
The transfer between editions is visible. Pilz, for example, showcased its MYZEL Lifecycle Platform for industrial asset management and its IO-Link Safety technology for decentralised safety in Industry 4.0, two components that redirect machine safety towards a digital and connected model.
The event arrives at a time of sustained growth for the technologies it promotes. QYResearch estimates that the global market for 3D visualisation software and virtual twin will grow from approximately $19.4 billion in 2025 to $22.4 billion in 2026, with a projected size of $58.65 billion in 2032, implying a CAGR of 17.40% between 2026 and 2032, according to its 2026-2032 report.
The same report notes that, according to the IFR (International Federation of Robotics), new installations of industrial robots globally reached 542,000 units in 2024, with an operational stock of 4.664 million units. Asia accounted for 74% of the new installations, with China alone representing 54% of the global total, which explains why European suppliers have been shifting their discourse towards the digital twin as a software layer to differentiate in automation.
ARC Advisory Group, for its part, identified a strategic convergence in 2026 between AVEVA, Siemens, and Dassault Systèmes: all three are turning their digital twins into industrial intelligence platforms that connect engineering, operations, AI, and lifecycle, albeit with different brands: Living Digital Twin (AVEVA), Comprehensive Digital Twin (Siemens), and Virtual Twin (Dassault Systèmes), according to their analysis of the events AVEVA WORLD 2026, Siemens Realize LIVE Europe 2026, and Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE Forums 2026.
For industrial startups, industrial software developers, or B2B integrators, the signal is clear: the integrator or supplier that sells "pieces" loses out to those offering a complete automation architecture, with digital twin, artificial vision, functional safety, and industrial data as a single proposal. The next edition of the Tech-Automate Solutions Day does not yet have a confirmed date, but the organisers maintain the format of itinerant technical days across Spain.
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