company

There is a Basque company that is making a fortune with an unexpected business: ripening bananas from the Canary Islands

by

100 million euros of turnover ripening bananas. It is the objective of Musanorte, a company with Canarian roots and headquarters in Vizcaya that has turned a niche as specific and far from the focus as the controlled ripening of fruit into an economic engine for the Orozko region. Your task is not to grow, but what happens after the harvest. In their facilities, the Canarian banana arrives green and comes out ready to eat. Controlled maturation. What Musanorte does with bananas is a process that much of the fruit goes through that we see in supermarkets. So that the bananas arrive at the stores at their peak, with that bright yellow tone without darkening, they are placed in chambers in which the temperature and ethylene is applied to them. Ethylene is what is known as maturation hormone and it is released by vegetables naturally. By adding it artificially, the process is accelerated. The company. Musanorte is a subsidiary of Mercamusa, a company dedicated to the marketing of fruit that also has a ripening plant in Alicante. In 2017, Mercamusa was purchased by Eurobananaa Canarian company that sought to eliminate intermediaries and thus better control quality while saving costs. Production takes place in the Canary Islands and the peninsular offices are dedicated to ripening and packaging. Capacity and investment. With more than 21 ripening chambers and two packaging lines, Musanorte has the capacity to manage 40,000 tons of bananas per yearwhich are added to the 30,000 tons of capacity of the Alicante plant. The Musanorte plant has been operational since 2020, but it was not until recently that it received an investment of 24 million euros that has allowed it to increase its capacity. They hope to reach 100 million euros in turnover and also have announced the creation of 100 new jobs in the region. The banana crisis. In 2025 the price of Canary Islands bananas skyrocketed, reaching 7 euros per kilo. In September we talked about the crisis that the banana production sector was going through: Producing them cost more than what the farmers, who survived thanks to aid from the European Union, ended up receiving. The situation has improved, but not enoughand currently production costs remain very highwhich strains the profitability of producers. Image | Wikipedia In Xataka | Neither patting nor waving them in the air: the science of choosing a good melon in the supermarket

Opening a company in a single visit to the administration sounds like utopia. In China it has been law for years

by

Bureaucracy is probably one of the few things on which there is almost absolute consensus: everyone hates her. Queuing from window to window, discovering that you are missing a photocopy, returning another day because the official who signs is not there… an administrative ordeal, but it doesn’t have to be like this: years ago, in China they set out to end the labyrinth of procedures with one objective: so that more companies can be created to be more competitive. One visit at most. The ‘one visit at most’ reform It was promoted in the province of Zhejiang in 2016 and today it has spread to more territories in the country. The central objective is to unify all the procedures into one, so that those who want to form a new company only have to go to the administration once, avoiding the “walk” through different windows. It does not only affect the creation of companies, but all types of procedures such as birth certificates, registration records, registrations for health insurance and health cards. In addition, there are many procedures that can be done electronically, it is what they call ‘zero visit’ and the idea is that over time more and more processes will be added to this list. How it was before. Before this reform the process was not only much more tedious, but also much slower. a businessman counted in CGNT To get a permit you had to go through a lot of procedures, the lines were very long and it took several weeks. And if everything went well, if a document was missing or there was an error, you would have to start over. Another businesswoman says that she sent the documentation online and when she went to do the process it took her only 15 minutes to get the permit. Land of entrepreneurship. That this reform has been promoted in Zhejiang is no coincidence. It is the province in which Hangzhou is located, the city that has become the reference technological hub for AI companies. Here you can find Alibaba, DeepSeek, Unitree or Deep Robotics. It is also where the Zhejiang Universitynicknamed “the Stanford of the East”, and where many of those who are today senior executives of technology companies have studied. The streamlining of bureaucracy is one of all the measures that the government has implemented and which also include very advantageous loans for entrepreneurs. One person companies. Recently We were talking about ‘one person companies’ or OCP and how the Chinese government is supporting this new entrepreneurship model. They are startups created by a single person with strong AI support, very much in the style of what he did Peter Steinberger with OpenClawwhich in turn has allowed many entrepreneurs to create their own solo companies. OCP communities are being created in cities like Suzhou, Wuhan offers special loans for ‘solopreneurs’ and in Shanghai they cover up to 300,000 yuan in computing expenses. How is it here? In Spain we also have our own agile business creation system called CIRCE. It works through the DUE (Single Electronic Document) that groups up to 25 administrative forms into one. Through CIRCE you can create or cease a company, whether it is a SL or a self-employed person, and it can take from one to ten days. Of course, for SLs it is still necessary to complete an in-person procedure at a notary office. Image | Studio4rt, Freepik In Xataka | For 60 years, a farmer with no idea about architecture built a cathedral from scratch in Madrid. The bureaucracy has closed it

Yuanjie is the unknown Chinese photonics technology company whose shares have risen 780%. The surprise is who is behind it: Huawei

by

Yuanjie Semiconductor Technology It probably doesn’t sound familiar to you. And it’s completely normal. Until very recently, this Chinese company barely had visibility outside its domestic market, and even within it it played in the background compared to other giants in the sector. However, something has changed radically in the last year. Your actions They have risen nearly 780%a leap that has not only caught the attention of investors, but has placed its founder, Zhang Xingang, in the billionaires’ club. And there is a detail that adds another layer to the story: Huawei would be behind the company. So you may be wondering what exactly this company does. The key is not so much in Yuanjie itself as in the terrain on which he plays. Yuanjie makes laser chips that are used to transmit data in the form of light inside artificial intelligence-oriented data centers, a field that fits within the broader boom in photonics. It may sound technical, but the idea is quite direct: move more information, faster and with less consumption. As explained by PhotonDeltathis type of technology allows the use of photons to transmit and process information, in addition to integrating several photonic and optoelectronic functions in a single chip, with clear advantages over traditional electronics in high-demand environments. A movement that targets Huawei The other key point appears when you look at who is behind. Forbes presents to Yuanjie as a company backed by Huaweia connection that adds another dimension to their recent growth. From there, details are scarce. It has not been publicly explained how this relationship takes shape or what role each party plays, but there are a series of interesting data that are worth analyzing carefully. Now, if we go down one more level in the documents, the relationship becomes somewhat clearer. Huawei’s presence in Yuanjie would have materialized through Hubble Investment, an investment firm controlled by the Chinese group. As collected by Sina Finance Its entry occurred in September 2020 through a double formula: purchase of existing shares and subscription to a capital increase. With this operation, Hubble controlled 4.36% of Yuanjie, a percentage that later remained at 3.27% after the IPO. If we analyze the jump we can say that it is not only explained by the trend of the sector, but also by recent decisions. Yuanjie announced in February an investment of 1,251 million yuan, about 181 million dollarsto build a new production base in Xixian New Area, in the Chinese province of Shaanxi, where it also has its headquarters. Shortly after, in March, communicated his intention to explore an independent listing in Hong Kong. Two years earlier, in addition, the company had announced an investment of 50 million dollars in the United States to strengthen its international presence. Yuanjie’s journey is also best understood by looking at its founder. Zhang Xingang trained in the United States, where he obtained a doctorate in materials science at the University of Southern California and worked in companies linked to fiber optics. His time at Luminent and, later, at Source Photonics, placed him at the heart of this type of technology before returning to China. There he founded Yuanjie in 2013, with an initial focus more linked to the competitive Chinese telecommunications market, and in 2022 he took it to the STAR market in Shanghai, a platform designed for technology companies. To better understand this case, it is also worth looking at the moment that Huawei is going through. After the sanctions imposed by the United States in 2019the company was forced to reconfigure much of its business, especially in key areas such as semiconductors and software. Far from disappearing, it has gone rebuilding his position relying on its own development, from its Kirin chips to HarmonyOSand has regained weight in its domestic market. This context helps to understand why any movement linked to strategic technologies once again attracts attention to the Chinese company. In this framework, Yuanjie’s relationship with Huawei, as reported by Forbes, fits as one more possible piece within this process of technological reinforcement. There are no public details that allow us to talk about a defined strategy in the field of photonics or the specific role played by each party. But there is an underlying idea that is difficult to ignore: in the midst of a race to expand the infrastructure of artificial intelligence, technologies capable of moving data more quickly and efficiently are gaining weight. Images | Huawei | Yuanjie In Xataka | The looming bottleneck in AI is neither RAM nor gas: it’s that TSMC’s N3 node is absolutely saturated

a Spanish company is the key piece

by

Europe has embarked on the adventure of technological sovereignty. It is pointing to several fields at the same time, being the space sovereignty one of them. Pursuing this objective, the European Defense Agency -EDA- has just awarded a research contract to an aerospace consortium with the aim of creating a military satellite Optimized for very low Earth orbit. And the Spanish Sener will be the one to lead that space A-Team. In short. The EDA contract is for 15.65 million euros and the objective is as mentioned: to create the first European military satellite concept especially used for VLEO space. Spain, France, Luxembourg, Portugal and Slovenia are the countries that are financing the project baptized as VLEO-DEF, and the Spanish Sener will have the task of leading 16 other companies belonging to those five countries. This is not the first time we have talked about Sener Aeroespacial. It is the subsidiary of the SENER group and is one of the Spanish companies who participates in the ambitious rearmament plan of the European Union. It has more than 4,000 employees and its experience covers space, guidance, control and unmanned systems. Very low Earth orbit. Before seeing what the satellite will do, let’s see what very low Earth orbit is. Call too VLEOis the orbital strip that is between 150 and 400 km altitude. It is the lower end of low orbit and, although it may not seem like it, it is actually very close to the Earth’s surface. This brings key benefits such as the ability to capture images with much greater detail, a better signal-to-noise ratio in optical and radio frequency sensors and, above all, very low latency. After all, it is closer than other satellites and the signal must travel a shorter distance. However, it is not a comfortable strip. The atmosphere at that height generates very intense friction and there is an aggressive chemical environment. This implies that the satellites are not “floating”, but rather require almost continuous propulsion. And, in addition, the materials must be very resistant to resist corrosion and, basically, not disintegrate after a short time. VLEO‑DEF. And the idea, precisely, is that. The consortium must find a way to develop a military satellite specifically designed to operate at around 250-350 kilometers altitude in a sustainable manner. The duration of the project will be 36 months and the 17 companies will have to find the key to the technologies that allow the future construction of satellites to operate in VLEO. Because, although this field is very interesting for scientific and observation research, in the military spectrum, flying at that distance from the Earth seems very interesting to achieve what we have mentioned: a much clearer and more detailed observation of the territory. And it is important because we constantly see that they “keep an eye” on what neighboring countries are doing, which has allowed us to know some Chinese operations or the North Korean military ship disaster. Sovereignty. If the program comes to fruition, such an observation satellite can provide key data in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions by being capable of offering much faster communication between the satellite and military commands. With VLEO-DEF, the ultimate goal is to pave the way for future VLEO satellite constellations for border security, protection and intelligence, all within the aforementioned sovereignty. The Ukrainian War and the gas cut by Russia, the case of Greenland with the United States and blackmail of the American president have awakened in the EU that idea that they should start to fend for themselves in fields where they previously delegated to the allies. That is why rearmament began, but also the search for energy alternatives, rare earth, defense programs with European AI and cconstruction of data centers and semiconductor factories. And in all these programs, Spain is emerging as a key partner with space programs, chip development, renewable matrix and with projects for data centers. In Xataka | “Elon Musk can monopolize everything,” warns Arianespace, which has been launching all of Europe’s satellites for 40 years

the future anticipates a two-faced company

by

Fight over the price in Europe. Premium cars out of it. Renault has presented futuREAdy its roadmap for the next four years. Nearby goals for a market that lives upside down, fighting for a reconversion that the public does not end up embracing, in which regulators lead the way and where solutions are sought beyond Europe. futuReady. It is the name of the plan presented by Renault this morning. The company, led by François Provost as CEO of the Renault Group, presented this morning a roadmap that takes over from Renaulutionthe project presented by Luca de Meo in which a separation of powers within the company was devised, which promoted the offensive in the AB segment of electric cars but also opened the door to the combustion engine in an alliance with Geely. Now, the company has set a new milestone: 2030. It is the date that Renault marks as the red line to launch 36 new models on the market distributed between Renault, Alpine and Dacia. Of them, 26 cars will use the Renault diamond, with 12 launches for Europe and 14 launches outside our continent. The project talks about maintaining jobs, incorporating artificial intelligence into processes, new electric platforms… but it also makes clear a clearly differentiated Renault: those inside and outside the EU. Inside. For Europe, Renault is clear that the future is electric… or almost. These are its guidelines: New electric platform to cover the B+ to D segment. That is, cars above the Renault 5, which complement the current Renault Megane and Scenic and options one step above. Your strong point will be your 800 volt platform with very powerful recharges (they promise 10 minutes of stopping, although no powers or recharge percentages are detailed) and ranges of 750 km according to the WLTP cycle. 400 volt architecture for the most affordable versions so we can expect longer charging times (in this case they mention 20 minute recharges) Extended range options. That is, electric with small combustion engines to increase autonomy to more than 1,400 kilometers. It is a solution that promises very low emissions (less than 25 gr/km of CO2 Renault promises) and that It is increasingly common in China. Out. On the contrary, the line that Renault will follow outside of Europe is very clear: take advantage of its collaboration with Geely. That is, leave electricity aside and prioritize the combustion engine. The French have, together with the Chinese company, a company called Horse Project to develop and produce combustion engines. Spain is also key in these developments. Renault’s accounts involve 50% of sales outside Europe being electrified (in Europe it will be 100%) to sell a total of two million cars a year, of which half should come from beyond the European Union. That is to say, Renault needs to expand its presence outside Europe, broaden its horizons and its strategy is to go up a notch and aim towards the premium segment. In that position between the generalist and the premiumthe company Filante has already been presented. It is an SUV that will be available first in South Korea and will then jump to Mexico and the Gulf countries. And his credentials are clear: Segment E (4.92 meters long, very far from what it sells in Europe) Hybrid technology with 250 HP 12.3-inch triple screen Windshield data projector with augmented reality A very different approach. The Renault Filante has a clear aspiration to reposition the French company’s position in the current automobile market. The investment for these new models will be 3 billion euros and will take advantage of the synergies with Geely to launch these cars with a higher price and positioning on the market. The chosen countries are not a coincidence either, South America, South Korea and the Gulf countries are markets where D and E segment cars (from 4.70 meters upwards) have a great weight in the market. It is not enough for Renault to position its cars there, it needs to increase its perception of quality and its brand image if it wants to gain ground. In addition, higher priced cars are also those that can generate a higher profit margin. First, because generating high profit margins with small electric cars (such as Twingo or the Renault 5) is more complicated. Second, because the association with Geely and the use of combustion engines makes it easier to reduce the structural costs of the launch. Saving. What is proposed for Europe is: savings. And the company has indicated that it will launch more electric options within our continent to accompany the current ones. Renault Megane and Scenic. But the fight for this market is expected to be very tough and the price will be key. Therefore, in a clear message aimed at strengthening the economic viability of the project, the brand wanted to make clear how it hopes to save money with its new products: On average, your cars will use 30% fewer parts. A trend in the industry that has Tesla and the Chinese market as main supporters. Use of 350 humanoid robots in the short term Creation of a digital twin of all your plants and control of the supply chain by AI They aim to reduce energy costs by 25% They aim to reduce production costs by 20% They aim to reduce logistics costs by 30% Reduction of variable costs per car by 400 euros on average Two paths. What Renault makes clear to us is that we will have a company with two clearly differentiated paths. Pushed by restrictions promoted by European regulators (although the rules have been relaxed, the electric car remains the main winner in the future), Renault is aware that it needs more competitive cars in the most competitive markets in Europe: the BB-SUV and C and C-SUV segments. This competitiveness can only be achieved versus Chinese manufacturers with attractive products but, above all, they can play on price since it will be key in cars designed for the city … Read more

A single company is going to buy 20% of all the footwear manufactured in Mexico. Their goal: confront China

by

These are not easy times for the footwear industry in Mexico, a sector that generates tens of thousands of jobs, moves million-dollar investments and has its headquarters in the state of Guanajuato. main bastion. In a market highly conditioned by Asian competition, the local industry has experienced setbacks and job lossstaying far below of its production capacity. With this backdrop, the sector has received curious news: a single Mexican company is willing to buy 20% of all national production. Shoe addict. Grupo Coppel is a heavyweight in the Mexican economy. He holding companywhich a year ago announced its plans to invest almost 700 million of dollars in the country throughout 2025, has a long experience in the financial services and retail sector, with hundreds of points sales distributed throughout the country. All in all (and despite its enormous size), it is surprising the advertisement what it just did: in 2026 the company plans to buy no more and no less than 42 million pairs of shoes produced in Mexico. That’s a lot of shoes, right? Yes. To be precise, this is one million more pairs than those already purchased in 2025. However, the figure is striking for another reason. With this enormous volume of purchases, Coppel will account for a fifth (about 20%) of all formal national footwear production. The operation is part of a “strategic alliance” reached with the Chamber of the Footwear Industry of the State of Guanajuato (CICEG) and, according to calculations from the firm itself, will allow “contributing to the livelihood” of the more than 100,000 families that depend directly on the footwear industry in Guanajuato. “This alliance promotes the growth of our companies and strengthens the Mexican footwear industry in an environment of legality, transparency and respect for market rules. By choosing the formal national supplier, you contribute to the construction of a more solid and competitive sector,” celebrated a few days ago Juan Carlos Cashat, president of CICEG. For shoe manufacturers in Guanajuato, the news is a valuable breath of fresh air. Footwear ‘made in Mexico’. His output It is far from that of countries like China, India or Vietnam, but Mexico is a prominent footwear manufacturer. In fact there are rankings that place it as the tenth worldwide and second in Latin America, only behind Brazil. In 2024, the country’s companies produced around 214 million of pairs of shoes, which explains why the sector contributes million dollars to the Mexican GDP (especially in Guanajuato, the heart of the sector) and also maintain thousands of jobs. Despite this footprint, the sector has not had easy years. “The impact of the pandemic was severe. Before 2020 we had 64,000 jobs registered with the IMSS. During the pandemic that figure fell to 49,000,” recognized two years ago the CICEG. Since then the situation has changed, but the sector stay away to be at 100%. Beyond market fluctuations, the industry has had to deal with competition from low-cost merchandise from Asia. Click on the image to go to the tweet. The Government, to the rescue. The data quoted by the local press are eloquent. In 2022, Mexico imported 136.4 million pairs of footwear valued at 1,843 million dollars. Two years later, the Import Trade Balance showed that this flow had already reached 185.5 million pairs with a value of 2,163 million dollars. On average each pair cost $11.6. The problem was not so much the arrival of products manufactured in Asia as the competition it exerts on national firms, especially due to suspicions of price manipulation. To clear up doubts, the authorities responded with an investigation antidumping and in September 2025 they decided to impose a system of compensatory duties on imports from China. It was not the only support from the Government to the industry. In November the Executive advertisement a Textile and Footwear Promotion Plan to finance small and medium-sized businesses. The objective: inject around 6.5 billion dollars to improve the competitiveness of the industry and reactivate 50,000 jobs, recovering part of the lost production muscle. How does the future look? Optimistic. At least that is what the CIEG recognized in December. “Despite a challenging economic and commercial environment, the industry in Guanajuato is beginning to show signs of recovery, especially in terms of employment and productive capacity,” indicates the sectorwhich recalls that between the month of September and October it registered a small rebound in employment. The increase was modest (256), but it is the first recovery “in many years.” The employers’ association also detected a change in the international market. “Total imports remain high, with more than 141 million pairs imported from January to September 2025, although relevant progress in the fight against unfair practices stands out,” celebrates CIEG“Imports from China, corresponding to tariff items with quota, decreased by 81%.” Images | Irfan Simsar (Unsplash) and Phil Desforges (Unsplash) In Xataka | Mexico City is already noticing the economic effect of the World Cup: it is losing homes and gaining Airbnb apartments

Ben Affleck had been secretly setting up an AI company for filmmakers for four years. Netflix just got it

by

Netflix has acquired InterPositivethe post-production AI tools company that Ben Affleck founded in 2022 and that was quietly developing tools. Its 16 employees go to work for the platform and the actor and director takes on advisory roles. The operation occurs just a week after Netflix will abandon the bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. What InterPositive is NOT. It is worth starting with what InterPositive does not do: it does not generate movies from a prompt of text. It’s not soraor anything similar. InterPositive starts from the already shot material of a series or movie (in any production, what is known as the dailiesthe raw footage that is recorded each day) and trains a specific AI model according to the characteristics of each production. This model then allows manipulate material during post-production: correct color, relight shots, add visual effects, reframe shots or redo shots that were not filmed. The company’s first model, for example, was trained to understand what Affleck calls “visual logic and editorial consistency”, respecting the real conditions of a shoot: the model solved common problems such as missing shots, details in the backgrounds that need to be corrected, incorrect lighting… All oriented towards filming techniques, not the actors’ performances. AI yes, but with nuances. At a conference in 2024, Affleck argued that AI “will eliminate the most laborious, least creative and most expensive aspects of filmmaking,” reducing barriers to entry. His stance is born from a specific concern for preserving what he calls “judgment”: the ability to make creative decisions that are only built with decades of experience. Affleck spoke to Netflix executives from InterPositive for the first time last fall, and acknowledged initially feeling “scared” at the idea of ​​computers playing a central role in production. Netflix, in favor. The acquisition fits into a strategy that Netflix has been defining with some consistency since 2024. At that time, the Argentine ‘El Eternauta’ included the first AI-generated scene in the final footagea sequence that was completed ten times faster than it would have been possible to do it with conventional effects. In ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ they used AI to digitally rejuvenate actors, and in ‘Pedro Páramo’ as well, with a total budget equivalent to what the visual effects of ‘The Irishman’ alone cost five years earlier. That timing Well. It’s very curiousand it is not clear if it means anything, that the purchase of InterPositive is announced just a week after Netflix withdrew from the bidding for the studios and streaming from Warner Bros. Discovery. Netflix saved, in the words of its financial director, “2.8 billion dollars.” The acquisition of InterPositive, although certainly of much smaller dimensions (although nothing is known about figures), indicates where it can direct part of those resources: basically, its own production. Disney, on the other side. Meanwhile, one of Netflix’s biggest competitors, Disney, has signed a three-year license agreement with OpenAI which allows Sora users to create short videos with more than 200 characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars. One billion dollars of investment that goes in the opposite direction to what Netflix intends, which is to make its own productions cheaper. Regardless of the position of each player in this game, Hollywood experiments more and more openly with AI in all phases of production, from pre-production to visual effects. A new landscape is opening up for film production and Affleck’s company is just one of the first chapters. In Xataka | ‘Critterz’ will be much more than the first AI-animated film: welcome to the new era of machine-made cinema

The head of AI at Alibaba leaves the company. That points to a 180º turn for the Qwen family models

by

An employee leaving a company does not have to mean a radical change, especially when that employee has been the leader of an important project and his departure occurs just after the launch. This is what just happened with Junyang (Justin) Lin, the technological leader of the team qwen. A strange exit. On March 2, Alibaba launched a new model family lightweight with two fast models designed for edge use, a multimodal model for agentic systems and a reasoning model that stood up to much larger models. The next day, Junyang Lin announced on his X account “I am leaving. Goodbye, my dear Qwen,” without giving further details. And he wasn’t the only one. Also leaving the company were Hui Binyuan, a scientific researcher, and Yu Bowen, head of post-training at Qwen. No one has commented on the reasons behind his departure from the company and rumors that they had been fired They didn’t wait. However, according to Panda Daily, Alibaba said it had approved his resignation. ¿What is happening? Justin’s departure caused a stir among his colleagues, with some claiming that it was “the end of an era”. We are talking about the person who has led the Qwen team from the beginning and a great AI researcher, with an academic profile that exceeds 40,000 citationsso this decision has raised many eyebrows. Whether fired or resigned, Justin was a key figure on the team, but he also leaves just after a launch and several other employees have followed him. What is happening at Alibaba? Closed models. As we said, the parties involved have not offered more details, but the theories have not been long in coming and one of them is that Alibaba could be thinking of moving towards closed models. Alibaba has been making efforts to monetize its AI and closing their models could be part of the plan. It would certainly make sense for the project leader to quit at the prospect of such a profound change. There’s a new guy in the office. Shortly after the news broke, another one jumped out: Alibaba has signed Zhou Haowho until now was a researcher at Google DeepMind. Zhou will join the Qwen team as head of post-training, so he will directly replace Yu Bowen and not Justin. Zhou has been a key figure in the development of Gemini 3, the Seeker’s AI mode, and Deep Research mode. lto open source strategy. DeepSeek, Kimi, Qwen… Chinese companies have become the standard bearers of open source AI, an antagonistic strategy with the closed stance of the US. But it is not a question of giving away AI just for the sake of it, but rather it is part of their roadmap: offering access to create a large user base and thus be able to be dominant in the future. Furthermore, Chinese companies know very well that the US is technologically ahead (Justin himself recognized it recently), so launching open and free AIs is a way to gain ground on them. However, in the long term it does not seem like a very good strategy because there will come a point where they want to monetize it and there is a risk of losing users who feel betrayed. We do not know if Alibaba has already started down this path, but if it has, we will soon see if this risk is real or not. Image | qwen In Xataka | China’s open AIs aren’t “beating” ChatGPT, they’re doing something more important: catapulting their industry

An Aragonese company used the brand ‘La Mafia’ for its restaurants. Italy has managed to have it annulled in Spain

by

The restaurant chain ‘The Mafia sits at the table’ it’s news. And not because of the new features of its Italian-inspired menu or because of the opening of new stores. What has made it hit the headlines (much to its chagrin) is its brand, a business card that the Republic of Italy considers offensive and takes years starring in a complicated judicial soap opera. Now Roma has achieved a key victory that puts the brand in serious danger in Spain. The key: Can the word ‘mafia’ be used happily? What has happened? The news has advanced it the diary Expansion. The Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM) has resolved that the name of ‘The Mafia sits at the table’a popular restaurant chain founded more than 20 years ago in Zaragozais “contrary to public order and good customs”, which is why it has endorsed the request for annulment made by the Government of Italy. The OEPM resolution is recent (February 26) and leaves little room for interpretation. In the opinion of its techniciansthe brand alludes to a real organization with activities “contrary to the ethical and moral principles” of the EU. Hence, I agree with Italy that it is questionable whether it can be registered and exploited on a commercial level. “It would offend the victims and their families,” he warns. Is it something new? Yes. And no. Italy has been maneuvering for years to force the Aragonese restaurant chain to abandon a name that it considers offensive. And nothing has gone wrong in his efforts. In 2015, he filed a complaint that led to the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) refusing to register the trademark at the community level. Years later (2018) it was marked equally important when the General Court of the EU (TGUE) endorsed the decision of the EUIPO and prevented the company from shielding its commercial name. What does that mean? That was more than a simple judicial victory. The decision The TGEU prevented the company from registering its trademark at the community level, which in practice left it unprotected. However, the TGUE’s decision had its limitations. For example, it did not prevent the Zaragoza chain from continuing to use its name in the dozens of restaurants it has throughout Spain. What changes now? The OEPM opinion goes one step (and several) further. The brand is no longer only annulled at the community level, but it is also doing so in Spain, a fundamental decision since ‘La Mafia sits at the table’ (remember) is a chain born 26 years ago right here, in Zaragoza. The Spanish organization has aligned itself with European justice and has come to the conclusion that the name is “contrary to public order” and “good customs”, which is why it has endorsed the request for annulment presented by Italy. Not only that. The transalpine country has already gone to the commercial courts of Barcelona to prevent the Aragonese company from continuing to use its name. What will happen now? “The resolution could be issued in less than a year and, if favorable, would force them to cease using the trademark,” explains to Expansion Josep Carbonell, partner of Fieldfisherthe office that has advised Italy in the procedure. Of course, the company also has margin (one month) to appeal the OEPM’s decision. In any case, its resolution of February 26 represents a setback for the future of the brand in its large market. What is the problem? The underlying question is very simple: can the word ‘mafia’ be used happily or not? Should its commercial use be banned? The company claims that it was inspired by a recipe book and appeals to the right to freedom of expression, remembering in passing that it is not unusual to find books, movies and series focused on the same topic. years ago in fact already clarified that its objective is not to offend anyone, but to generate an atmosphere similar to that of the ‘Godfather’ saga. For the authorities, however, the reading is somewhat different. In its resolution, the TGUE recalled that (at least in this case) using the term “banalizes organized crime” and even warned of the risk of “romanticizing” it. In a similar vein, the OEPM recalls that Spain is no stranger to this criminal organization and its activities, “contrary to the ethical principles” and “fundamental moral values ​​of the EU.” In the background there is a more complex issue, such as remember Carbonell: Is using the word ‘mafia’ in an artistic work the same as elevating it to the category of a business’ trademark? Is it an isolated case? Not at all. The Italian authorities have not only focused on the Zaragoza company. In 2024, fed up with his town being associated with organized crime, the mayor of Agrigento (Sicily) issued a municipal order to prohibit the sale of tourist souvenirs related to the mafia. The underlying reason was similar: to prevent people from doing business with (and romanticizing) an organization that, beyond the veneer that Hollywood has given it, has been causing headaches for the Italian authorities for years. Images | The Mafia 1 and 2 Via | Expansion In Xataka | Sushi was a sleeping giant of the fast food industry: in the US it has already begun to eat hamburgers

Delays and cancellations are putting a hole in Renfe’s accounts. So he’s going to start his own bus company.

by

Renfe Viajeros… by bus. That has been one of the usual trends in recent months, with the company plagued by incidents that have prevented it from providing the service normally. The situation has been so complicated that, it is estimated, the impact of alternative services exceeds 10 million euros each year. The solution: create your own bus network. And Renfe is already looking for a partner. Looking for a partner. The information is brought The Countrywhere it is stated that Renfe is looking for a partner to start its own bus company. The idea would be very simple: Renfe would control 49% of the company and 51% would fall on the side of the collaborator. According to the newspaper, the proposal has already passed the board of directors of Renfe and Renfe Viajeros. Now, therefore, it remains to carry out the tender so that those companies that are interested in offering support to Renfe can sign up. The initial idea would be to have dozens of buses (between 50 and 100, according to the newspaper) to provide service in specific contexts. In Xataka We have contacted Renfe but when we wrote these lines we have not received a response. Because? Because Renfe is spending money on offering an alternative on wheels to its customers. When an incident interrupts the service, Renfe has to have a alternative road transport system. Right now, he has to pay an outside company, renting the buses and related expenses, such as staff. Having its own fleet would entail an expense of around 60 million euros, according to the initial accounts that have been raised. However, the newspaper points out that there are savings of between 90 and 130 million after a decade. That is, each year on average you would be saving about 10 million euros or a slightly higher figure. From the media they collect that the model used will be that of “negotiated procedure with advertising”. This means that Renfe will receive proposals but will be able to negotiate the conditions with the companies that have a more solvent offer. It is an exceptional procedure in the public procurement system. Exceptional situation. The premise, therefore, is to have a fixed fleet of buses and drivers, without having to subcontract and pay others to perform exceptional road services. Until now, the company has to search the market for drivers and buses that are available when a line is cut due to an unforeseen event. In recent years, the problem has been especially serious for the company. The DANA of Valenciathe fires in Galicia and León and the recent cutting of the southern corridor as consequence of the Adamuz accident in Córdoba has forced Renfe to maintain active service with buses for weeks. What does Renfe expect? Attract companies that have been seeing their business contract. And since The Country They point out that Renfe believes that there is more than enough business to keep the contracted buses active for at least 10 years. In fact, the contract would be for a decade, extendable to another five years, and they say that demand peaks could multiply current ones by nine. The movement could be interesting for bus companies because, right now, There are route tenders that are half dead and in which work is done with very low demand. Some of these companies would find a new outlet for their vehicles with each Renfe breakdown or incident in the infrastructure. In addition, it must be taken into account that the impact on the accounts may be greater when the incident (such as those described above) is not scheduled because forces Renfe to enter a market with few drivers and with companies that know the urgency of the company. Forced. It must be taken into account that a good part of Renfe’s business continues to be public. Therefore, you have the obligation to provide an alternative service when incidents occur on high speed but also if, for example, there are incidents on Cercanías or Rodalies. Any improvement in facilities that requires the interruption of rail traffic is replaced with buses. Photo | Pablo Nieto Abad and Fabio Romano In Xataka | Spain thought that Spain could manufacture the perfect trains for Spain. The reality: Spain is already looking for trains in Germany

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.