02 October, 2026Under the slogan “Fast Movers”, AFM Cluster celebrated its 80th anniversary yesterday at Tabakalera in Donostia-San Sebastián, at an event that brought together more than 400 attendees, including representatives of its member companies, institutions, partners and professionals linked to industry. The celebration commemorated a journey that began in 1946 but was conceived above all as a forward-looking event, focused on how AFM Cluster intends to respond to an industry evolving at an ever-increasing pace.
Cooperation, speed and teamwork were the three themes shaping the event. Three pillars that sum up the “Fast Movers” philosophy and through which AFM Cluster sought to convey the importance of anticipating change, collaborating to tackle increasingly complex challenges and placing people at the heart of every transformation process.
Xabier Ortueta, Managing Director of AFM Cluster, spoke at the event, reviewing the organisation’s evolution and highlighting some of the main challenges currently facing advanced manufacturing. His remarks linked AFM’s 80-year history with the transformation the industry is undergoing today and with the need to continue moving forward with speed, cooperation and adaptability.
Carmen Pinto, President of AFM Cluster, focused on the people and companies that have built the organisation over these eight decades. Her remarks focused particularly on teamwork, one of the three central themes of the event, and to the importance of continuing to strengthen a collective project capable of addressing the challenges of the coming years.
The event also included speeches by Jordi Hereu, Minister of Industry and Tourism; Eider Mendoza, President of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa; Jon Insausti, Mayor of Donostia-San Sebastián; and Mikel Jauregi, Minister of Industry, Energy Transition and Sustainability of the Basque Government. Their remarks reflected the strategic importance of industry, collaboration between companies and institutions, and the role of advanced manufacturing in economic and social development.
They were joined by other institutional, economic and business representatives who also joined AFM Cluster for its 80th anniversary celebration: Unai Andueza, Provincial Deputy for Economic Promotion and Strategic Projects in Gipuzkoa; Andoitz Korta, Deputy Minister for Industrial Promotion in the Basque Government; Pablo Conde, Director General for International Business Development at ICEX; and Marisol Garmendia, Spanish Government Delegate in the Basque Country.
The event also featured several artists, including Raúl Pérez Ortega, who hosted the evening, María Berasarte, Kukai Dantza, David Azurza, and Pirata and his band, who brought music, dance and humour to the celebration.
Eighty years after its founding, AFM Cluster now brings together nine industrial associations and more than 850 companies linked to advanced and digital manufacturing. The anniversary provided an opportunity to look back on the journey since 1946, but above all to set out how the organisation intends to approach its next chapter. “Fast Movers” sums up that ambition: to move quickly in the face of change, to do so through cooperation, and to move forward as a team.
