CUNEF Universidad's Impact Days focus on new leadership, AI and digital transformation

On 24 and 25 February, CUNEF Universidad held the 2^nd edition of its “Impact Days”, a two-day conference aimed at the university community and focused on the transformative role of companies and institutions in today’s economy and society as a whole. In this edition, the Impact Days featured a lecture by Regina Zavala, sustainable leadership and ESG integration specialist at Forética, and a roundtable discussion between Inmaculada Martínez, AI researcher specialising in innovation, cybersecurity and data governance, and José Luis Salmerón, professor of Computer Science and AI at CUNEF Universidad. 

During the first day, Regina Zavala outlined the five ESG trends identified by Forética for 2026: sustainability as a differentiating factor for competitiveness in Europe, reactivated investment in sustainable companies and products, social inequality related to the impoverishment of young people, the housing crisis, child poverty, and bottlenecks in the welfare state. She also talked about climate goals and the global water crisis, as a quarter of the world's population does not have access to safe drinking water. Finally, she focused on the role of companies as a source of well-being for society and highlighted that increasing the investment in comprehensive employee health could generate up to $11.7 trillion of economic value worldwide. 

The discussion  on “AI and digital transformation: impact on the economy and society” was held on the second Impact Day. During her conversation with Professor Salmerón, Inmaculada Martínez highlighted the huge potential of cybersecurity for future professionals, given the advances in quantum computing and the development of artificial intelligence. She predicted that, within ten years, there will be AI models capable of understanding life on Earth, which will lead to automation and profound changes in sectors such as logistics, supply chains or manufacturing industries, among others. She also emphasised the role of geopolitics, noting that the United States and China have realised that AI “is today’s oil,” as it has become a critical resource to achieve exponential economic development. 

With this type of activity, CUNEF Universidad aims to promote rigorous thinking and interdisciplinary dialogue on the great challenges of our time, as well as to ensure that its university community is equipped to lead the positive impact demanded by companies, institutions and society as a whole, with responsibility, ethics and a global vision.