The President of the Telefónica Foundation, César Alierta, has expressed in his visit to the School of Economics of the University of Navarra the importance of the Digital Revolution, a historic event that "will affect all sectors" and whose core topic is in the Big Data. Alierta gave to the students of the School the lecture 'El challenge de la digitalización'.

" Big Data facilitates innovation in a way that has never been seen before in the history of mankind," he said. Alierta explained that by analyzing huge amounts of information, companies can get to know their customers' needs and, from there, come up with new products. "Innovation is going to accelerate dramatically. The business that does not have Big Data will not survive, because its competitor will be much more innovative," he predicted. In addition, he warned that "the most competitive companies will be those that apply digital systems in their production line".

Alierta emphasized that "the progress of humanity is based on two sectors: the Education and innovation". He also pointed out the lack of technological Education that exists today, as there are 160,000 vacant work positions due to a lack of specialists in the technology sector. "The problem of most companies is that they do not have digital experts," he assured. However, according to the executive, Education Elementary students around the world will occupy professions that "do not exist today and that have digital skills in common."

Alierta explained that, after more than fifteen years as president of one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world, he left his post because he had become "obsolete" in a digital world "that is advancing at a spectacular speed". He also stressed that his successor, José María Álvarez-Pallete, was "better for the future of the company".

Finally, Alierta said that his commitment to social action through the Telefónica Foundation gives him great satisfaction: "I like to see Telefónica's customers happy, but I like even more to see the children in the third world that you pull out of the hole happy.