SEIDOR celebrates its 40th anniversary at Sónar+D

Barcelona, 15 June 2023. The technology consultancy firm SEIDOR has culminated the year of its 40th anniversary at Sónar+D, the international interdisciplinary gathering that takes place annually in Barcelona, during the Sónar festival. The event brought together 400 participants, including clients, institutions and leading companies in the technology sector, at the Barcelona Conference Centre located in the Barcelona Fair.

During the event hosted by SEIDOR, a company that became the first technology consulting firm to partner with Sónar in its 30 years of history, Kate Darling, considered the world's leading expert in robot ethics, gave a talk on "trends in social, ethical and legal relationships between humans and robotic creations".

Specifically, the MIT researcher and scientist pointed out that "the incorporation of robotics into our daily lives should not be considered as a way to substitute or recreate something we already have, but rather as a partner we can use for support". Darling also added that, "robots will undoubtedly determine our future, and we must make an effort to start thinking about how we will regulate them by anticipating scenarios and legislating".

SEIDOR has chosen Sónar as the setting for its celebration, as it is a cultural initiative with international reach that is clearly aligned with the values of technological humanism on which its corporate purpose is based. What's more, in this edition, the technology consultancy joins Sónar+D, which offers the possibility of seeing, hearing, touching and debating AI and its ethical, industrial and social consequences.

It should be noted that SEIDOR's invitation to Kate Darling is in line with the company's desire to contribute to the debate and reflection on the growing infiltration of Artificial Intelligence in organisations and in people's lives.

During his speech, Josep Benito, CEO of SEIDOR, highlighted that "SEIDOR's 40th anniversary marks the culmination of a period of extraordinary growth, which has led us to build a team of 8,000 professionals in the 44 countries where we currently operate". In view of this reality and in the context of Sónar, Benito added that "in addition to growing as a company, we also want to strengthen our ecosystem of values, with the firm desire to humanise technology by always placing people at the centre of our decisions".
The consultancy firm's strategy is based on the values it includes in its new purpose 'Humanising technology,' a claim (or slogan) that defines the company's raison d'être and integrates the expectations of society, organisations and the stakeholders with which it relates.

Humanistic technological leadership

This value is particularly relevant in the current context, characterised by a hostile economic environment due to the war in Ukraine, inflation and post-pandemic effects. In a complex and uncertain scenario such as this, SEIDOR believes that restoring our respect for the human condition is more important than ever. Technology must focus on the values that make us human, contributing to a more diverse, inclusive and environmentally friendly world.

In the event's closing remarks, Iván González, Marketing, Communication and Sustainability Director at SEIDOR, stressed that "this collaboration with Sónar is a statement of intent about the company, as participation in this event aims to stimulate thought and ideas about the relationship between technology and people".

Elsewhere, Ventura Barba, Executive Director of Sónar, stated that "Sónar+D has always been closely tied to technology. The artists we work with use more and more technology to create. For this reason, we want to serve as a catalyst for art and technology, two closely linked worlds that never cease to feed off each other and promote the humanisation of our environment".

Kate Darling at Sónar +D

In addition to the private session, which took place today, 15 June, as the closing of the series of events marking the 40th anniversary of the technology consultancy firm, SEIDOR's invitation to Kate Darling extends to a second session to take place tomorrow, Friday, 16 June, as part of the programme

Kate Darling is a researcher and scientist at the MIT Media Lab who studies the evolving relationships between human beings and seemingly living machines, an increasingly relevant issue as Artificial Intelligence becomes more prominent in people's daily lives. A prolific writer and regular contributor to various media outlets, such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, the BBC, NPR and The Guardian, Kate Darling is conducting experiments to explore how we perceive interactions between humans and robots, focusing on the emotional connection we establish with machines.