South Summit Madrid defends AI as an opportunity, not a threat, and calls for a more competitive Europe

With the participation of His Majesty King Felipe VI, and chaired by South Summit president and founder María Benjumea, the event placed AI at the center of a new stage of entrepreneurship. "AI is no longer an isolated technology, but a cross-cutting axis that redefines industries, business models and strategic capabilities. It’s a paradigm shift," said María Benjumea.

She called for Europe to compete more effectively on a global scale and reduce barriers to business growth. "AI… does not replace criteria or vision, but it does shorten times and accelerate and transform an idea into something tangible."

Inaugurating the event, Spain’s Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Function, Óscar López, announced €162 million of grants for dual-use technologies in AI, semiconductors and robotics. He pointed to Spain’s predicted rise in economic growth, citing the nation’s status as Europe’s connectivity leader as a key metric in attracting new investment.

IE Business School’s Dean, Lee Newman, spoke of AI’s potential to create value, saying, "AI enables small teams to operate with the agility, reach and impact of much larger organizations. For the entrepreneurial and investment ecosystem, the question is no longer whether it’s possible, but how far they want to go."

Over the South Summit’s three days, 600 international speakers, 20,000 attendees, 4,900 startups and over 2,000 investors, family offices, venture builders, corporations and institutions came to Madrid to participate. As well as His Majesty King Felipe, former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, Madrid Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida, Community of Madrid President Isabel Díaz Ayuso, GoogleX founder Sebastian Thrun and Female Invest co-founder Anna Hartvigsen all attended.

Best-selling author and serial startup investor Kim Perell was a guest speaker. In her talk "Mistakes that Made Me a Millionaire," she reflected on the lessons she has learned over a career that has seen her sell her latest venture for $235 million. "The reality is that it was the mistakes that contributed the most to my success. Before advancing to the next level, you'll make mistakes, fail, get rejected and want to give up. However, I discovered that mistakes did not break me, but made me stronger," she said.

Perell urged entrepreneurs to make the leap into the unknown: "Entrepreneurship is not about having a great idea, but about the discipline of executing and moving forward even when you don't have all the answers. If you wait until you feel 100% ready, you'll probably never start."