Every day, millions of products travel roads, ports, warehouses, and distribution centers before reaching a supermarket, a factory, or a home. But behind this entire chain—behind every package that crosses Europe in less than 48 hours or every container that arrives at the port—there is an activity that often goes unnoticed, despite sustaining a large part of the economy: logistics. A sector that, despite its discretion, represents close to 7% of GDP and generates about a tenth of new jobs. A sector that, moreover, in recent years is redefining itself, with the irruption of artificial intelligence and an increasingly complex geopolitical context.
And its main showcase in Barcelona wants to reflect precisely this transformation: SIL will begin a new stage in 2027 with a change of name, positioning, and location. The hitherto International Logistics Exhibition will be renamed the Logistics Innovation Exhibition, a new identity that will coincide with the move from the historic Montjuïc pavilions to Fira Gran Via, in l'Hospitalet de Llobregat.
This move responds to the remodeling of Fira de Barcelona within the framework of the celebration of the centenary of the 1929 International Exhibition, which will transform the historic Montjuïc exhibition center. But, the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona, organizer of the exhibition, has decided to turn this forced relocation into an opportunity to rethink the event and promote a "strategic leap" in its positioning.
"Logistics is experiencing a great revolution in recent years," defended the general director of the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (CZFB), Blanca Sorigué, during the presentation of SIL 2027. "We want the exhibition to be the showcase where it is tangibly shown how technology, talent, and sustainability are redefining logistics," she added. Thus, the 2027 exhibition, which will be held from June 9 to 11, will also mean a growth of the event, both in square meters—still pending confirmation—, and in thematic verticals and content, with the aim of making it more experiential and tangible, with more innovation spaces, more live demonstrations, and new thematic axes.
The renaming of the hall also entails a symbolic redefinition of its identity. "The most notable change is the letter I in the name. Internationalization is already taken for granted in both the sector and the hall; now it's time to focus on the I for innovation," summarized the executive president of the CZFB and president of SIL, Pere Navarro.
And these days, the corridors of SIL —which until this Friday occupied the Palacio de la Metalurgia in Montjuïc— have been a good example of this innovation. With 600 participating companies, 30% international, the exhibition has showcased live some of the solutions that are already transforming the sector: robots that prepare orders in warehouses, algorithms that reorganize routes to avoid congestion, or digital platforms that connect transporters and companies.
For Navarro, this change of direction requires a degree of courage comparable to its origins. The first SIL was held as a symposium in 1998, at a time when logistics did not yet occupy a prominent place on the economic agenda. "The organizers took the plunge and highlighted a sector that is often not seen but is very relevant to society and the economy," Navarro recalled.
Barcelona, a growing logistics hub
More than two decades later, SIL has grown to become an exhibition that, in this last edition alone, has brought together more than 15,000 visitors from 87 countries and 250 speakers. For Sorigué, however, the relevant figure is another: "the exhibition must be measured in terms of knowledge, networking, and business." In this sense, the general director highlighted that, through the SILvIA digital platform —which incorporates artificial intelligence—, more than 5,500 interactions and 7,622 contact exchanges have been generated.
The growth that the salon has experienced in recent years is, in reality, a symptom of the transformation of the sector itself in a city like Barcelona, which has consolidated itself as a strategic logistics hub thanks to its privileged geographical position. The Catalan capital acts as a gateway for commercial flows from Africa and as a connection point with the main European markets and Southeast Asia. According to the latest Acció report (2023), in Catalonia the sector contributes more than 31.3 billion euros of gross added value (GAV) and employs nearly 128,000 people.