The objective of this paper is to examine the degree to which the enterprises located in industrial districts of the Valencian Community (a Spanish region) have organizational structures and characteristics that differ from other firms established in other zones of the Community. Second, the paper tries to determine if these characteristics correspond to the elements that constitute the theoretical model of the industrial district. Literature on industrial districts defines the principal elements constituting this model of organization in which the co-ordination of specialized activities takes place through the combination of market forces and of co-operative relations. The empirical analysis of these factors in firms located within the Valencian Community shows how those firms that are integrated into local productive systems have characteristics that correspond to a great degree to the theoretical characteristics of the industrial district.

La investigación pretende identificar en qué medida el imaginario de los actores locales, entendido como el ideal de desarrollo, se relaciona con el desarrollo de las comunidades rurales. La investigación es descriptiva, asume un enfoque cualitativo, con diseño no experimental. Se estudian países de América Latina, como Chile, Bolivia, Argentina y Ecuador, usando información secundaria, literatura especializada, documentos y manuales de organizaciones relacionadas con el fenómeno de estudio. Además, se aplica el método Delphi dirigido a expertos en la temática a fin de recabar sus apreciaciones y puntos de vista. Desde la perspectiva teórica, y apoyado en las versiones de los expertos encuestados, el desarrollo de una comunidad rural depende de los actores locales, cuanto mayor sea la visión o el ideal de desarrollo mayor será la oportunidad de ejecutar acciones que permitan transformar su comunidad, mejorar la calidad de vida y lograr beneficios para la comunidad. Como conclusión, se establece que el modo y los procesos de desarrollo dependen del ideal de desarrollo y del imaginario de los actores locales; lográndose éste cuando el ideal es compartido en la sociedad, lo que depende de aspectos como la confianza, lealtad, gratitud, amistad, compromiso y participación comunitaria.

Background: Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is diffusing among consumers at exceptional speed, yet little is known about how its adoption relates to households’ prior engagement with digital financial services, or about the barriers associated with non-adoption. Methods: Using individual microdata from the 2025 Spanish Survey on ICT Equipment and Use in Households (INE; 14,642 internet users aged 16 and older), we estimate survey-weighted logistic regressions of GenAI adoption on financial digital engagement, digital skills and sociodemographics, with autonomous community fixed effects and cluster-robust standard errors, complemented by average marginal effects, alternative variance estimators, and an analysis of all stated reasons for non-use. Results: GenAI adoption is 37.3% among internet users. Online banking users have 73% higher adjusted odds of adopting GenAI (OR = 1.73; 95% CI 1.53–1.97), and adoption rises monotonically from 18% to 79% across a 0–4 financial digital engagement index, although this gradient is driven mainly by the online banking (extensive) margin. A steep age gradient is present, but the financial digital advantage does not significantly widen with age. Among non-adopters, the most frequently stated reason for non-use is a lack of perceived need (67%); privacy or security concerns are also prominent (43%) and are cited disproportionately by online banking users, women, and older individuals. Conclusions: Prior financial digital engagement is a strong correlate, rather than a demonstrated cause, of consumer GenAI adoption, consistent with experience and facilitating condition constructs in UTAUT2. Among capable non-adopters, for whom access and skills are not the obstacle, privacy- and security-related concerns, rather than a broader deficit of trust in AI, emerge as the most salient barriers to adoption, underscoring these concerns as priorities for consumer-facing AI in financial services.

The food industry is the most important industrial activity in Spain in terms of production and employment; its spatial concentration is considerable. However, there is a lack of quantitative research on its agglomerations, especially at high levels of spatial and sectorial disaggregation. With the study presented, this deficit is addressed, using systematic and quantitative methods to examine the spatial agglomeration in the subsectors that the food industry is specialized. Spanish food industry clusters have been identified by applying a top-down quantitative methodological approach—the cluster index—and following a high level of territorial and sectorial disaggregation. Clusters were identified at the three- and four-digit sectorial disaggregation. The number of four-digit-level relevant clusters was higher than three-digit disaggregation. This evidence was verified using nonparametric statistical tests (Wilcoxon signed-rank test). Furthermore, the analysis of four significant three-digit subsectors allows us to advance two alternative explanations for the divergent results at the different levels of the analysis (three digits vs. four digits). This partly explains the potential competitiveness of Spain in the food industry and shows the possibility of establishing policies for the development of clusters.