Due to the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and its Economic and Business Studies, three professors in the field of Finance from the institute perform an analysis of the evolution of the financial function and a projection of future scenarios in order to identify challenges and opportunities. Joan Llobet introduces the topic based on an academic vision that has adapted to the substantial changes that have occurred and which takes on the challenge of facing the changes still to come. On the other hand is the article by Jorge M. Uribe, a compilation of the most important events of the past 25 years in order to understand how the financial field is currently structured. Through his experience, we will see how concrete aspects evolve (valuation of assets, quantitative risk management, etc.) in order to profile what they are like today. Finally, Àngels Fitó describes the current context of the financial field, establishing its conditioning factors and future direction.

This article analyses the reasons that limit the adoption of new technologies and slow down the digital transformation process of companies in the industrial sector. Beyond technical or economic aspects, the origin of the slowdown lies in the lack of transversality of existing professional profiles in the context of Industry 4.0. In view of this, the article also analyses the labour impact and the new professional profiles that will be necessary to deal with the digital transformation process, as well as the role that will be played by experts, working groups and diagnostic tools in this process.