The initial approach of the ministry is based on four axes that coincide with Tera’s proposal: people, digital government, companies and infrastructures

The regional executive reactivates the Innovation Forum after three years without convening

 

The Government of Cantabria has reactivated the Innovation Forum with the aim of collecting contributions from all agents in the technological system for the design of a Digital Agenda. “We are grateful that the executive has taken the gauntlet that the Tera Cluster has been demanding for a long time, a document that structures and regulates the development of the digital economy in the autonomous community,” says the vice president of Tera and member of the Innovation Forum, Roberto Garcia.

The meeting, which was held this Wednesday after three years without being convened, was chaired by the Minister of Industry, Innovation, Employment and Commerce, Eduardo Arasti, who assured that his team is already working on the design of a roadmap that allows ” maximize the impact on economic growth and the well-being of citizens. A process that is part of the RIS3 Cantabria 2021-27 Intelligent Specialization Strategy, which the Government Council approved on February 1.

The development of a plan that orders the development of Information and Communication Technologies in Cantabria has been a priority for the cluster since its constitution in 2019, and the initial document proposed by the Government is largely close to Tera’s proposal. . In this sense, during the meeting progress was made in the axes on which this strategic sheet will pivot, which will be focused on people, digital government, companies and infrastructures. “Four essential points in which companies in the region will be able to provide relevant information and future projects that will promote the technological and digital evolution of our region,” says García.

The counselor has valued the necessary collaboration of all competent actors “so that they can contribute their knowledge, experience and concrete proposals.” To do this, he has brought together groups of experts from the academic and business world in the field of artificial intelligence, supercomputing and cybersecurity. “We will be delighted to collaborate with the Government of Cantabria in the landing and development of a Digital Agenda that favors technological evolution and allows companies to gain competitiveness,” says García.

 

 

Digital transformation in Cantabria

In the midst of the technological revolution, Cantabria is one of the few communities in which there is no Digital Agenda. Furthermore, it is below the state average in most of the indicators related to the use of ICT, which makes the implementation of a roadmap that stimulates the use of technology and prioritizes actions in this area even more urgent. of digitization.

The community is four points below the average in percentage of population with basic or advanced digital skills; 11.2 points below the national average in percentage of companies that use social media; 12 points below in terms of companies that buy cloud services; 14.3 points below the Spanish average in companies that use an ERP; 6.2 points below in percentage of companies that use business intelligence software; and 3.1 points below in percentage of companies that use artificial intelligence.

 

The Tera Cluster proposal

Since its constitution in 2019, the Tera cluster has demanded a Digital Agenda, aligned with the Digital Spain 2026 Agenda, that includes Cantabria’s weak points in this matter.

The text that Tera made available to the Government raises a series of proposals divided into three blocks: Infrastructure and Technology, Economy and People.
The first section includes the need to encourage and provide facilities to operators to reach the entire territory of the autonomous community with fiber optics or, failing that, enable the extension of internet via 5G or satellite. Furthermore, to guarantee security, the Government must build the Cantabrian Cybersecurity Center (CCC), with early warning and incident management service capacity for all critical sectors of the economy and the autonomous Administration itself. Likewise, the existence of an Autonomous Data Space is essential to energize the ICT sector of Cantabria when it comes to building digital services and developing AI products and algorithms.

The second block, dedicated to the economy, presents a series of proposals for the digital transformation of the public sector and companies. An easy-to-use interface so that companies and citizens can interact with the Administration is vital to guarantee electronic processing.