A Coruña is on the lips of all those involved in technology or research in the ICT field. During the last few months everything has been good news. The designation of the city as the headquarters of the Spanish Agency for Artificial Intelligence (AESIA), the definitive backing of the Cidade das TIC and the support of multinationals such as Inditex for projects linked to R&D&I seek to raise a technological ecosystem capable of completely transforming the city.

And if there is one person who is especially happy with this news, it is Salvador Naya, Vice-Rector for Science Policy, Research and Transfer at the University of A Coruña. A man who does not hide his satisfaction with the future plans of the University and who aspires to make his city a capital capable of attracting investment and talent linked to digitalization.

A Coruña, and especially its university, is going through a sweet moment. The AESIA, the Cidade das TIC, the support of Inditex to AI… And, in addition, the RIS3, the regional strategy to promote innovation that seems to fit with the plans of the institution.

RIS3 is a strategy that interests us a lot. The UdC was in all the preparatory meetings with the Axencia Galega de Innovación and we are totally aligned with it. Any request for funds to develop technological and sustainable projects must comply with its requirements and we are working on it. The University has been developing initiatives that fit very well with the strategy, such as the project we are developing with Navantia to design the shipyard of the future through research and development of 5.0 technologies. Or the commitment to open lines of research in green algorithms to develop ICT solutions to ecological challenges based on Artificial Intelligence. All these projects fit perfectly with what is asked of us in the Galician strategy.

AESIA can be a before and after. When do you foresee it becoming operational?

It is a pity that we have to wait until September, but we have to launch a call for 40 positions for the agency and we have to meet deadlines. We are living a transcendental moment in the development of AI and we should congratulate ourselves for becoming one of the centers where the future of artificial intelligence in our country will be discussed. It is increasingly important to regulate everything that has to do with AI and it will be difficult to stop what the big companies want. To contribute to this regulation we have already requested a chair of Artificial Intelligence linked to green and intelligent algorithms. And to achieve this we have the support of Inditex, a company that is very interested in everything to do with AI. Technological development must not only generate progress but also be sustainable and linked to the objectives of the RIS3. Big data consumes a lot of resources and we must go further along the lines of being more efficient and sustainable.

Jesús Lago, president of the Intersectoral Technology Alliance of Galicia and general director of Aimen, will lead the delegation that the entity will send to MeetechSpain, the event that brings together the Spanish innovative ecosystem and held in Madrid on May 18 and 19. MeetechSpain is the annual convention organized by the Spanish Federation of Technology Centers in which ATIGA and the seven centers that are part of it are integrated.

The alliance attends a new edition of MeetechSpain with a renewed discourse and image in which the emphasis will be placed on the sustained growth over time of the Galician technology sector. Galicia is the fourth largest R&D&I ecosystem in Spain after Catalonia, Madrid and Valencia thanks to figures that have continued to improve in recent years.

The seven entities that are part of ATIGA employ more than 1,700 highly qualified people, have a turnover of more than 90 million euros and develop more than 450 projects for 2,000 clients each year. “Galicia is at an optimal time to continue strengthening our innovative ecosystem based on a firm commitment to the transfer of knowledge from universities and technology centers to companies and the development of cutting-edge technology,” says Lago, who points out that in recent years the seven centers that make up the entity he has chaired since October last year have developed 140 patents.

Atiga arrives in Madrid in a year full of good news for the Galician R&D&I ecosystem. The award to A Coruña of the European Agency for Artificial Intelligence just a few weeks ago or the recent approval of the Regional Research and Innovation Strategy for Smart Specialization -RIS3 Galicia- confirm the good moment of the technological sector of the Community.

Atiga, backbone of the innovative and technological ecosystem

Lago will speak on the 18th at the Speakers Korner that the organization has reserved for the various technology centers and regional federations to take stock of the work done over the past year and in which the president of Atiga will emphasize the backbone role of the alliance in Galician innovation.

“The seven technology centers are as compatible as necessary in Galicia. We are living a decisive moment to consolidate ourselves among the regions with the greatest weight of R&D&I in our country”, adds Lago, who emphasizes the work of Atiga as the entity capable of “getting the capabilities and technologies of the seven entities to reach the productive sectors to generate value and development”.

MeetechSpain, first level networking

MeetechSpain is one of the most attractive networking events on the national scene in which participants can demonstrate their capabilities to an audience full of investors, talent and companies driven by the desire to collaborate and the search for new technology projects.

Some thirty research centers from all over the country will participate with their own stand in an event that will be inaugurated by the Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant. ATIGA will also take part in the challenge in which it will measure its strengths against representatives of other technological institutions in the country.

In addition to participating with its own stand and speaking to all participants in the speaker korner, the Galician delegation will be able to participate in round tables and deploy an intense agenda of contacts with technology centers and companies from around the world that will meet at the event to be held in the capital of Spain.