Public-private collaboration, a priority for the Ministry

The Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, has closed the second day of the DigitalES Summit with a call for public-private collaboration, “absolutely essential to move forward”. In her intervention, Morant has stressed the urgency of applying digitization to reduce social gaps. “Our mission as a government is to ensure that digital technology is at the service of all people and helps reduce gaps and inequalities and not create them.”

In this context, Cristina Gallach, Special Commissioner for the Alliance for the New Economy of the Language, stated: “Public institutions and the private sector must ensure the positive impact of technology on four axes: inclusion, diversity, progress and respect ”.

The opportunity to adopt digitization for social well-being, as well as for sustainability, have been two of the major topics discussed today by executives from Cellnex Telecom, HP, Kearney, Lexmark, NEC Ibérica and Nokia, among other technology companies . Not in vain, DigitalES Summit is a congress certified as sustainable by the 02 Foundation. In addition, within the framework of the collaboration of the technology employers’ association with the ONCE Foundation, it is an accessible event, both in its face-to-face and online modalities.

And it is that 20% of the world’s population has some type of disability. Jesús Hernández, director of Accessibility and Innovation at Fundación ONCE, recalled this, before adding: “Companies must understand that developing accessible products will also provide them with better economic results”.

The Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, has assured at the DigitalES Summit that public-private collaboration, “absolutely essential to move forward”

The Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, also spoke today, highlighting the work of the EOI in training in digitization and entrepreneurship aimed at young people. Likewise, she has valued the work of ENISA -attached to this ministry- for the support of startups founded by women, about which she has affirmed that “they last longer, are more solvent, take on less debt and return credits better ”.

For her part, the Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence, Carme Artigas, held a conversation with three young people, whom she invited to continue training throughout their lives, also seeking to combine technical and humanistic skills. “A doctor will have to know about algorithms and a programmer will have to know about laws. A world of technological humanism comes to us, but with a much more Renaissance vision ”, she has commented.

Today there was also talk about technological innovation, and about the innovation challenges of the digital transformation industry itself. Arca., Capgemini and Qualcomm, among other leading companies, have shared proposals to strengthen Spain’s technological sovereignty. An autonomy that, as Douglas Vaz Benítez, general director of Qualcomm Iberia, has recalled, must be sought from an open approach, “establishing stable relations with the rest of Europe”.

We have learned about the case of ADIF, which collaborates in the development of the new standard for railway telecommunications, on 5G. “We are at an essential moment in the history of our country. We have the opportunity to reach a position in the digital transformation in the field of mobility that we could not obtain in previous revolutions”, stated Andrés Vicente, president and CEO of Ericsson Spain.

In defense of greater concentration in the ‘telco’ sector

The keynotes of this second day were given by the heads of Grupo MÁSMÓVIL, Meinrad Spenger, and Vodafone Spain, Colman Deegan. In Spenger’s opinion, the merger between Orange and the company he runs will not affect competition in the Spanish market. Along the same lines as the CEO of Orange Spain, Jean-François Fallacher, stated yesterday, Spenger has pointed out that the joint venture will be beneficial for promoting the presence of stronger operators in Spain and ensuring the sustainability of the industry and its investments

Similarly, Deegan highlighted during his speech at DigitalES Summit 2022 that “we are at a time of great changes in the sector in terms of market structure” because “the Spanish market is very competitive and profitability has been diluted in the years to the point where there is no return that can justify the investments. In this sense, the CEO of Vodafone Spain advocates the transformation of the market structure: “We recognize the steps taken by the Government to improve the sector with the 5G roadmap and we support the movements that have taken place to consolidate the market, with perhaps three mobile network operators with the scale to ensure the competitiveness of the networks of the future”.