The multinationals Huawei and NTT Data show interest in the technological commitment of the Region of Murcia | The truth

Furthermore, Gilabert highlighted that the Digital Transformation Agency of the Region of Murcia is a pioneer because it allows the Community to have 100% of its digital competencies in a single body. «There are large multinationals that have paid attention to the work that the Agency is developing and the regional Government's commitment to digital transformation. This may attract future investments from companies to set up their business in the Region of Murcia, as well as possible public-private collaborations to develop projects within the framework of this sector. Likewise, to attract possible investments, it can be achieved that regional SMEs in the sector can collaborate with large companies,” they point out from the Treasury.

In any case, they clarify that the fact that large companies such as Huawei and NTT Data are looking at the Community does not mean that the investment is assured, but rather that “there are contacts since they have shown their interest in the Region for everything that is is doing in this field,” they add.

In this sense, Carlos Ortiz Bru, Minister of Transport and Telecommunications of the Permanent Representation of Spain to the European Union, considers that if the Region of Murcia wants to gain weight in Europe it has to make efforts to invest in the knowledge, technology and R&D. To do this, it is necessary to “have an active business community” and also seek European aid and partners in other countries.

Ortiz Bru made these statements to LA VERDAD shortly before the start of the Dialogues with Europe, organized by the UMU Public Policy Chair and Observatory, where he addressed the itinerary of successes, failures and digital reinvention of the European Union.

For Ortiz Bru, the new oil in the field of telecommunications is data. To promote this new oil, in his opinion, “imagination, political will, initiative and training” are needed.

The professor of Telematics Engineering at the UMU Antonio Fernando Skarmeta Gómez adds to these four variables one that in his opinion is very important: money. And it is because Europe has the opportunity to fight for leadership in data management, taking into account that the majority of European data is in the hands of American companies: Google, Amazon, etc.

According to their reasoning, the challenge at this time is to control whether whoever we share our data with makes the use of it that we expect it to make. Here lies the importance of cybersecurity, a fundamental point for General Director Gilabert because the lack of control in this matter can discourage the democratization of its use. Hence, adds Skarmeta, the challenge of ensuring that the data can be processed locally. “It is essential to take advantage of it,” he says.

In his speech, Ortiz Bru drew the map of the successes and failures of the European Union in technological matters. Among the first he placed the market liberalization that favored competition in the 90s. Europe went from having large operators to the atomization of the market with 250 companies, compared to three from China and six from the United States.

However, «the economic crises that have shaken the EU since 2007 led to the indebtedness of operators and the loss of capacity. That led us to a situation of paralysis until 2015. However, now a new stage begins, with the use of data technology and that is where Europe can make its way,” he points out.

“The European Union is the first to regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI), but we have to be careful because excess regulation hinders the competitiveness of companies,” says Bru. The challenge, he insists, is that in the current context of the war in Ukraine, Europe has to invest in defense, but also in the environment, which is one of the priorities and in addition there is no longer the capacity to go into debt indefinitely. For this reason, Ortiz Bru warns of the importance of allocating sufficient resources to gain competitiveness in the field of data processing, 5G and 6G.

For Skarmeta it is important to keep in mind that “Europe is a pioneer in certain technologies such as 5G, IoT and AI, but also in promoting regulations for the use of data and the ethical use of AI. To take advantage of the new stage, training and preparation of new generations is needed and investment in value chain developments is encouraged: design of devices with more intelligence and processing capabilities.