AMETIC, Spain’s digital-economy employers’ association, has held the 34th Telecommunications and Digital Economy Encounter under the banner “Digitization and Sustainability for Reconstruction. NOW OR NEVER”. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic this year’s encounter was held in a special hybrid format, both onsite and online. Attendance and participation were both all-time highs, with over 112 national and international speakers, 24 debating panels, 35 institutional representatives and over 9000 connections.

As a prelude to the main encounter AMETIC and the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (UIMP) held an online seminar under the title “Digital technology in COVID-19 management” dealing with the pandemic’s impact on the digital transformation . Luis Fernando Álvarez-Gascón, general manager of GMV’s Secure e-Solutions sector, spoke about public innovation policies to drive the recovery, based on strategic missions and Macroproyectos Tractores (MPTs). MPTs are public-private collaboration projects designed to drive industrial innovation and the digitization of public services and added-value chains, geared towards sustainability and generating job-, entrepreneurship- and internationalization-possibilities.

During the Encounter’s first day Luis Fernando Álvarez-Gascón, as AMETIC’s Vice President, moderated the debating panel "Policies for the country’s sustainable, innovating, digital and industrial recovery. Strategic projects and missions: Macroproyectos Tractores", where he called for a higher R&D outlay by Spain to keep up with European competitors. "Innovation is crucial for economic growth, company competitiveness and meeting society’s stiffest challenges ".

The following days then dealt with various burning issues of the sector and their effect on the reconstruction . In the cybersecurity panel the marketing manager of GMV’s Secure e-Solutions sector, Javier Zubieta, argued that “this unprecedented event has not hit everyone equally. Companies that have opted for cybersecurity-intensive business-continuity schemes have fared much better”. Based on his own experience, Zubieta advocated investment in vulnerability diagnosis to maintain a snapshot of the state of technological infrastructure from the cybersecurity point of view as the base for subsequent reconstruction. Budget cutbacks are now likely in 2021 but Zubieta warned against the temptation of cutting cybersecurity outlay, since cybercriminals are not going to slacken their own efforts.

 

Another of the issues dealt with was healthcare digital technology in times of coronavirus, under the slogan “The Spanish citizen, owner of his/her health and donator of knowledge”, moderated by María Neira, Director of the Public Health, Environment and Social Determinants department of the World Health Organization, and with the participation of Carlos Royo healthcare strategy manager of GMV’s Secure e-Solutions sector and president of AMETIC’s health committee. Carlos Royo presented AMETIC’s Healthcare MPT, with three clear objectives: to boost industrial development, innovation and sustainability in order to place Spain at the worldwide cutting edge of the healthcare technology sector. Royo stressed the moment for all pulling together is “Now or Never”. Spain has the ability and hence the duty to do so, otherwise we would commit a grave irresponsibility.

On the second day Luis Fernando Álvarez-Gascón moderated the panel "HITEC: connecting digital professionals from different continents ", now acting as member of HITEC Spain. The Hispanic IT Executive Council is the worldwide leadership organization for technology and business executives with a standout technology track record. Luis Fernando Álvarez-Gascón has been hailed on several occasions by HITEC as one of the 50 most influential and notable professionals of the ICT sector in Latin America and Ibero-America.

The encounter wound up with a discussion panel on “Innovation and business growth during the economy”, moderated by Luis Fernando Álvarez-Gascón, as AMETIC Vice President and President of its Innovation Committee. Álvarez-Gascón argued for the need of bringing innovation onto the national agenda. At the moment innovation is underrated in Spain’s society; Spain’s R&D funding is correspondingly low, at 1.2% of the GDP, only half of the European mean, so we are lagging well behind the ranking we both need and deserve.