With a score of 14 out of a possible 15 points, obtaining this seal places the Canary Islands within the European network of Digital Innovation Hubs, through which the European Commission will promote cutting-edge policies in the sector.
The Minister for Economy, Knowledge and Employment, Elena Máñez, accompanied by the Director of the Canary Islands Agency for Research, Innovation and the Information Society, Carlos Navarro, and the President of Innovalia, Jesús de la Maza, announced last Tuesday that the European Seal of Excellence in digital innovation had been awarded.
The European Commission granted this recognition to the proposal submitted by the Canary Islands Digital Innovation Centre, CIDIHUB, a consortium of organisations and competence centres specialising in business digitalisation. They provide key infrastructure and resources for the digital transformation of private companies and public bodies. Although it mainly operates in the Canary Islands, it also collaborates and works with organisations from other regions and countries both within and beyond Europe.
The entities that make up CIDIHUB are: Innovalia Association of Technological Companies, the Institute of Technology and Renewable Energy (ITER), the Canary Islands Maritime Cluster (CMC), the Marine Sciences Technology Centre (CETECIMA), Canarias Excelencia Tecnológica (CET), Avantalia Soluciones, the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN), the Canary Islands Institute of Technology (ITC), the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), the University of La Laguna (ULL), the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), Tenerife Science and Technology Park (PCTT), Fuerteventura Technology Park (PTF), the Gran Canaria Society for Economic Promotion (SPEGC), and the Canary Islands Confederation of Employers (CCE).
By joining this network alone, CIDIHUB will receive €4.5 million in funding, to be jointly provided by the European Union and the Spanish Government. “The Government of the Canary Islands will also contribute €600,000, aimed primarily at strengthening cybersecurity solutions developed within the Islands’ innovation ecosystem,” the Minister announced.
CIDIHUB Canarias is supported by the Canary Islands Agency for Research, Innovation and the Information Society and aligns with the roadmap established by the Government of the Canary Islands to strengthen R&D&I. It highlights the importance of coordination among all public and private actors, professionals, businesses and universities in order to capitalise on local strengths, drive digital transformation and turn the Islands “into a laboratory for innovation”. To present this milestone, three working groups were held to outline and coordinate joint actions.
The first session, “Digital Innovation Hubs as a mechanism for convergence with Europe”, in which José Joaquín Hernández Brito, Director of PLOCAN, took part, reviewed European, national and regional public innovation policies to clarify what a DIH (Digital Innovation Hub) is, how it operates and how it fits into today’s innovation ecosystem, with the aim of facilitating digital innovation in a territory connected to the European environment.
The second session, “Challenges of digital innovation in the Canary Islands”, identified and assessed the real challenges posed by digital innovation in the archipelago, as well as the actual digitalisation needs of Canary Islands companies and society.
Finally, the session “Advanced and complementary capabilities within CIDIHUB” detailed the capabilities, tools and technologies that CIDIHUB contributes to the regional economy and business sector, specifically the consolidation of the regional innovation ecosystem, specialised training, public-private financing, and the development, testing and validation of digital technologies.
The event concluded with an address by Carlos Navarro, Director of the Canary Islands Agency for Research, Innovation and the Information Society, who summarised the main conclusions reached during the meeting.
The CIDIHUB project is funded by the European Commission’s “DIGITAL” Programme and the Support Programme for Digital Innovation Hubs (PADIH), under Spain’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR) through the European Union’s “NextGeneration EU” funds.
