At the end of 2023, after his re-election as President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez decided to make movements in the composition of the Executive for the new legislature. Among the most notable is the creation of a specific portfolio for Digital Transformation, which until now was part of the Economy portfolio. José Luis Escriva, former head of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, has been chosen to lead this newly inaugurated ministry.
However, this position did not last long, since, just a month later, towards the end of the year, Sánchez took another step and, in this case, included the Civil Service, which until then depended on the Treasury, as well as the Digital Transformation. From there was born the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Civil Service, again, under the tutelage of Escrivá.
Today, almost a year after this announcement, changes are occurring again in the composition of the Executive, since the same José Luis Escriva was elected governor of the Bank of Spain after the vacancy left by Pablo Hernández de Cos. After weeks of rumors about this possible move, tomorrow, Wednesday, the departure of the minister from the portfolio that he himself inaugurated and in which he has not been a full year will be confirmed.
A short but intense period
At his inauguration, the President had already put forward some of the guidelines according to which he intended to organize his stay at the head of this company (which, at the time, was not supposed to be so brief), among which, the promotion of artificial intelligence and its ethical use, the development of the country’s technological capabilities and the transformation of public administration.
Within these three pillars, Escriva promised to strengthen the region’s digital capabilities at a key moment for technology, not only at the national level, but also at the European level (with the recently approved European regulation on artificial intelligence).
Today, looking back and comparing what was expected with what was achieved, it appears that the Minister’s time in the Digital Transformation and Public Service portfolio It was short, but intense. Although some initiatives such as the new cybersecurity law and the regulatory framework for sustainable data centers have remained pending, two projects announced during his inauguration and which have not yet seen the light of day, have emerged in front of others that will mark the future of this ecosystem in recent years.
From DISRUPTORS-THE SPANISH We analyze the digital projects that have emerged during Escrivá’s months at the helm of this ministry, from the announcement of the creation of the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation to the new Spanish Artificial Intelligence Strategy or the Beta Digital Portfolio.
From Data Space to Semiconductor Education
Among the first advertisements that Escrivá customized after taking office was the Spanish industrial center opens in La Riojaan agreement he signed with the president of the region’s government, Gonzalo Capellán, at the beginning of this year. This project, developed jointly between the two administrations, is part of the Language Valley and aims to promote the new linguistic economy.
Specifically, within the framework of this initiative, it is planned to create a data space in Spanish supported by artificial intelligence (AI) that will be used by organizations and companies for the development of tools and applications for productive, industrial and research use.
Also in early 2024, the former Minister of Digital Transformation and Civil Service gave the green light to Creation of 17 university chairs within the framework of the Cátedras Chip program within the framework of the Strategic Project Microelectronics and Semiconductors (PERTE Chip). In total, it should mobilize a public-private investment of 54.5 million euros, of which nearly 45 million will come from the Executive, with the aim of financing the training of experts in this field.
Almost immediately, the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence (SEDIA), dependent on the ministry chaired by Escriva, announced the launch of the ONE Platform (National Office of Entrepreneurship), a virtual space that brings together all the resources necessary to support players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The “digital SEPI”
One of the great events of Escrivá during his term was the creation of a new public commercial entity called SETT (Spanish Society for Technological Transformation). At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the former minister announced this company, created with the aim of promoting Spain’s digital sovereignty and the modernization of the administration, channeling funds and projects related to the development of the industrial ecosystem throughout the country; the semiconductor value chain, supporting state-owned companies and the audiovisual sector.
This organization is supported by 20 billion euroswhich come from existing initiatives such as the PERTE Chip, with 12,000 million euros, the NextTech fund, with 4,000 million euros, or the Audiovisual Hub fund, with 1,700 million euros.
In March, the Council of Ministers approved the urgent preparation of the Royal Decree that regulates the conditions for the transformation of the company SEMyS, the instrument used to develop the PERTE chip, into a public commercial entity Spanish Technological Transformation Company, responsible for the operation of the SETT, a first step towards its implementation. However, it was not until last July that The Government has consolidated this change.
Indeed, just a few hours after its deployment progressed, one of its first lines of action was announced: financing for the construction of the IMEC building in Malaga.
In addition, at the beginning of August held the first meeting of the SETT, during which the activity of said organization began and the proper names that will compose said entity were announced. Therefore, The presidency of the Board of Governors corresponds to the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure, Maria Gonzalez Veracruz; The vice-presidency goes to the PERTE flea commissioner, Jaime Martorell; and the general management in Javier Ponce, who until then acted as deputy general director of SEMys.
It is worth mentioning that at the Mobile World Congress where SETT was announced, a deal was also proposed that would eventually come to fruition weeks later: IBM and government collaboration to build the great artificial intelligence model in Spanish. Escriva, present at the signing, stressed the importance of this alliance at a time when AI has “very significant potential” in terms of productivity gains for a multitude of economic sectors.
New AI Strategy
Another of Escrivá’s big announcements during these months was the approval of a Spain’s renewed artificial intelligence strategywhich has come to reinforce the existing one and involves an investment of 1,500 million euros, to which are added 600 million already in progress in programs, mainly, dedicated to talents (here are the R&D +i Missions, the AI and Cybersecurity Chairs or Quantum Spain).
At the AI Summit organized by Ametic, the former Minister of Digital Transformation and Civil Service announced this document, which is valid until 2025 and is organized into eight levers structured around three axes: on the one hand, strengthening the development of AI; on the other hand, facilitating the application of AI in the public and private sectors by focusing on innovation and cybersecurity; and finally, promoting transparent, responsible and humanistic technology.
Regarding AI, during this period, the Ministry also launched the process of electing the Director General of the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence (AESIA). Finally, last June, Ignasi Belda was chosen to lead this pioneering institution, which began operations on September 2.
Also in June, this portfolio constituted the International Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence, where AI experts meet to advise the ministry on key aspects of developing the technology.
Consultation kit
During these months also Kit Consulting has been developeda program dedicated to supporting Spanish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on the path to digital transformation. Specifically, this initiative is aimed at companies with between 10 and 250 workers and has an associated budget of 300 million euros, funded by the European Union through the Next Generation funds.
As the Executive explains, the amount that each SME receives depends on the number of workers it has, so those between 10 and 50 years old will be entitled to 12,000 euros, those between 50 and 100 will be entitled to 18,000 euros and those between 100 and 250 will be eligible for 24,000 euros.
These aids are materialized through the “digital consulting voucher”, with which they can contract one or more services from the proposed catalog by formalizing agreements with the “affiliated digital advisors”. Escriva himself celebrated the fact that, just one day after the call was opened, Kit Consulting received more than 600 requests.
Digital Wallet Beta
Among the president’s latest moves, the presentation of the platform stands out Digital Wallet Betathe government-developed application that includes a verification system to ensure age of majority in accessing adult content.
Specifically, users will have to present an ID by scanning a QR with this application to verify that they are over 18 years old. All this will be done anonymously, destroying the link between the user’s information and the “virtual passport”, and cyber-secure, ensuring that no identity theft occurs.
This system, now accessible to all operators concerned (social networks, browsers, operating systems, etc.) and will be accessible to citizens in a first version released at the end of summer, It is part of the entry into force of eIDAS2.
Escriva himself stressed that the development of this solution placed Spain as a pioneer region internationally in the adoption of age verification tools. However, he encouraged other regions to join forces with similar tools with the aim of achieving European harmonisation in the coming years.
Latest projects
Escrivá’s last weeks at the helm of the position he was born at the same time as him coincided with the summer. Although this stage is usually quiet in terms of the launch of different initiatives, some noteworthy projects have come to fruition.
At the end of June, the Ministry of Digital Transformation and
Public Service published in the BOE a new call for the Digital Generation SME Program, which seeks to promote the digital transformation of this type of Spanish companies. The objective is to offer training programs in this area to provide them with key skills.
Just a few days after the presentation of this initiative, the Executive announced the approval of a direct grant of 315,440 euros to the Mondragón Corporation to develop, through a continuous edge-cloud infrastructure in the European cloud, IoT, AI and edge computing applications to be integrated into the production processes of the manufacturing industry.
This investment is part of the Important Project of Common European Interest in Integrated Computer Systems (IPCEI-CIS) and complements the allocation of 111 million granted at the end of last year to direct participants, including Telefónica, Arsys and OpenNebula.
