The 13 most digitized countries in Europe, gathered in Amsterdam within the framework of the informal forum D9+ and from which Spain is part, have signed this Thursday a joint statement in which they urinate to increase technological investment in the continent and prioritize funds for the development of artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, quantum computing, cybersecurity and data.
In addition, they have pledged to reduce barriers, simplify rules and improve access to financing, especially for ‘startups’, as reported by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Function in a statement after the participation of the holder of the portfolio, Óscar López, at the D9+ meeting in the capital of the Netherlands. The D9+ statement also bets on promoting the investment of the European Investment Bank (BEI) (chaired by the former Minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño) in digital risk capital, as well as by optimizing public procurement and using the purchasing power of the European Union to strengthen “critical technologies”, protect the interests of the block and coordinate technological regulation with “related partners.”
In this context, López has claimed the public-private investment model of the Spanish Technological Transformation Society (SETT) (known colloquially as the ‘SEPI Digital’), which manages around 16,000 million euros to coinvert in technological projects. The SETT came into operation in July last year and has since announced different investments, although its activity has accelerated in recent months. The largest investment of the ‘SEPI Digital’ so far is the financing of construction in Malaga of a semiconductor research and manufacturing center, the first that the Interuniversity Microelectronics Center (IMEC) will install outside Belgium and to which the SETT will allocate 500 million euros.
To this is added the entry of the ‘SEPI Digital’ in the Basque company Multivrse Computing with an investment of 67 million euros and the expansion of state participation in the Catalan satellite satellite connectivity firm with an injection of 13.85 million, through which the Government becomes its main shareholder. In addition, the SETT has also entered the Canarian firm Wooptix with an investment of 4 million euros and in Madrid Sensia, to which it has allocated 9 million euros.
On the other hand, López has defended at the D9+ meeting the need for “Europe to invest in Europe” to gain technological sovereignty in the current geopolitical context, although it has opted for this effort to “combine innovation, human rights and well -being.”