Interview with Antonio Cimorra, AMETIC's Director of Digital Transformation and Enabling Technologies

The AMETIC association represents companies of all sizes linked to the Spanish digital technology industry, a key sector for the national GDP. Among other issues, AMETIC seeks to promote a favorable environment for the growth of companies in the sector, promoting digital talent and the creation and consolidation of new companies.

At datos.gob.es we spoke with Antonio Cimorra, Director of Digital Transformation and Enabling Technologies at AMETIC, to reflect on the role of open data in innovation and as the basis for new products, services and even business models.

Full interview:

1. How does open data help drive digital transformation? What disruptive technologies are the most benefited by the opening of data?

Open data is one of the pillars of the data economy , which is called to be the basis of our present and future development and the digital transformation of our society. All industries, public administrations and citizens themselves have only just begun to discover and use the enormous potential and usefulness that the use of data brings to improving the competitiveness of companies, to the efficiency and improvement of services. of Public Administrations and to social relations and people's quality of life.

2. One of the areas in which they work from AMETIC is Artificial Intelligence and Big Data, among whose objectives is to promote the creation of public platforms for sharing open data. Could you explain to us what actions you are carrying out or have carried out for this?

At AMETIC we have an Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Commission in which the main companies that provide this technology participate . From this area, we work on the definition of initiatives and proposals that contribute to disseminating their knowledge among potential users, with the consequent advantages that their incorporation in the public and private sectors entails. Outstanding examples of actions in this area are the recent presentation of the AMETIC Artificial Intelligence Observatory, as well as the AMETIC Artificial Intelligence Summit. which in 2022 will celebrate its fifth edition that will focus on showing how Artificial Intelligence can contribute to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and the Transformation Plans to be executed with European Funds

3. Open data can serve as a basis for developing services and solutions that give rise to new companies . Could you tell us an example of a use case carried out by your partners?

Open data, and very particularly the reuse of public sector information, are the basis for the development of countless applications and entrepreneurial initiatives both in consolidated companies in our technology sector and in many other cases of small companies or startups found in this source of information the motor of development of new businesses and approach to the market.

4. What types of data are most in demand by the companies you represent?

At present, all industrial and social activity data are in great demand by companies , due to their great value in the development of projects and solutions that have been demonstrating their interest and extension in all areas and types of organizations and users. usually.

5. It is also essential to have data sharing initiatives such as GAIA-X , built on the values ​​of digital sovereignty and data availability. How have companies received the creation of a national hub ?

The technology sector has received the creation of the GAIA-X national hub very positively, understanding that our contribution from Spain to this European project will be of enormous value to our companies from very different fields of activity. Data sharing spaces in sectors such as tourism, health, mobility, industry, to give a few examples, have Spanish companies and experiences that are an example and a reference at European and global level .

6. Right now there is a great demand for professionals related to data collection, analysis and visualization. However, the supply of professionals, although it is growing, continues to be limited . What should be done to boost training in skills related to data and digitization?

The supply of technology professionals is one of the biggest problems for the development of our local industry and for the digital transformation of society. It is a difficulty that we can describe as historical, and that far from going less, every day there is a greater number of positions and profiles to cover. It is a worldwide problem that shows that there is no single or simple formula to solve it, but we can mention the importance of all social and professional agents developing joint and collaborative actions that allow the digital training of our population from an early age. and cycles and specialized training and degree programs that are characterized by their proximity to what will be the professional careers for which it is necessary to have the participation of the business sector

7. During the last years, you have been part of the jury of the different editions of the Aporta Challenge. How do you think these types of actions contribute to boosting data-driven businesses?

The Aporta Challenge has been an example of support and encouragement for the definition of many projects around open data and for the development of its own industry that in recent years has been growing very significantly with the availability of data of very different groups, in many cases by the Public Administrations, and their subsequent reuse and incorporation into applications and solutions of interest to very different users.

Open data constitutes one of the pillars of the data economy, which is called to be the basis of our present and future development and of the digital transformation of our society.

8. What are the next actions that are going to be carried out in AMETIC linked to the data economy?

Among the most outstanding actions of AMETIC in relation to the data economy, it is worth mentioning our recent incorporation into the national hub of GAIA-X for which we have been elected members of its board of directors, and where we will represent and incorporate the vision and contributions of the digital technology industry in all the data spaces that are constituted , serving as a channel for the participation of the technology companies that carry out their activity in our country and that have to form the basis of the projects and use cases that integrate into the European network GAIA-X in collaboration with other national hubs.