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We live in an increasingly digitalised world where we work, study, inform ourselves and socialise through technologies. In this world, where technology and connectivity have become fundamental pillars of society, digital rights emerge as an essential component to guarantee freedom, privacy and equality in this new online facet of our lives.

Therefore, digital rights are nothing more than the extension of the fundamental rights and freedoms we already benefit from to the virtual environment. In this article we will explore what these rights are, why they are important and what are some of the benchmark initiatives in this area.

What are digital rights and why are they important?

As stated by Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, during the Internet Governance Forum in 2018:

"Humanity must be at the centre of technological evolution. Technology should not use people; we should use technology for the benefit of all".

Technology should be used to improve our lives, not to dominate them. For this to be possible, as has been the case with other transformative technologies in the past, we need to establish policies that prevent as far as possible the emergence of unintended effects or malicious uses. Therefore, digital rights seek to facilitate a humanist digital transformation, where technological innovation is accompanied by protection for people, through a set of guarantees and freedoms that allow citizens to exercise their fundamental rights also in the digital environment. These include, for example:

• Freedom of expression: for uncensored communication and exchange of ideas.
• Right to privacy and data protection: guaranteeing privacy and control over personal information.
• Access to information and transparency: ensuring that everyone has equal access to digital data and services.
• Online security: seeks to protect users from fraud, cyber-attacks and other risks in the digital world.

In a digital environment, where information circulates rapidly and technologies are constantly evolving, guaranteeing these rights is crucial to maintaining the integrity of our interactions, the way we access and consume information, and our participation in public life.

An international framework for digital rights

As technology advances, the concept of digital rights has become increasingly important globally in recent decades. While there is no single global charter of digital rights, there are many global and regional initiatives that point in the same direction: the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Originally, this declaration did not even mention the Internet, as it was proclaimed in 1948 and did not exist at that time, but today its principles are considered fully applicable to the digital world. Indeed, the international community agrees that the same rights that we proclaim for the offline world must also be respected online - "what is illegal offline must also be illegal online".

Furthermore, the United Nations has stressed that internet access is becoming a basic enabler of other rights, so connectivity should also be considered a new human right of the 21st century.

European and international benchmarking initiatives

In recent years, several initiatives have emerged with the aim of adapting and protecting fundamental rights also in the digital environment. For example, Europe has been a pioneer in establishing an explicit framework of digital principles. In January 2023, the European Union proclaimed the European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade, a document that reflects the European vision of a people-centred technological transformation and sets out a common framework for safeguarding citizens' freedom, security and privacy in the digital age. This declaration, together with other international initiatives, underlines the need to harmonise traditional rights with the challenges and opportunities of the digital environment.

The Declaration, jointly agreed by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, defines a set of fundamental principles that should guide Europe's digital age (you can see a summary in this infographic):

• Focused on people and their rights: Technology must serve people and respect their rights and dignity, not the other way around.
• Solidarity and inclusion: promoting digital inclusion of all social groups, bridging the digital divide.
• Freedom of choice: ensure fair and safe online environments, where users have real choice and where net neutrality is respected.
• Participation in the digital public space: to encourage citizens to participate actively in democratic life at all levels, and to have control over their data.
• Safety and security: increase trust in digital interactions through greater security, privacy and user control, especially protecting minors.
• Sustainability: orienting the digital future towards sustainability, considering the environmental impact of technology.

The European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles therefore sets out a clear roadmap for the European Union's digital laws and policies, guiding its digital transformation process. While this European Declaration does not itself create laws, it does establish a joint political commitment and a roadmap of values. Furthermore, it makes clear that Europe aims to promote these principles as a global standard.

In addition, the European Commission monitors implementation in all Member States and publishes an annual monitoring report, in conjunction with the State of the Digital Decade Report, to assess progress and stay on track. Furthermore, the Declaration serves as a reference in the EU's international relations, promoting a global digital transformation centred on people and human rights.

Outside Europe, several nations have also developed their own digital rights charters, such as the Ibero-American Charter of Principles and Rights in Digital Environments, and there are also international forums such as the Internet Governance Forum which regularly discusses how to protect human rights in cyberspace. The global trend is therefore to recognise that the digital age requires adapting and strengthening existing legal protections, not by creating "new" fundamental rights out of thin air, but by translating existing ones to the new environment.

Spain's Digital Bill of Rights

In line with all these international initiatives, Spain has also taken a decisive step by proposing its own Charter of Digital Rights. This ambitious project aims to define a set of specific principles and guarantees to ensure that all citizens enjoy adequate protection in the digital environment. Its goals include:

• Define privacy and security standards that respond to the needs of citizens in the digital age.
• Encourage transparency and accountability in both the public and private sectors.
• To promote digital inclusion, ensuring equitable access to technologies and information.

In short, this national initiative represents an effort to adapt regulations and public policies to the challenges of the digital world, strengthening citizens' confidence in the use of new technologies. Moreover, since it was published as early as July 2021, it has also contributed to subsequent reflection processes at European level, including the European Declaration mentioned above.

The Spanish Digital Bill of Rights is structured in six broad categories covering the areas of greatest risk and uncertainty in the digital world:

1. Freedom rights: includes classic freedoms in their digital dimension, such as freedom of expression and information on the Internet, ideological freedom in networks, the right to secrecy of digital communications, as well as the right to pseudonymity.
2. Equality rights: aimed at avoiding any form of discrimination in the digital environment, including equal access to technology (digital inclusion of the elderly, people with disabilities or in rural areas), and preventing bias or unequal treatment in algorithmic systems.
3. Participation rights and shaping of public space: this refers to ensuring citizen and democratic participation through digital media. It includes electoral rights in online environments, protection from disinformation and the promotion of diverse and respectful online public debate.
4. Rights in the work and business environment: encompasses the digital rights of workers and entrepreneurs. A concrete example here is the right to digital disconnection of the worker. It also includes the protection of employee privacy from digital surveillance systems at work and guarantees in teleworking, among others.
5. Digital rights in specific environments: this addresses particular areas that pose their own challenges, for example the rights of children and adolescents in the digital environment (protection from harmful content, parental control, right to digital education); digital inheritance (what happens to our data and accounts on the Internet after our death); digital identity (being able to manage and protect our online identity); or rights in the emerging world of artificial intelligence, the metaverse and neurotechnologies.
6. Effectiveness and safeguards: this last category focuses on how to ensure that all these rightsare actually fulfilled. The Charter seeks to ensure that people have clear ways to complain in case of violations of their digital rights and that the authorities have the tools to enforce their rights on the internet.

As the government pointed out in its presentation, the aim is to "reinforce and extend citizens' rights, generate certainty in this new digital reality and increase people's confidence in the face of technological disruption". In other words, no new fundamental rights are created, but emerging areas (such as artificial intelligence or digital identity) are recognised where it is necessary to clarify how existing rights are applied and guaranteed.

The Digital Rights Observatory

The creation of a Digital Rights Observatory in Spain has recently been announced, a strategic tool aimed at continuously monitoring, promoting and evaluating the state and evolution of these rights in the country with the objective of contributing to making them effective. The Observatory is conceived as an open, inclusive and participatory space to bring digital rights closer to citizens, and its main functions include:

• To push for the implementation of the Digital Bill of Rights, so that the ideas initially set out in 2021 do not remain theoretical, but are translated into concrete actions, laws and effective policies.
• To monitor compliance with the regulations and recommendations set out in the Digital Bill of Rights.
• Fighting inequality and discrimination online, helping to reduce digital divides so that technological transformation does not leave vulnerable groups behind.
• Identify areas for improvement and propose measures for the protection of rights in the digital environment.
• Detect whether the current legal framework is lagging behind in the face of new challenges from disruptive technologies such as advanced artificial intelligence that pose risks not covered by current laws.
• Encourage transparency and dialogue between government, institutions and civil society to adapt policies to technological change.

Announced in February 2025, the Observatory is part of the Digital Rights Programme, a public-private initiative led by the Government, with the participation of four ministries, and financed by the European NextGenerationEU funds within the Recovery Plan. This programme involves the collaboration of experts in the field, public institutions, technology companies, universities and civil society organisations. In total more than 150 entities and 360 professionals have been involved in its development.

This Observatory is therefore emerging as an essential resource to ensure that the protection of digital rights is kept up to date and responds effectively to the emerging challenges of the digital age.

Conclusion

Digital rights are a fundamental pillar of 21st century societyand their consolidation is a complex task that requires the coordination of initiatives at international, European and national levels. Initiatives such as the European Digital Rights Declaration and other global efforts have laid the groundwork, but it is the implementation of specific measures such as the Spanish Digital Rights Charter and the new Digital Rights Observatory that will make the difference in ensuring a free, safe and equitable digital environment for all.

In short, the protection of digital rights is not only a legislative necessity, but an indispensable condition for the full exercise of citizenship in an increasingly interconnected world. Active participation and engagement of both citizens and institutions will be key to building a fair and sustainable digital future. If we can realise these rights, the Internet and new technologies will continue to be synonymous with opportunity and freedom, not threat. After all, digital rights are simply our old rights adapted to modern times, and protecting them is the same as protecting ourselves in this new digital age.

Content prepared by Carlos Iglesias, Open data Researcher and consultant, World Wide Web Foundation. The contents and views expressed in this publication are the sole responsibility of the author.

The value of open satellite data in Europe

Satellites have become essential tools for understanding the planet and managing resources efficiently. The European Union (EU) has developed an advanced space infrastructure with the aim of providing real-time data on the environment, navigation and meteorology.

This satellite network is driven by four key programmes:.

• Copernicus: Earth observation, environmental monitoring and climate change.
• Galileo: high-precision satellite navigation, alternative to GPS.
• EGNOS: improved positioning accuracy, key to aviation and navigation.
• Meteosat: padvanced meteorological prediction and atmospheric monitoring.

Through these programmes, Europe not only ensures its technological independence, but also obtains data that is made available to citizens to drive strategic applications in agriculture, security, disaster management and urban planning.

In this article we will explore each programme, its satellites and their impact on society, including Spain''s role in each of them.

Copernicus: Europe''s Earth observation network

Copernicus is the EU Earth observation programme, managed by the European Commission with the technical support of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).. It aims to provide free and open data about the planet to monitor climate change, manage natural resources and respond to emergencies.

The programme is structured into three main components:

1. Space component: consists of a series of satellites called Sentinel, developed specifically for the needs of Copernicus. These satellites provide high quality data for various applications, such as land, sea and atmospheric monitoring.
2. Component in situ: includes data collected through ground, air and sea stations. These data are essential to calibrate and validate the information obtained by the satellites, ensuring its accuracy and reliability.
3. Operational Services: offers six thematic services that transform collected data into useful information for users:
   • Atmospheric monitoring
   • Marine monitoring
   • Terrestrial monitoring
   • Climate change
   • Emergency management
   • Safety

These services provide information in areas such as air quality, ocean status, land use, climate trends, disaster response and security, supporting informed decision-making in Europe.

Spain has played a key role in the manufacture of components for the Sentinel satellites. Spanish companies have developed critical structures and sensors, and have contributed to the development of data processing software.  Spain is also leading projects such as the Atlantic Constellation, which will develop small satellites for climate and oceanic monitoring.

Sentinel satellite

Figure 1. Table satellites Sentinel. Source: own elaboration

Galileo: the european GPS

Galileo is the global navigation satellite system developed by the European Union, managed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and operated by the European Union Space Programme Agency (EUSPA). It aims to provide a reliable and highly accurate global positioning service, independent of other systems such as the US GPS, China''s Beidou or Russia''s GLONASS. Galileo is designed for civilian use and offers free and paid services for various sectors, including transport, telecommunications, energy and finance.

Spain has played a leading role in the Galileo programme. The European GNSS Service Centre (GSC), located in Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, acts as the main contact point for users of the Galileo system. In addition, Spanish industry has contributed to the development and manufacture of components for satellites and ground infrastructure, strengthening Spain''s position in the European aerospace sector.

Figure 2. Satellite Galileo. Source: own elaboration

EGNOS: improving the accuracy of GPS and Galileo

 The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) is the European satellite-based augmentation system (Satellite Based Augmentation System or SBAS) designed to improve the accuracy and reliability of global navigation satellite systems ( Global Navigation Satellite System, GNSS), such as GPS and, in the future, Galileo. EGNOS provides corrections and integrity data that allow users in Europe to determine their position with an accuracy of up to 1.5 metres, making it suitable for safety-critical applications such as aviation and maritime navigation.

Spain has played a leading role in the development and operation of EGNOS. Through ENAIRE, Spain hosts five RIMS Reference Stations located in Santiago, Palma, Malaga, Gran Canaria and La Palma. In addition, the Madrid Air Traffic Control Centre, located in Torrejón de Ardoz, hosts one of the EGNOS Mission Control Centres (MCC), operated by ENAIRE. The Spanish space industry has contributed significantly to the development of the system, with companies participating in studies for the next generation of EGNOS.

Figure 3. Table satellite EGNOS. Source: own elaboration

Meteosat: high precision weather forecasting

The Meteosat programme consists of a series of geostationary meteorological satellites initially developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and currently operated by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). These satellites are positioned in geostationary orbit above the Earth''s equator, allowing continuous monitoring of weather conditions over Europe, Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. Its main function is to provide images and data to facilitate weather prediction and climate monitoring.

Spain has been an active participant in the Meteosat programme since its inception. Through the Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET), Spain contributes financially to EUMETSAT and participates in the programme''s decision-making and operations. In addition, the Spanish space industry has played a key role in the development of the Meteosat satellites. Spanish companies have been responsible for the design and supply of critical components for third-generation satellites, including scanning and calibration mechanisms.

Figure 4. Metosat satellite. Source: own elaboration

Access to the data of each programme

Each programme has different conditions and distribution platforms in terms of access to data:

• Copernicus: provides free and open data through various platforms.  Users can access satellite imagery and products through the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, which offers search, download and processing tools. Data can also be obtained through APIs for integration into automated systems.
• Galileo: its open service (Open Service - OS) allows free use of the navigation signals for any user with a compatible receiver, free of charge. However, direct access to raw satellite data is not provided. For information on services and documentation, access is via the European GNSS Services Centre (GSC):
  • Galileo Portal.
  • Registration for access to the High Accuracy Service (HAS) (registration required).
• EGNOS: This system improves navigation accuracy with GNSS correction signals.  Data on service availability and status can be found on the EGNOS User Support platform..
• Meteosat: Meteosat satellite data are available through the EUMETSAT platform. There are different levels of access, including some free data and some subject to registration or payment.  For imagery and meteorological products you can access the EUMETSAT Data Centre..

In terms of open access, Copernicus is the only programme that offers open and unrestricted data. In contrast, Galileo and EGNOS provide free services, but not access to raw satellite data, while Meteosat requires registration and in some cases payment for access to specific data.

Conclusions

The Copernicus, Galileo, EGNOS and Meteosat programmes not only reinforce Europe''s space sovereignty, but also ensure access to strategic data essential for the management of the planet. Through them, Europe can monitor climate change, optimise global navigation, improve the accuracy of its positioning systems and strengthen its weather predictioncapabilities, ensuring more effective responses to environmental crises and emergencies.

Spain plays a fundamental role in this space infrastructure, not only with its aerospace industry, but also with its control centres and reference stations, consolidating itself as a key player in the development and operation of these systems.

Satellite imagery and data have evolved from scientific tools to become essential resources for security, environmental management and sustainable growth. In a world increasingly dependent on real-time information, access to this data is critical for climate resilience, spatial planning, sustainable agriculture and ecosystem protection.

The future of Earth observation and satellite navigation is constantly evolving, and Europe, with its advanced space programmes, is positioning itself as a leader in the exploration, analysis and management of the planet from space.

Access to this data allows researchers, businesses and governments to make more informed and effective decisions. With these systems, Europe and Spain guarantee their technological independence and strengthen their leadership in the space sector.

Ready to explore more? Access the links for each programme and discover how this data can transform our world.

Figure 5. Source: own elaboration

Content prepared by Mayte Toscano, Senior Consultant in Data Economy Technologies. The contents and points of view reflected in this publication are the sole responsibility of the author.

March is approaching and with it a new edition of the Open Data Day. It is an annual worldwide celebration that has been organised for 12 years, promoted by the Open Knowledge Foundation through the Open Knowledge Network. It aims to promote the use of open data in all countries and cultures.

This year's central theme is "Open data to address the polycrisis". The term polycrisis refers to a situation where different risks exist in the same time period. This theme aims to focus on open data as a tool to address, through its reuse, global challenges such as poverty and multiple inequalities, violence and conflict, climate risks and natural disasters.

If several years ago the activities were limited to a single day, from 2023 we have a week to enjoy various conferences, seminars, workshops, etc. centred on this theme. Specifically, in 2025, Open Data Day activities will take place from 1 to 7 March.

Through its website you can see the various activities that will take place throughout the week all over the world. In this article we review some of those that you can follow from Spain, either because they take place in Spain or because they can be followed online.

Open Data Day 2025: Women Leading Open Data for Equality

Iniciativa Barcelona Open Data is organising a session on the afternoon of 6 March focusing on how open data can help address equality challenges. The event will bring together women experts in data technologies and open data, to share knowledge, experiences and best practices in both the publication and reuse of open data in this field.

The event will start at 17:30 with a welcome and introduction. This will be followed by two panel discussions and an interview:

• Round Table 1. Publishing institutions. Gender-sensitive data strategy to address the feminist agenda.
• DIALOGUE Data lab. Building feminist Tech Data practice.
• Round Table 2. Re-users. Projects based on the use of open data to address the feminist agenda.

The day will end at 19:40 with a cocktail and the opportunity for attendees to discuss the topics discussed and expand their network through networking.

How can you follow the event? This is an in-person event, which will be held at Ca l'Alier, Carrer de Pere IV, 362 (Barcelona).

Registration

Open access scientific and scholarly publishing as a tool to face the 21st century polycrisis: the key role of publishers

Organised by a private individual, Professor Damián Molgaray, this conference looks at the key role of editors in open access scientific and scholarly publishing. The idea is for participants to reflect on how open knowledge is positioned as a fundamental tool to face the challenges of the 21st century polycrisis, with a focus on Latin America.

The event will take place on 4 March at 11:00 in Argentina (15:00 in mainland Spain).

How can you follow the event? This is an online event through Google Meet.

Registration

WhoFundsThem

The organisation mySociety will show the results of its latest project. Over the last few months, a team of volunteers has collected data on the financial interests of the 650 MPs in the UK House of Commons, using sources such as the official Register of Interests, Companies House, MPs' attendance at debates etc. This data, checked and verified with MPs themselves through a 'right of reply' system, has been transformed into an easily accessible format, so that anyone can easily understand it, and will be published on the parliamentary tracking website TheyWorkForYou.

At this event, the project will be presented and the conclusions will be discussed. It takes place on Tuesday 4 at 14:00 London time (15:00 in Spain peninsular).

How can you follow the event? The session can be followed online, but registration is required. The event will be in English.

Registration

Science on the 7th: A conversation on Open Data & Air Quality

El viernes 7 a las 9:00 EST – (15:00 en España peninsular) se podrá seguir online una conferencia sobre datos abiertos y calidad del aire. La sesión reunirá a diversos expertos para debatir los temas de actualidad en materia de calidad del aire y salud mundial, y se examinará la contaminación atmosférica procedente de fuentes clave, como las partículas, el ozono y la contaminación relacionada con el tráfico.

Esta iniciativa está organizada por Health Effects Institute, una corporación sin ánimo de lucro que proporciona datos científicos sobre los efectos de la contaminación atmosférica en la salud.

A conference on open data and air quality will be available online on Friday 7 at 9:00 EST (15:00 in mainland Spain). The session will bring together a range of experts to discuss topical issues in air quality and global health, and will examine air pollution from key sources such as particulate matter, ozone and traffic-related pollution.

This initiative is organised by Health Effects Institute, a non-profit corporation that provides scientific data on the health effects of air pollution.

How can you follow the event? The conference, which will be in English, can be viewed on YouTube. No registration is required.

Watch the event online

Deadline open for new event proposals

The above events are just a few examples of the activities that are part of this global celebration, but, as mentioned above, you can see all the actions on the initiative's website.

In addition, the deadline for registering new events is still open. If you have a proposal, you can register it via this link.

From datos.gob.es we invite you to join this week of celebration, which serves to vindicate the power of open data to generate positive changes in our society. Don't miss it!

Since last week, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) language models trained in Spanish, Catalan, Galician, Valencian and Basque, which have been developed within ALIA, the public infrastructure of AI resources, are now available. Through the ALIA Kit users can access the entire family of models and learn about the methodology used, related documentation and training and evaluation datasets. In this article we tell you about its key features.

What is ALIA?

ALIA is a project coordinated by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS). It aims to provide a public infrastructure of open and transparent artificial intelligence resources, capable of generating value in both the public and private sectors.

Specifically, ALIA is a family of text, speech and machine translation models. The training of artificial intelligence systems is computationally intensive, as huge volumes of data need to be processed and analysed. These models have been trained in Spanish, a language spoken by more than 600 million people worldwide, but also in the four co-official languages. The Real Academia Española (RAE) and the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española, which brings together the Spanish language institutions around the world, have collaborated in this project.

The MareNostrum 5, one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, which is located at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, has been used for the training. It has taken thousands of hours of work to process several billion words at a speed of 314,000 trillion calculations per second.

A family of open and transparent models

The development of these models provides an alternative that incorporates local data. One of ALIA's priorities is to be an open and transparent network, which means that users, in addition to being able to access the models, have the possibility of knowing and downloading the datasets used and all related documentation.  This documentation makes it easier to understand how the models work and also to detect more easily where they fail, which is essential to avoid biases and erroneous results. Openness of models and transparency of data is essential, as it creates more inclusive and socially just models, which benefit society as a whole. 

Having open and transparent models encourages innovation, research and democratises access to artificial intelligence, while ensuring that it is based on quality training data.

What can I find in ALIA Kit?

Through ALIA Kit, it is currently possible to access five massive language models (LLM) of general purpose, of which two have been trained with instructions from various open corpora. Also available are nine multilingual machine translation models, some of them trained from scratch, such as one for machine translation between Galician and Catalan, or between Basque and Catalan. In addition, translation models have been trained in Aranese, Aragonese and Asturian.

We also find the data and tools used to build and evaluate the text models, such as the massive CATalog textual corpus, consisting of 17.45 billion words (about 23 billion tokens), distributed over 34.8 million documents from a wide variety of sources, which have been largely manually reviewed.

To train the speech models, different speech corpora with transcription have been used, such as, for example, a dataset of the Valencian Parliament with more than 270 hours of recordings of its sessions. It is also possible to know the corpora used to train the machine translation models.

A freeAPI (from Python, Javascript or Curl) is also available through the ALIA Kit, with which tests can be carried out.

What can these models be used for?

The models developed by ALIA are designed to be adaptable to a wide range of natural language processing tasks.  However, for specific needs it is preferable to use specialised models, which are more accurate and less resource-intensive.

As we have seen, the models are available to all interested users, such as independent developers, researchers, companies, universities or institutions. Among the main beneficiaries of these tools are developers and small and medium-sized enterprises, for whom it is not feasible to develop their own models from scratch, both for economic and technical reasons. Thanks to ALIA they can adapt existing models to their specific needs.

Developers will find resources to create applications that reflect the linguistic richness of Spanish and the co-official languages. For their part, companies will be able to develop new applications, products or services aimed at the broad international market offered by the Spanish language, opening up new business and expansion opportunities.

An innovative project financed with public funds

The ALIA project is fully publicly funded with the aim of fostering innovation and the adoption of value-generating technologies in both the public and private sectors. Having a public AI infrastructure democratises access to advanced technologies, allowing small businesses, institutions and governments to harness their full potential to innovate and improve their services. It also facilitates ethical oversight of AI development and encourages innovation.

ALIA is part of the Spain's Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2024, which aims to provide the country with the necessary capabilities to meet the growing demand for AI products and services and to boost the adoption of this technology, especially in the public sector and SMEs. Within Axis 1 of this strategy is the so-called Lever 3, which focuses on the generation of models and corpora for a public infrastructure of language models.  With the publication of this family of models,  advances in the development of artificial intelligence resources in Spain.

Researchers and students from various centers have also reported advances resulting from working with data:The last days of the year are always a good time to look back and assess the progress made. If a few weeks ago we took stock of what happened in the Aporta initiative, now it is time to compile the news related to data sharing, open data and the technologies linked to them.

Six months ago, we already made a first collection of milestones in the sector. On this occasion, we will summarise some of the innovations, improvements and achievements of the last half of the year.

Regulating and driving artificial intelligence

La inteligencia artificial (IA) continúa siendo uno de los campos donde cada día se aprecian nuevos avances. Se trata de un sector cuyo auge es relativamente nuevo y que necesita regulación. Por ello, la Unión Europea publicó el pasado julio el Reglamento de inteligencia artificial, una norma que marcará el entorno regulatorio europeo y global. Alineada con Europa, España ya presentó unos meses antes su nueva Estrategia de inteligencia artificial 2024, con el fin de establecer un marco para acelerar el desarrollo y expansión de la IA en España.

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to be one of the fields where new advances are being made every day. This is a relatively new and booming sector in need of regulation. Therefore, last July, the European Union published the Artificial Intelligence Regulation, a standard that will shape the European and global regulatory environment. Aligned with Europe, Spain had already presented its new Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2024 a few months earlier, with the aim of establishing a framework to accelerate the development and expansion of AI in Spain.

On the other hand, in October, Spain took over the co-presidency of the Open Government Partnership. Its roadmap includes promoting innovative ideas, taking advantage of the opportunities offered by open data and artificial intelligence. As part of the position, Spain will host the next OGP World Summit in Vitoria.

Innovative new data-driven tools

Data drives a host of disruptive technological tools that can generate benefits for all citizens. Some of those launched by public bodies in recent months include:

• The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility has started to use Big Data technology to analyse road traffic and improve investments and road safety.
• The Principality of Asturias announces a plan to use Artificial Intelligence to end traffic jams during the summer, through the development of a digital twin.
• The Government of Aragon presented a new tourism intelligence system, which uses Big Data and AI to improve decision-making in the sector.
• The Region of Murcia has launched “Murcia Business Insight”, a business intelligence application that allows dynamic analysis of data on the region's companies: turnover, employment, location, sector of activity, etc.
• The Granada City Council has used Artificial Intelligence to improve sewerage. The aim is to achieve "more efficient" maintenance planning and execution, with on-site data.
• The Segovia City Council and Visa have signed a collaboration agreement to develop an online tool with real, aggregated and anonymous data on the spending patterns of foreign Visa cardholders in the capital. This initiative will provide relevant information to help tailor strategies to promote international tourism.

Researchers and students from various centers have also reported advances resulting from working with data:

• Researchers from the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) and the Fundación Biofísica Bizkaia have trained an algorithm to detect tissue alterations in the early stages and improve cancer diagnosis.
• Researchers from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and KIDO Dynamics have launched a project to extract metadata from mobile antennas to understand the flow of people in natural landscapes. The objective is to identify and monitor the impact of tourism.
• A student at the University of Valladolid (UVa) has designed a project to improve the management and analysis of forest ecosystems in Spain at the local level, by converting municipal boundaries into a linked open data format. The results are available for re-use.

Advances in data spaces

The Ministry for Digital Transformation and the Civil Service and, specifically, the Secretariat of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence continues to make progress in the implementation of data spaces, through various actions:

• A Plan for the Promotion of Sectoral Data Spaces has been presented to promote secure data sharing.
• The development of Data Spaces for Intelligent Urban Infrastructures (EDINT) has been launched. This project, which will be carried out through the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), contemplates the creation of a multi-sectoral data space that will bring together all the information collected by local entities.
• In the field of digitalisation, aid has been launched for the digital transformation of strategic productive sectors through the development of technological products and services for data spaces.

Functionalities that bring data closer to reusers

The open data platforms of the various agencies have also introduced new developments, as new datasets, functionalities, strategies or reports:

• The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge has launched a new application for viewing the National Air Quality Index (AQI) in real time. It includes health recommendations for the general population and the sensitive population.
• The Andalusian Government has published a "Guide for the design of Public Policy Pilot Studies". It proposes a methodology for designing pilot studies and a system for collecting evidence for decision-making.
• The Government of Catalonia has initiated steps to implement a new data governance model that will improve relations with citizens and companies.
• The Madrid City Council is implementing a new 3D cartography and thermal map. In the Blog IDEE (Spatial Data Infrastructure of Spain) they explain how this 3D model of the capital was created using various data capture technologies.
• The Canary Islands Statistics Institute (ISTAC) has published 6,527 thematic maps with labor indicators on the Canary Islands in its open data catalog.
• Open Data Initiative and the Democratic Union of Pensioners and Retirees of Spain, with support from the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and Agenda 2030, presented the first Data website of the Data Observatory x Seniors. Its aim is to facilitate the analysis of healthy ageing in Spain and strategic decision-making. The Barcelona Initiative also launched a challenge to identify 50 datasets related to healthy ageing, a project supported by the Barcelona Provincial Council.
• The Centre for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI) has presented a dashboard in beta phase with open data in exploitable format.

In addition, work continues to promote the opening up of data from various institutions:

• Asedie and the King Juan Carlos University (Madrid) have launched the Open Data Reuse Observatory to promote the reuse of open data. It already has the commitment of the Madrid City Council and they are looking for more institutions to join their Manifesto.
• The Cabildo of Tenerife and the University of La Laguna have developed a Sustainable Mobility Strategy in the Macizo de Anaga Biosphere Reserve. The aim is to obtain real-time data in order to take measures adapted to demand.

Data competitions and events to encourage the use of open data

Summer was the time chosen by various public bodies to launch competitions for products and/or services based on open data. This is the case of:

• The Community of Madrid held DATAMAD 2024 at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos de Madrid. The event included a workshop on how to reuse open data and a datathon.
• More than 200 students registered for the I Malackathon, organised by the University of Malaga, a competition that awarded projects that used open data to propose solutions for water resource management.
• The Junta de Castilla y León held the VIII Open Data Competition, whose winners were announced in November.
• The II UniversiData Datathon was also launched. 16 finalists have been selected. The winners will be announced on 13 February 2025.
• The Cabildo of Tenerife also organised its I Open Data Competition: Ideas for reuse. They are currently evaluating the applications received. They will later launch their 2nd Open Data Competition: APP development.
• The Government of Euskadi held its V Open Data Competition. The finalists in both the Applications and Ideas categories are now known.

Also in these months there have been multiple events, which can be seen online, such as:

• The III GeoEuskadi Congress and XVI Iberian Conference on Spatial Data Infrastructures (JIIDE).
• DATAforum Justice 2024.

Other examples of events that were held but are not available online are the III Congress & XIV Conference of R Users, the Novagob 2024 Public Innovation Congress, DATAGRI 2024 or the Data Governance for Local Entities Conference, among others.

These are just a few examples of the activity carried out during the last six months in the Spanish data ecosystem. We encourage you to share other experiences you know of in the comments or via our email address dinamizacion@datos.gob.es.​

On 28 November, the 2nd Forum for the Government and the Autonomous Communities to meet around data was held in Seville, organised by the State Secretariat for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence (SEDIA), in collaboration with the Andalusian Institute of Statistics and Cartography (IECA) and the Digital Agency of Andalusia (ADA). Almost all the autonomous communities participated, reflecting their commitment to data as a strategic driver of digital transformation.

The programme addressed key issues, such as the lessons learned in the implementation of data governance, the impact of its ethical use, and the potential of public-private collaboration in the deployment of sectoral data spaces, with emphasis on the Plan for the Promotion of Sectoral Data Spaces recently presented by the Ministry for Digital Transformation on 21 November.

Here is a summary of the key points of the meeting.

A space to exchange experiences, success stories and lessons learned.

The event brought together more than 70 experts from units of the General State Administration and 15 autonomous communities and the Autonomous City of Melilla, which are active in the use and management of data in their organisations. El objetivo era poner en común las experiencias en este ámbito y compartir los casos de éxito y los aprendizajes derivados de la implantación de iniciativas de gobierno del dato, promoviendo la colaboración entre administraciones para mejorar la competitividad y la eficiencia digital futura.

The forum was opened by the Regional Minister of Presidency, Interior, Social Dialogue and Administrative Simplification of the Andalusian Regional Government, and the Director General of Data of the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Administration, and was closed by the Director of IECA.

The day was structured around three round tables with 15 speakers. The attendees were also able to answer various questions related to the subject matter of each of these roundtables, in order to ascertain their perceptions in this regard. This format facilitated a fruitful and enriching exchange of ideas that allowed attendees to explore key issues.

• Table 1 "Experiences of implementing Data Governance: Lessons learnt. The first round table focused on different experiences in data governance. The speakers shared the challenges faced and the practical lessons learned, with the aim of serving as an example and point of reflection for similar initiatives that participants might undertake in the future. The importance of support at the highest level and the use of existing frameworks, such as UNE specifications or the DAMA methodology, was stressed. The need to focus not only on technology, but also to respond to cultural and organisational changes, and to establish processes and structures that will last over time was also emphasised.
• Table 2 "Data with purpose: Success stories of ethical and reliable use of data". The second roundtable focused on presenting concrete results obtained through the ethical and reliable use of data. The speakers shared their backgrounds and achievements, illustrating the wide possibilities that a well governed and managed data can generate in terms of citizen service and improvement of public administration. The work to be done on the quantity and quality of datawas highlighted, without losing focus on the future goal, which is to solve today's problems through sustainable projects.
• Table 3 "Data spaces from the perspective of public-private collaboration and the enhancement of public data". The third and final roundtable explored the paradigm of data spaces. Special emphasis was placed on public-private partnerships and how to enhance the value of public data. A highlight of this session was the presentation by the Directorate General for Data of the Plan for the Promotion of Sectoral Data Spaces. This plan seeks to deploy data spaces across the different productive sectors, underlining the fundamental value that quality public data can have in their effective implementation.

Overall, these roundtables not only provided a platform for the exchange of knowledge and experiences, but also laid the groundwork for future collaborations and innovative projects in the field of data management and governance in the Spanish public administration.

Attendees were very appreciative of the wide variety of roles involved, giving different views on something as complex as data governance, which includes many different approaches and competencies. The general perception is that shared experiences help others to try to circumvent the barriers that others have previously had to overcome and to reach the final goal faster, which is to provide better service and implement better public policies for citizens through a data-driven government.

Conclusions of the Forum

Some of the conclusions reached were:

• It is necessary to focus on data quality. Without quality data, well governed and managed, it will be difficult to achieve valuable solutions, for example in the field of artificial intelligence.
• Invest in data governance by ensuring sustainable projects. Data governance is not just about technology, but about business and services. It requires considerable effort on the part of organisations to create data that reflect reality and are truly useful for decision-making, breaking down silos and implementing citizen-oriented services. To this end, it is recommended to build on existing conceptual frameworks, oriented towards processes and organisational structures that are sustainable over time.
• The Autonomous Communities can help the deployment of the Plan for the Promotion of Data Spaces from a public-private partnership perspective and benefit from its actions.
• We need to influence the data culture in organisations. The objective is to incorporate data governance into the different business areas, supporting organisational objectives, ensuring that the data culture permeates the organisation and is perceived as something transversal that contributes value to the different sectors as well as to the administration and society as a whole.

Upcoming performances

After the success of the first edition, held in Navarre in 2023, the forum has been consolidated as a reference space for the exchange of experiences and good practices in data management, essential for those seeking to lead the future of data management in public administrations.

Theday concluded with a proposal for continuity, highlighting the need to create a community of knowledge exchange between editions. Furthermore, the Principality of Asturias has applied to host the third edition of the forum, to be held in 2025, which demonstrates the growing interest in further consolidating this space for inter-institutional cooperation on data.

The 2024 Best Cases Awards of the Public Sector Tech Watch observatory now have finalists. These awards seek to highlight solutions that use emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence or blockchain, in public administrations, through two categories:

• Solutions to improve the public services offered to citizens (Government-to-Citizen or G2C).
• Solutions to improve the internal processes of the administrations themselves (Government-to-Government or G2G).

The awards are intended to create a mechanism for sharing the best experiences on the use of emerging technologies in the public sector and thus give visibility to the most innovative administrations in Europe.

Almost 60% of the finalist solutions are Spanish.

In total, 32 proposals have been received, 14 of which have been pre-selected in a preliminary evaluation. Of these, more than half are solutions from Spanish organisations. Specifically, nine finalists have been shortlisted for the G2G category -five of them Spanish- and five for G2C -three of them linked to our country-.The following is a summary of what these Spanish solutions consist of.

Solutions to improve the internal processes of the administrations themselves.

• Innovation in local government: digital transformation and GeoAI for data management (Alicante Provincial Council).

Suma Gestión Tributaria, of the Diputación de Alicante, is the agency in charge of managing and collecting the municipal taxes of the city councils of its province. To optimise this task, they have developed a solution that combines geographic information systems and artificial intelligence (machine learning and deep learning) to improve training in detection of properties that do not pay taxes. This solution collects data from multiple administrations and entities in order to avoid delays in the collection of municipalities.

• Regional inspector of public infrastructures: monitoring of construction sites (Provincial Council of Bizkaia and Interbiak).

The autonomous road inspector and autonomous urban inspector help public administrations to automatically monitor roads. These solutions, which can be installed in any vehicle, use artificial or computer vision techniques along with information from sensors to automatically check the condition of traffic signs, road markings, protective barriers, etc. They also perform early forecasting of pavement degradation, monitor construction sites and generate alerts for hazards such as possible landslides.

• Application of drones for the transport of biological samples (Centre for Telecommunications and Information Technologies -CTTI-, Generalitat de Catalunya).

This pilot project implements and evaluates a health transport route in the Girona health region. Its aim is to transport biological samples (blood and urine) between a primary health centre and a hospital using drones. As a result, the journey time has been reduced from 20 minutes with ground transport to seven minutes with the use of drones. This has improved the quality of the samples transported, increased flexibility in scheduling transport times and reduced environmental impact.

• Robotic automation of processes in the administration of justice (Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts).

Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts has implemented a solution for the robotisation of administrative processes in order to streamline routine, repetitive and low-risk work. To date, more than 25 process automation lines have been implemented, including the automatic cancellation of criminal records, nationality applications, automatic issuance of life insurance certificates, etc. As a result, it is estimated that more than 500,000 working hourshave been saved.

• Artificial intelligence in the processing of official publications (Official Gazette of the Province of Barcelona and Official Documentation and Publications Service, Barcelona Provincial Council).

CIDO (Official Information and Documentation Search Engine) has implemented an AI system that automatically generates summaries of official publications of the public administrations of Barcelona. Using supervised machine learning and neural networkstechniques, the system generates summaries of up to 100 words for publications in Catalan or Spanish. The tool allows the recording of manual modifications to improve accuracy.

Solutions to improve the public services offered to citizens

• Virtual Desk of Digital Immediacy: bringing Justice closer to citizens through digitalisation (Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts).

The Virtual Digital Immediacy Desktop (EVID) allows remote hearings with full guarantees of legal certainty using blockchain technologies. The solution integrates the convening of the hearing, the provision of documentation, the identification of the participants, the acceptance of consents, the generation of the document justifying the action carried out, the signing of the document and the recording of the session. In this way, legal acts can be carried out from anywhere, without the need to travel and in a simple way, making justice more inclusive, accessible and environmentally friendly. By the end of June 2024, more than 370,000 virtual sessions had been held through EVID.

• Application of Generative AI to make it easier for citizens to understand legal texts (Entitat Autònoma del Diari Oficial i Publicacions -EADOP-, Generalitat de Catalunya).

Legal language is often a barrier that prevents citizens from easily understanding legal texts. To remove this obstacle, the Government is making available to users of the Legal Portal of Catalonia and to the general public the summaries of Catalan law in simple language obtained from generative artificial intelligence. The aim is to have summaries of the more than 14,000 14,000 existing regulatory provisions adapted to clear communication available by the end of the year. The abstracts will be published in Catalan and Spanish, with the prospect of also offering a version in Aranesein the future.

• Emi - Intelligent Employment (Consellería de Emprego, Comercio e Emigración de la Xunta de Galicia).

Emi, Intelligent Employment is an artificial intelligence and big data tool that helps the offices of the Public Employment Service of Galicia to orient unemployed people towards the skills required by the labour market, according to their abilities. AI models make six-month projections of contracts for a particular occupation for a chosen geographical area. In addition, they allow estimating the probability of finding employment for individuals in the coming months.

You can see all the solutions presented here. The winners will be announced at the final event on 28 November. The ceremony takes place in Brussels, but can also be followed online. To do so, you need to register here.

Public Sector Tech Watch: an observatory to inspire new projects

Public Sector Tech Watch (PSTW), managed by the European Commission, is positioned as a "one-stop shop" for all those interested - public sector, policy makers, private companies, academia, etc. - in the latest technological developments to improve public sector performance and service delivery. For this purpose, it has several sections where the following information of interest is displayed:

• Cases: contains examples of how innovative technologies and their associated data are used by public sector organisations in Europe.
• Stories: presents testimonials to show the challenges faced by European administrations in implementing technological solutions.

If you know of a case of interest that is not currently monitored by PSTW, you can register it here. Successful cases are reviewed and evaluated before being included in the database.

Spatial and geospatial data are essential for decision-making, spatial planning and resource management. The ability to visualise and analyse data in a spatial context offers valuable tools to address complex challenges in areas ranging from defence to sustainability. Participating in events that address these issues not only broadens our knowledge, but also fosters collaboration and innovation in the sector.

In this post, we present two upcoming events dealing with geospatial data and its most innovative uses. Don't miss them!

II Conference on Geospatial Intelligence: Territory and Defence

The Instituto Geográfico de Aragón (IGEAR) in collaboration with the Academia General Militar, the Centro Universitario de la Defensa and Telespazio Ibérica, has organized the second edition of the Jornada de Inteligencia Geoespacial: Territory and Defence, an event that will bring together professionals from the sector to explore how geospatial data can optimize strategies in the field of security and territorial management.

During the next 21 November, the crown room of the Pignatelli Building in Zaragoza will bring together speakers and attendees to discuss the impact of geospatial intelligence in Spain. The event will be open to a maximum of 100 attendees by invitation.

Geospatial intelligence, or GEOINT for short, focuses on understanding the dynamics occurring within a given geographic space.To achieve this, GEOINT relies on detailed analysis of imagery, databases and other relevant information, based on the idea that, although the circumstances surrounding each situation may vary, there is one common characteristic: all action takes place at specific geographic coordinates.

GEOINT is a very broad field that can be applied both in the military field, to execute movements by analyzing the terrain, and in the scientific field , to study environments, or even in the business field, to help adapt census, historical, meteorological, agricultural and geological information to commercial uses.

The II Geospatial Intelligence Conference will present case studies and technological advances and will promote discussions on the future of geospatial intelligence in defense contexts. For more details, you can visit the event's website.

• When? On 21 November 2024 at 8:00h.
• Wheree? Crown Hall of the Pignatelli Building. Paseo María Agustín, 36. Zaragoza.
• How to access? Through this link.

XV Edition of the Iberian Conference on Spatial Data Infrastructures (JIIDE) and III geoEuskadi

This year, the Board of Directors of the Geographic Information Infrastructure of Spain (CODIIGE) is jointly organizing the Iberian Conference on Spatial Data Infrastructures (JIIDE ) and the III geoEuskadi Kongresua Congress. Both events aim to enhance and promote activities related to geographic information in various sectors, covering both the publication and standardized accessibility of geographic data as well as its production, processing and exploitation.

On the one hand, in the JIIDE collaborate the Direção-Geral do Território de Portugal, the Instituto Geográfico Nacional de España, through the Centro Nacional de Información Geográfica, and the Govern d'Andorra.

The geoEuskadi Kongresua is organised by the Directorate of Territorial Planning and Urban Agenda of the Basque Government. This year, all these entities will come together to carry out a single event under the slogan “The value of geospatial data”.
The conference will focus on new technological trends related to data accessibility and reuse, as well as current techniques for Earth observation and representation.

Digital geospatial data is a key driver for economic growth, competitiveness, innovation, job creation and social progress. Therefore, III geoEuskadi and the XV edition JIIDE 2024 will emphasize the importance of technologies, such as big data and artificial intelligence, to generate ideas that improve business decision making and the creation of systems that perform tasks that traditionally require human intervention.

In addition, collaboration for the co-production and harmonization of data between different administrations and organizations will be highlighted, something that continues to be essential to generate valuable geospatial data that can become true references. This is a time of renewal, driven by the revision of the INSPIRE Directive, the update of the regulations on environmental spatial data and the new regulations on open data and data governance that favor a modernization in the publication and reuse of these data.

During the event, examples of reuse of high-value datasets will also be presented, both through OGC APIs and through download services and interoperable formats.

The combination of these events will represent a privileged space to reflect on geographic information and will be a showcase for the most innovative projects in the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, there will be technical workshops to share specific knowledge and round tables to promote debate. To learn more about this event, visit the JIIDE portal..

• When? From 13 to 15 November.
• Where? Europa Conference Centre (Vitoria-Gasteiz).
• How do I register? Through this link.

Don't miss the opportunity to participate in these events that promote the advancement of the use of spatial and geospatial data. We encourage you to join this conference to learn, collaborate and contribute to the development of this constantly evolving sector.

A digital twin is a virtual, interactive representation of a real-world object, system or process. We are talking, for example, about a digital replica of a factory, a city or even a human body. These virtual models allow simulating, analysing and predicting the behaviour of the original element, which is key for optimisation and maintenance in real time.

Due to their functionalities, digital twins are being used in various sectors such as health, transport or agriculture. In this article, we review the benefits of their use and show two examples related to open data.

Advantages of digital twins

Digital twins use real data sources from the environment, obtained through sensors and open platforms, among others. As a result, the digital twins are updated in real time to reflect reality, which brings a number of advantages:

• Increased performance: one of the main differences with traditional simulations is that digital twins use real-time data for modelling, allowing better decisions to be made to optimise equipment and system performance according to the needs of the moment.
• Improved planning: using technologies based on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, the digital twin can analyse performance issues or perform virtual "what-if" simulations. In this way, failures and problems can be predicted before they occur, enabling proactive maintenance.
• Cost reduction: improved data management thanks to a digital twin generates benefits equivalent to 25% of total infrastructure expenditure. In addition, by avoiding costly failures and optimizing processes, operating costs can be significantly reduced. They also enable remote monitoring and control of systems from anywhere, improving efficiency by centralizing operations.
• Customization and flexibility: by creating detailed virtual models of products or processes, organizations can quickly adapt their operations to meet changing environmental demands and individual customer/citizen preferences. For example, in manufacturing, digital twins enable customized mass production, adjusting production lines in real time to create unique products according to customer specifications. On the other hand, in healthcare, digital twins can model the human body to customize medical treatments, thereby improving efficacy and reducing side effects.
• Boosting experimentation and innovation: digital twins provide a safe and controlled environment for testing new ideas and solutions, without the risks and costs associated with physical experiments. Among other issues, they allow experimentation with large objects or projects that, due to their size, do not usually lend themselves to real-life experimentation.
• Improved sustainability: by enabling simulation and detailed analysis of processes and systems, organizations can identify areas of inefficiency and waste, thus optimizing the use of resources. For example, digital twins can model energy consumption and production in real time, enabling precise adjustments that reduce consumption and carbon emissions.

Examples of digital twins in Spain

The following three examples illustrate these advantages.

GeDIA project: artificial intelligence to predict changes in territories

GeDIA is a tool for strategic planning of smart cities, which allows scenario simulations. It uses artificial intelligence models based on existing data sources and tools in the territory.

The scope of the tool is very broad, but its creators highlight two use cases:

1. Future infrastructure needs: the platform performs detailed analyses considering trends, thanks to artificial intelligence models. In this way, growth projections can be made and the needs for infrastructures and services, such as energy and water, can be planned in specific areas of a territory, guaranteeing their availability.
2. Growth and tourism: GeDIA is also used to study and analyse urban and tourism growth in specific areas. The tool identifies patterns of gentrification and assesses their impact on the local population, using census data. In this way, demographic changes and their impact, such as housing needs, can be better understood and decisions can be made to facilitate equitable and sustainable growth.

This initiative has the participation of various companies and the University of Malaga (UMA), as well as the financial backing of Red.es and the European Union.

Digital twin of the Mar Menor: data to protect the environment

The Mar Menor, the salt lagoon of the Region of Murcia, has suffered serious ecological problems in recent years, influenced by agricultural pressure, tourism and urbanisation.

To better understand the causes and assess possible solutions, TRAGSATEC, a state-owned environmental protection agency, developed a digital twin. It mapped a surrounding area of more than 1,600 square kilometres, known as the Campo de Cartagena Region. In total, 51,000 nadir images, 200,000 oblique images and more than four terabytes of LiDAR data were obtained.

Thanks to this digital twin, TRAGSATEC has been able to simulate various flooding scenarios and the impact of installing containment elements or obstacles, such as a wall, to redirect the flow of water. They have also been able to study the distance between the soil and the groundwater, to determine the impact of fertiliser seepage, among other issues.

Challenges and the way forward

These are just two examples, but they highlight the potential of an increasingly popular technology. However, for its implementation to be even greater, some challenges need to be addressed, such as initial costs, both in technology and training, or security, by increasing the attack surface. Another challenge is the interoperability problems that arise when different public administrations establish digital twins and local data spaces. To address this issue further, the European Commission has published a guide that helps to identify the main organisational and cultural challenges to interoperability, offering good practices to overcome them.

In short, digital twins offer numerous advantages, such as improved performance or cost reduction. These benefits are driving their adoption in various industries and it is likely that, as current challenges are overcome, digital twins will become an essential tool for optimising processes and improving operational efficiency in an increasingly digitised world.

Almost half of European adults lack basic digital skills. According to the latest State of the Digital Decade report, in 2023, only 55.6% of citizens reported having such skills. This percentage rises to 66.2% in the case of Spain, ahead of the European average.

Having basic digital skills is essential in today's society because it enables access to a wider range of information and services, as well as effective communication in onlineenvironments, facilitating greater participation in civic and social activities. It is also a great competitive advantage in the world of work.

In Europe, more than 90% of professional roles require a basic level of digital skills. Technological knowledge has long since ceased to be required only for technical professions, but is spreading to all sectors, from business to transport and even agriculture. In this respect, more than 70% of companies said that the lack of staff with the right digital skills is a barrier to investment.

A key objective of the Digital Decade is therefore to ensure that at least 80% of people aged 16-74 have at least basic digital skills by 2030.

Basic technology skills that everyone should have

When we talk about basic technological capabilities, we refer, according to the DigComp framework , to a number of areas, including:

• Information and data literacy: includes locating, retrieving, managing and organising data, judging the relevance of the source and its content.
• Communication and collaboration: involves interacting, communicating and collaborating through digital technologies taking into account cultural and generational diversity. It also includes managing one's own digital presence, identity and reputation.
• Digital content creation: this would be defined as the enhancement and integration of information and content to generate new messages, respecting copyrights and licences. It also involves knowing how to give understandable instructions to a computer system.
• Security: this is limited to the protection of devices, content, personal data and privacy in digital environments, to protect physical and mental health.
• Problem solving: it allows to identify and solve needs and problems in digital environments. It also focuses on the use of digital tools to innovate processes and products, keeping up with digital evolution.

Which data-related jobs are most in demand?

Now that the core competences are clear, it is worth noting that in a world where digitalisation is becoming increasingly important , it is not surprising that the demand for advanced technological and data-related skills is also growing.

According to data from the LinkedIn employment platform, among the 25 fastest growing professions in Spain in 2024 are security analysts (position 1), software development analysts (2), data engineers (11) and artificial intelligence engineers (25). Similar data is offered by Fundación Telefónica's Employment Map, which also highlights four of the most in-demand profiles related to data:

• Data analyst: responsible for the management and exploitation of information, they are dedicated to the collection, analysis and exploitation of data, often through the creation of dashboards and reports.
• Database designer or database administrator: focused on designing, implementing and managing databases. As well as maintaining its security by implementing backup and recovery procedures in case of failures.
• Data engineer: responsible for the design and implementation of data architectures and infrastructures to capture, store, process and access data, optimising its performance and guaranteeing its security.
• Data scientist: focused on data analysis and predictive modelling, optimisation of algorithms and communication of results.

These are all jobs with good salaries and future prospects, but where there is still a large gap between men and women. According to European data, only 1 in 6 ICT specialists and 1 in 3 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduates are women.

To develop data-related professions, you need, among others, knowledge of popular programming languages such as Python, R or SQL, and multiple data processing and visualisation tools, such as those detailed in these articles:

• Debugging and data conversion tools
• Data analysis tools
• Data visualisation tools
• Data visualisation libraries and APIs
• Geospatial visualisation tools
• Network analysis tools

The range of training courses on all these skills is growing all the time.

Future prospects

Nearly a quarter of all jobs (23%) will change in the next five years, according to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs 2023 Report.  Technological advances will create new jobs, transform existing jobs and destroy those that become obsolete. Technical knowledge, related to areas such as artificial intelligence or Big Data, and the development of cognitive skills, such as analytical thinking, will provide great competitive advantages in the labour market of the future. In this context, policy initiatives to boost society's re-skilling , such as the European Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027), will help to generate common frameworks and certificates in a constantly evolving world.

The technological revolution is here to stay and will continue to change our world. Therefore, those who start acquiring new skills earlier will be better positioned in the future employment landscape.