Salamanca becomes a technological epicenter today with the inauguration of the second edition of the Salamanca Tech Summit. The mayor of Salamanca, Carlos García Carbayo, and the rector of the University of Salamanca, Juan Manuel Corchado, accompanied by the deputy minister of Economy and Competitiveness of the JCyL, Carlos Martín Tobalina, inaugurated this event today, which will bring together prominent experts in the fields of artificial intelligence, animation, video games, biotechnology, cybersecurity, digitalization, the economy of Spanish, and blockchain until next Thursday.
This congress, as highlighted by the mayor of Salamanca, brings together this year more than a thousand registered participants, about 80 national and international speakers, over 30 thematic areas, and more than 150 companies and investors, which, in the words of the mayor, «will give extraordinary projection to the Salamanca Tech initiative.»
Likewise, García Carbayo emphasized that the capital leads the growth of technological employment in Castilla y León and is the province in Spain that has increased the technological intensity of its labor market the most in the last decade, according to data from the Cotec Foundation. «Just take a look at the ecosystem of companies that are being forged in Salamanca to see that this is already a reality,» he said.
«The Salamanca Tech Summit, in addition to featuring speakers and disseminators of the stature of Marron, Javier Santaolalla, Elia Guardiola, John Kiriakou, or José Manuel Barrionuevo himself, will also be a great showcase for these local companies to present their projects and for all of us to know what they are doing,» stated the mayor of Salamanca.
Among the most prominent speakers at the congress are scientific disseminators such as Marron, Javier Santaolalla, Elia Guardiola, or John Kiriakou. Likewise, Juan Manuel Barrionuevo, CEO of Copernion, a technological and financial corporation focused on creating, investing in, and advising technological startups, will also be present.
In relation to this corporation, the mayor announced that Barrionuevo has chosen Salamanca to develop the STEMIA project, the first European ‘venture intelligence hub,’ which will be located at the Tormes+ Training and Entrepreneurship Center and will initially create thirty jobs. STEMIA will train young people in AI applied to science, health, logistics, banking, or sustainability.
For his part, the rector of the University of Salamanca, Juan Manuel Corchado, pointed out that «without a doubt, Salamanca Tech Summit is the ideal space to acquire knowledge, transfer it, and make contacts with those who know the most about each topic, the ‘gurus’ of AI from very different perspectives.» Corchado also recalled that «AI is a driver for economic growth, and that is why we must know how to use it to our advantage. This will be discussed a lot at this meeting, about its role in robotic process automation, but also in the defense and security industry, in corporate communication, in sustainability (so popular in recent years), in cybersecurity, in the world of video games, in the fight against depopulation, and also in the development of new forms of communication in the Hispanic world.» The commitment to the Salamanca Tech Summit is clear, as Juan Manuel Corchado stated, «we want it to be a space open to all audiences, professionals and enthusiasts, experts and technology lovers… Everyone is welcome. And we want everyone to participate, not just be mere observers, but to get involved. That’s what the megathons, ideathons, and Pitch Animation contest are for.»