MADRID (EFE). A total of 21 candidates will definitely choose to host the headquarters of the future Spanish Space Agency and 14 to host the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence.
Yesterday the deadline for submitting applications expired and today the Ministry for Territorial Policies has made public the list of positions that have been presented, even if admission to work is still subject to verification by the Consultative Commission of the possession of the established requirements in each case.
This Department has positively evaluated the process for determining the location of new state public entities, after receiving a total of 35 applications from fourteen autonomous communities.
Eventually they settled on the headquarters of the Spanish Space Agency Cabanillas del Campo (Guadalajara), Cebreros (Ávila), Ciudad Real, Elche (Alicante), Estella-Lizarra (Navarra), Huelva, Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz), L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona), Las Palmas de Gran Canary Islands/ Agüimes/San Bartolomé de Tirajana (Las Palmas), Puerto del Rosario (Las Palmas), León, Ourense, Palencia, Puertollano (Ciudad Real), San Javier (Murcia), Tenerife Island (Santa Cruz de Tenerife), Seville, Teruel, Tres Cantos (Madrid), Zamudio (Vizcaya) and Yebes (Guadalajara).
The Spanish Space Agency, which will have a component dedicated to national security, will coordinate national space activities and policies, as well as Spain’s participation in international programs in this sector.
The space sector, highlighted this Tuesday by the Ministry of Land Policies, provides essential services for society in the field of communications, Earth observation, navigation, security, the fight against climate change or the monitoring of phenomena such as drought or the fires.
With the launch of the Agency, foreseen in the new science, technology and innovation law, the National Security Strategy 2021 and the Aerospace Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE), Spain is on par with the rest of the surrounding countries having similar figures and organizations to lead and direct space activities.
To host the headquarters of the Spanish agency for the supervision of artificial intelligence were presented: A Coruña, Alicante, Barcelona, Gijón (Asturias), Granada, Guadalajara, Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz), Leganés (Madrid), Ourense, Palma (Baleares), Salamanca, Tenerife Island, Segovia and Zaragoza.
The Ministry of Territorial Policies has indicated that this Agency will have autonomy, independence, its own assets and administrative powers, and that it will be essential to guarantee compliance with the European legislation on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and to supervise its correct interpretation.
The Agency also intends to raise awareness of the impact of AI on society, with the aim of generating trust in a “respectful and guarantor” ecosystem in the use of this technology, and in this sense, the Agency’s main mission is to reduce minimize the risks it can bring in fields such as safety, privacy and people’s health.
Spain will become the first EU country with a state agency to supervise artificial intelligence (AI), thus preceding the entry into force of the future European regulation on AI, which establishes the need for member states to have of a supervisory authority in this matter.
The Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence is part of the Digital Agenda Spain 2026 and the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, both promoted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation.
The Ministry of Territorial Policies highlighted the beneficial role played by public institutions in the physical environment of their location, as well as the creation of direct and indirect jobs, and ensured that the positive effects of decentralization which “will be strengthened with a rationalization electoral procedure, with criteria such as territorial cohesion, the efficiency of public services and transparency in an objective and competitive process”.
This Ministry has also ensured that the decentralization of public bodies will also strengthen equal opportunities, as it will make it easier for citizens, regardless of their place of residence, to be able to interact or even work directly in units of state public institutions.
