Tenerife competes with 32 other territories in the country to house the national headquarters of the Space Agencies and Artificial Intelligence. Of the total of 35 candidates, it is necessary to discard in the chapter of adversaries the Island itself and Jerez, which is also running for both. That’s where the 32 come from. For the Spanish NASA there will be 21 applicants, while 14 opt for the institution that must supervise the proper use in the application of the human condition through robotics and computing. Last Monday the period of one month from the announcement of the Official State Gazette (BOE) –October 5– to present candidacies was fulfilled. Until almost the end, the Island was the only one in the fight to host both institutions, but Jerez de la Frontera gave the big surprise that same Monday at the last minute when he confirmed that he intends to host the two centers.
The Ministry of Territorial Policy made the list public yesterday, although the admission to processing is still conditional on the Advisory Commission verifying that they meet the established requirements and submitted electronically.
“Exit”.
The area of the Government of Spain that launched the initiative in September values as “a success” the final result of the procedure to determine the headquarters of the new public state agencies. These 21 territories have opted for the Spanish Space Agency: Cabanillas del Campo (Guadalajara), Cebreros (Ávila), Ciudad Real (Castilla-La Mancha), Elche (Alicante), Estella-Lizarra (Navarra), Huelva (Andalusia) , Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz (Andalusia), L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona (Catalonia), the node Las Palmas de Gran Canaria-Agüimes-San Bartolomé de Tirajana (Canary Islands), Puerto del Rosario, Fuerteventura (Canary Islands), León (Castilla-León), Ourense (Galicia), Palencia (Castilla-León), Puertollano, Ciudad Real (Castilla-La Mancha), San Javier (Murcia), Tenerife (Canary Islands), Seville (Andalusia), Teruel (Aragon), Tres Cantos (Madrid), Vitoria, Alava (Basque Country) and Yebes, Guadalajara (Castilla-La Mancha).
Space agency.
The Spanish Space Agency will coordinate the activities and policies on space in the state, as well as the participation of Spain in international programs in this area. The Ministry highlights that the space sector 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 fires. The start-up of the Agency means for Spain to be equal to the rest of the surrounding countries that have similar figures and organizations in space activity.
Artificial intelligence.
To house the headquarters of the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence, 14 geographical areas have been presented: A Coruña (Galicia), Alicante (Valencia), Barcelona (Catalonia), Gijón (Asturias), Granada (Andalusia), Guadalajara (Castilla -La Mancha), Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz (Andalusia), Leganés (Madrid), Ourense (Galicia), Palma de Mallorca (Balearic Islands), Salamanca (Castilla-León), Tenerife Island (Canary Islands), Segovia (Castilla- Leon) and Zaragoza (Aragon).
The Ministry of Territorial Policy indicates that it will have autonomy, independence, its own assets and administrative powers. It will be key to ensure compliance with European regulation on Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Deconcentration.
The Ministry highlights the beneficial role that public institutions play in the physical environment of their location, as well as the creation of direct and indirect jobs. The decentralization of public bodies will also strengthen equal opportunities, since citizens will be able to interact or work in units of state public institutions.
Nothing decided.
Margarita Robles, Defense Minister, stated yesterday that the Government has not yet opted for any of the possible venues. According to some rumors, the center of the Spanish Space Agency would be installed in Seville, but the minister assures that it has not yet been decided.
The decision will be made in about 10 days
The Ministry of Territorial Policy finally received 35 applications to locate the two new projects of state public agencies. The final decision is expected to be known in a margin of ten days from last Monday when the deadline for submission expired. The Advisory Commission that will decide where both agencies will be physically located is headed by the minister of the area, Isabel Rodríguez, and made up of representatives of the ministries of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation and Labor and Social Economy, among others. Given the “success” and the “great reception”, the applications from 14 autonomous communities will be analyzed to establish an opinion on the best option. Subsequently, it will be sent to the Council of Ministers where the final decision will be made.
