The Minister of the Presidency, Interior, Social Dialogue, and Administrative Simplification, Antonio Sanz, inaugurated alongside the Mayor of Alhaurín de la Torre (Málaga), Joaquín Villanova, the Smart Mobility digital entrepreneurship center for intelligent mobility and vehicles within the framework of the Misión Project. This initiative will enable the testing and validation of digital solutions applied to public transport, electric mobility, micromobility, and infrastructure optimization.
There are already 19 entrepreneurship projects and startups that have applied to be part of the program at the Alhaurín center, with seven of them already selected and incorporated based on criteria such as innovation, definition, and differentiation of their proposals from other alternatives in the market. Entrepreneurs have until September 8th to submit their projects, as the call is still open.
The Smart Mobility center in Alhaurín is located in the CSI-IDEA Smart Building and, as explained by the minister, it is launched thanks to an investment of 1.4 million euros, co-financed with MRR funds, in addition to an order of grants or incentives that complements it with two million for the four Misión Project centers in Andalusia.
Antonio Sanz emphasized that the goal of the Andalusian government is to «transform Andalusia into a leading region in digital transformation and position the community as a reference in innovation and digital entrepreneurship.» «No one would have believed it a few years ago, but the technology sector is becoming the third economic engine of Andalusia, and Málaga is the third Spanish province with the highest demand for tech jobs, according to data from the Telefónica Foundation’s Employment Map,» the minister stressed. «In short, we are helping companies, creating jobs, looking to the future, and improving people’s lives through the application of new technologies,» he concluded.
Furthermore, this new center in Alhaurín is also linked to the Alhaurín de la Torre Aerotropolis, a space promoted by the City Council with the support of the Junta de Andalucía. Antonio Sanz therefore thanked the municipality «for its collaboration as a territorial agent whose basic formula is to connect digital entrepreneurship with the economic reality of the territories.»
The center will offer a collaborative workspace, aiming to promote collaboration among entrepreneurs and provide access to mentoring and training from experts in specialized sectors, as well as high-performance consultancy services.
Moreover, they will have the appropriate technical infrastructure and development tools to test and validate innovative ideas, as it boasts cutting-edge technological equipment specialized in the mobility sector such as urban sensors to measure air quality, energy consumption, or ultrasounds, IoT (Internet of Things) development kits, and virtual reality glasses, among others. It will also promote the use of artificial intelligence to enhance the flow or circulation of both cars and goods vehicles.
Among this equipment stands out the Vodafone STEP Platform made available to the Misión Project for simulating and analyzing mobility scenarios. A project developed in the Vodafone Innovation Hub inaugurated in Málaga in September 2023.
Antonio Sanz emphasized that «this company becomes a strategic collaborator and undoubtedly a differential value of this Misión center as it allows us to incorporate advanced capabilities in IoT, cloud, and cybersecurity, facilitating the development of innovative solutions and real use cases in the urban environment.»
The Vodafone Málaga Hub team also offers Misión training and support so that startups master the STEP platform environment and develop their solutions there.
83 initiatives so far in Misión, with 12 million in investment
Misión is the first public project at a regional level that turns support for entrepreneurship into a sectoral strategy, connecting talent, digital solutions, and specific economic challenges. «It reflects, ultimately, the commitment of the Junta de Andalucía to the promotion of digital entrepreneurship, supporting entrepreneurs and startups in propelling their projects forward and assisting SMEs in their digital transformation process to strengthen the region’s technological ecosystem,» the minister emphasized.
The Alhaurín de la Torre center is the second Misión Project center in operation. The first one, specialized in the agrotech sector, was inaugurated in El Ejido, and in the coming weeks, the ones dedicated to port logistics in Algeciras Port and specialized in gaming and digital content creation in Jaén will open.
Currently, there are 83 entrepreneurship projects and startups that have applied to be part of the acceleration program offered by the Misión Project throughout Andalusia. Of these, 28 have already been selected for incorporation, with eight for the El Ejido center, seven for Jaén, six for Algeciras, and seven projects for the Smart Mobility center in Alhaurín. With the co-financing of MRR funds, the Junta will invest 12 million euros in the creation of the four planned nodes, including the line of grants or incentives that complement it.
These grants or incentives for startups and SMEs have two aspects. The first line is aimed at startups for the development of digital solutions. The second line is aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises for the implementation of digital solutions developed by startups, thus fostering their collaboration. The total budget for these grants will exceed two million euros.
Antonio Sanz highlighted that «the commitment of the Junta de Andalucía to digital entrepreneurship is absolutely unquestionable, and we continue to take steps towards a much more diversified economy, an economy that is no longer just agriculture and tourism.»
At the event, the Minister of the Presidency was accompanied by the Vice Minister of the Presidency, Interior, Social Dialogue, and Administrative Simplification, Tomás Burgos; the Government Delegate of the Junta de Andalucía in Málaga, Patricia Navarro; the Managing Director of the Andalusian Digital Agency, Raúl Jiménez; and the Managing Director of Sandetel, Sergio Gómez.