Tenerife commitment to host the headquarters of the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence. This center would make the Island the first region in Europe with a national entity that monitors the combination of algorithms necessary to create machines with the same or similar capabilities to human beings., which is what artificial intelligence is based on. To achieve this end, the Cabildo de Tenerife presented yesterday, the day the deadline expired, the candidacy for the central office of this agency to be installed on the Island.
It is not the only national agency to which Tenerife aspires. Also yesterday, the Island Corporation presented a candidacy to the central Executive to host the Spanish Space Agency. In this case, the island of Tenerife will compete with Gran Canaria, whose Cabildo also presented its project yesterday. Apart from the infrastructures, the connectivity and the extensive hotel facilities, on an island with two airports, the technological development that Tenerife has achieved, the fact that it has a university and important research centers and has two supercomputers – Teide HPC and Anaga of the Technological Institute of Renewable Energies of Tenerife (ITER)– are the main assets to obtain one of these headquarters… or both.
The insular government, chaired by the socialist Peter Martin, has placed a special interest in the headquarters of the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence, for which the State has 5 million euros only for its implementation in the General Budgets of this year. The Cabildo understands that the Island meets all the requirements to achieve this end.
Other island advantages with a view to hosting the control center for new technologies that imitate human behavior are that it has developed the Artificial Intelligence Tourism Master Plan and the fact that the University of La Laguna offers a chair in big data –processes of analysis of large volumes of data–, open data –practice that seeks to make certain data freely available to everyone, without copyright restrictions– and blockchain –mathematical structure to store data in a way that is almost impossible to falsify–.
There are other factors that favor Tenerife’s candidacy to host the Spanish Artificial Intelligence Supervision Agency and the Spanish Space Agency. This is the case of the Canary Islands Astrophysics Institute (IAC) in La Laguna, which manages the Teide Observatory, with advanced technology telescopes such as the Grantecan. The IAC and the Observatory also develop instrumentation for satellites, among many other advances.
Teide Observatory
This Observatory at the top of the island has contributed to expanding the extensive experience in managing international projects by universities and research centers, which place Tenerife at the forefront of emerging sectors such as microelectronics, aerial robotics, space, artificial intelligence, telecommunications, remote sensing, astrophysics and marine sciences.
The Tenerife Corporation offers the different facilities of the Tenerife Science and Technology Park for these two venues. In the case of artificial intelligence, it specifically proposes the Innovaparq ULL, with more than 1,500 square meters available on the Central Campus of the University of La Laguna, in the Professor Agustín Arévalo Tower, located on Trinidad Avenue.
The Island would become the first region in Europe with an entity to monitor algorithms
The candidates of both agencies must have a strong business and research ecosystem, in addition to being prepared to generate and receive multidisciplinary technical talent, with knowledge of both new technologies, different systems and their supervision models, as well as in the fields of ethics and the social and legal sciences. In the case of space.
territorial cohesion
They must also respond to the process of territorial cohesion, with the aim of promoting equal opportunities and stimulating their social and business fabric, reports the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation. And it is that the establishment of these headquarters “also seeks to favor the territorial structuring and the decentralization of the headquarters of the public sector,” adds the state department, which details that these agencies will have their own autonomy.
The Tenerife Cabildo believes that a priori It has more possibilities of obtaining the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence than the Space Agency, although it does not rule anything out. The plans of the Government of Pedro Sánchez are that this entity raises awareness about the impact of artificial intelligence on society and the need to guarantee the use of this technology. In this sense, the Agency’s main mission will be to minimize the risks that these algorithms can bring in fields such as security, privacy and people’s health, as well as other fundamental rights.
Apart from these two candidacies presented yesterday, Tenerife aspires to host other national and international entities such as the European Tourism Agency or the Spanish Institute of Volcanology. In fact, it was the Cabildo de Tenerife that created the Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands.
Advantages to host the two agencies
Tenerife has many advantages to host the headquarters of the Spanish Artificial Intelligence Supervision Agency and the Spanish Space Agency. Apart from its geostrategic location, its infrastructure and connectivity, and the quality of its accommodation facilities (203 hotels on the island), its technological progress is fundamental, with centers that are a reference for national and international science.
scientific centers
- Tenerife has important facilities dedicated to science. There are all those linked to the University of La Laguna, the Technological and Renewable Energy Institute (ITER) of the Cabildo, the centers attached to the Science and Technology Park of Tenerife or the Technological Institute of the Canary Islands.
supercomputers
- Tenerife has the Anaga and Teide HPC supercomputers, both launched by ITER. The Anaga is a novel device that complements and extends the features of the Teide HPC, multiplying its performance by four. The Teide HPC, for its part, is the most powerful supercomputer in Spain, designed to improve the scope of national and international research.
Optical fiber
- Regarding submarine fiber optic cable connections, Tenerife has 9 with Europe, 4 with Africa and 2 with America.
Institute of Astrophysics
- Tenerife plays a vital role in the Spanish aerospace sector. The Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics (IAC) manages the Teide Observatory, with advanced instrumentation such as the Great Canary Telescope (Grantecan).
