SAN SEBASTIAN DE LA GOMERA, Nov. 25 (EUROPA PRESS) –
La Gomera hosted this Friday the closure of the ‘I International Aeronautical and Aerospace Congress’, an event that brought together companies in the sector and that served to address the development of this industry on the islands, as well as the usefulness of these instruments to implement them in programs of action focused on areas such as civil protection or transport.
In the closing ceremony of the congress, the president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, explained that the aeronautical and aerospace sector “is essential for the present and the future, and also has one of the best places in the world for its development in the Canary Islands, for its sky and for the security that investing here in new technologies gives”.
Torres highlighted the increasingly relevant role played by aerial devices such as drones, as was verified with the La Palma volcano.
“The Canary Islands can be a place to experiment and then commercialize drones. In La Palma they were essential for controlling the temperature of the lava, also in forest fires on different islands, to determine where to attack the extinction,” he said.
The head of the regional Executive considers that technology must be at the service of security and society, for this reason, “The Canary Islands aspire to be the headquarters of the Spanish Space Agency and an important investment has been made in Fuerteventura to walk in this line “, in its technology park.
The president indicated that Gran Canaria aspires to that headquarters and that Tenerife does so to that of the Artificial Intelligence Agency.
“I love to see that all the islands, like La Gomera today with this congress, are contributing their grain of sand for something that is still very unknown, although we try to disseminate the aerospace and aeronautical reality also with these international events,” he said.
The choice of La Gomera to host this event opens the door to being a pioneer territory in the launching and practices with these instruments.
This was expressed by the president of the Cabildo, Casimiro Curbelo, who pointed to this reality as “one of the most important technological implementation challenges in the island’s history.”
In this sense, he recalled that drones are already applied for fire surveillance tasks, “but what is now being proposed is to be an international benchmark to host pilot projects for the implementation of these instruments, and become a launch and management platform.”
In this sense, he insisted on the importance for territories such as La Gomera to bet on economic diversification from the incorporation of small industries that serve for the development and maintenance of these devices.
“It is a path in which we cannot be alone and, for this reason, I am convinced that from the rest of the public administrations of the Canary Islands, as well as from the sector itself, we will join efforts to make this island an international benchmark”, he pointed out. .
The participation of the companies and the celebration of a day dedicated to the debate between experts has allowed the publication of a decalogue of conclusions whose goal is their incorporation into the planning of public administrations.
Thus, the president of the Cluster, José Luis García, ratified the technological, economic, social and business opportunity that the sector has for the Canary Islands, together with the orographic, climatic and fiscal conditions that are ideal for the establishment of these companies in the archipelago.
In the same way, the conclusions point to the need to promote the necessary political and administrative tools for the creation of an innovative ecosystem that allows the development and attraction of projects.
As well as the role that universities and research centers should play in support, technology transfer and support to the business and public sector.
During the closing ceremony, the contribution of PROEXCA, ESA –European Space Agency, the Canary Islands Air Command and ENAIRE, which have been promoters of the development of the Congress, was recognized.
In addition, Globalvía, Grupo Etra, Singular Aircraft, CT Ingenieros and Tehiru took stock of their planned actions and their progress in the sector.
COMPLEMENTARY PROGRAMMING WITH SCHOOLS
More than 200 schoolchildren have participated in the drone exhibition located both at the headquarters of the Island Council and in the Parque de la Torre del Conde.
During the session they received specific training on the handling and functionalities of these instruments and learned about the possibilities of their use on La Gomera.
Coinciding with the presence of the students, a rescue drill was carried out in the bay of San Sebastián de La Gomera, in which they were able to see the response capacity of the drones and the coordination with the rest of the media. In addition, the previous day, the first drone light show held on the island was held.
