The councilor of the Presidency, Interior, Social Dialogue, and Administrative Simplification, Antonio Sanz, inaugurated along with the mayor of Alhaurín de la Torre (Málaga), Joaquín Villanova, the Smart Mobility digital entrepreneurship center for mobility and intelligent vehicles within the framework of the Misión Project, which will allow, among other things, the testing and validation of digital solutions applied to public transport, electric mobility, micromobility, and infrastructure optimization.
There are now 19 entrepreneurial projects and startups that have applied to be part of the program at the Alhaurín center, and seven of them have been selected and have already been incorporated, taking into account criteria such as innovation, definition, and differentiation of their proposals compared to other market alternatives. Entrepreneurs have until September 8 to submit their projects, as the call is still open.
The Smart Mobility center in Alhaurín is located in the Smart Building CSI-IDEA and, as explained by the councilor, it is launched thanks to an investment of 1.4 million euros, co-financed with MRR funds, to which the grant or incentive order complements it with two million for the four Mission Project centers in Andalusia.
Antonio Sanz highlighted that the goal of the Andalusian government is «to turn Andalusia into a leading region in digital transformation and position the community as a benchmark 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 precisely Malaga is the third Spanish province with the highest demand for tech jobs, according to data from the Telefónica Foundation’s Employment Map,» the councilor emphasized. «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 Aeroport City of Alhaurín de la Torre, a space promoted by the City Council and supported by the Andalusian government. Antonio Sanz therefore wanted to thank the municipality «for their 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, seeking to promote collaboration among entrepreneurs and providing access to mentoring and training from experts in specialized sectors, including high-performance consultancy services.
Moreover, they will find the appropriate technical infrastructure and development tools to test and validate innovative ideas, as it has cutting-edge technological equipment specialized in the mobility sector such as urban sensors to measure air quality, energy consumption, or ultrasonics, IoT (Internet of Things) development kits, and virtual reality glasses, among others. Additionally, it will promote the use of artificial intelligence to improve the flow or circulation of both cars and goods vehicles.
Among this equipment, the Vodafone STEP Platform stands out, made available to the Misión Project for simulation and analysis of mobility scenarios. A project developed at the Vodafone Innovation Hub inaugurated in Malaga in September 2023.
Antonio Sanz emphasized that «this company thus becomes a strategic collaborator and a undoubtedly differential value of this Misión center, as it allows us to incorporate advanced capabilities in IoT, cloud, and cybersecurity to the project, facilitating the development of innovative solutions and real use cases in the urban environment.»
The Vodafone Málaga Hub team also offers training and support to Misión to master the STEP platform environment and develop their solutions there.
83 initiatives so far in Misión, with an investment of 12 million
Misión is the first public project at a regional scale that transforms support for entrepreneurship into a sectoral strategy, connecting talent, digital solutions, and specific economic challenges. «It reflects, ultimately, the commitment of the Andalusian government to the promotion of digital entrepreneurship, supporting entrepreneurs and startups in boosting their projects and SMEs in their digital transformation processes to strengthen the region’s technological ecosystem,» the councilor emphasized.
The one in Alhaurín de la Torre is the second Misión Project center in operation. The first, specialized in the agrotech sector, was inaugurated in El Ejido, and in the coming weeks, those dedicated to port logistics, in the Port of Algeciras, and specialized in gaming and digital content creation, in Jaén, will be opened.
Currently, there are 83 entrepreneurial 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 inclusion, with eight for the El Ejido center, seven for Jaén, six for Algeciras, and seven projects for the Smart Mobility center in Alhaurín. With co-financing from MRR funds, the Junta will invest 12 million euros in the creation of the four planned nodes, including the grant or incentive line that complements it.
These grant or incentive lines for startups and SMEs have two aspects. The first line is aimed at startups for the development of digital solutions. The second is aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises for the implementation of digital solutions developed by startups, thus promoting their collaboration. The total budget for these grants will exceed two million euros.
Antonio Sanz highlighted that «the Andalusian government’s commitment 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.»
During the event, the councilor of the Presidency was accompanied by the vice-councilor 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.
