20 Jun ICT Opportunities in Tenerife for 2020
“The market for ICT investment in Tenerife is becoming stronger thanks to its communication with Europe, Africa and Latin America; with a relationship of quality, cost and human capital that is difficult to match”.
The current economic reality is starting to mean that the ICT sector in Tenerife is increasingly gaining ground. Although the island’s economy has traditionally thrived on tourism, this trend is changing, and the local economy is diversifying, and becoming increasingly committed towards promoting its growth as a technological and research centre.
Currently, the growth policies in Tenerife consider digital economy and ICT, as well as research and development and innovation (R&D+i) projects, to be a foundation for growth and improved competitiveness.
This growth in turn responds to an improvement in communication infrastructures and data connectivity, in addition to an increasingly larger ecosystem of scientific and technological parks.
The market for ICT investment in Tenerife is becoming stronger thanks to its communication with Europe, Africa and Latin America; with a relationship of quality, cost and human capital that is difficult to match.
Which governmental actions are promoting ICT in Tenerife?
The appeal of the Canary Islands is not only due to its natural and climatic conditions, but it also has a dynamic economy, promoted by the government.
There are several grants, financing programmes and incentives for the development of Information and Communication Technologies, as well as deductions that are more favourable than in the rest of the national territory.
Canary Island Network of Technology Parks: created to promote the implementation of ICT and to act as a point of management and channelling of R&D+i investments.
This network brings together collaborative actions between the Government of the Canary Islands, Town and City Councils and Inter-Island Councils.
Technological grants programme: this programme, which helps small and medium-sized enterprises with more than 10 years’ experience, seeks to introduce improvements in processes, products and services through innovation. The beneficiary companies can receive grants that range from €500 to €15,000.
Programme to Promote Companies Online (PIER in Spanish): this project fosters the use of digital services online by companies and is supported by the ACIISI and the public business entity Red.es.
AliX Project: a proposal by the Inter-Island Council of Tenerife aimed at fostering the competitiveness of Tenerife in the ICT market. It seeks to turn the Canary Islands into a global telecommunications hub, making the most of its strategic position between America, Europe and Africa.
This project includes the D-AliX (data centre for AliX), a high availability data processing centre where the super computer Teide HPC can be found.
The AliX Network consists of a network of underwater cables that connect the archipelago to the Iberian Peninsula, South Africa, Portugal and Italy, as well as regions in Southeast Asia and the American continent.
Iris Smart Cities Project: Santa Cruz de Tenerife is the only Spanish city in this European project. It seeks to implement intelligent and sustainable solutions in the fields of energy, electric mobility and digital innovation.
Tenerife Smart Island: this project is developed with the support of the tourism infrastructure on the island, and seeks to create sustainable development systems in the environmental, economic and social fields, through information and communication technology.
ICT in the Canary Islands in figures
According to the survey on the use of ICT and e-commerce in companies conducted in 2018 by the National Statistics Institute (INE), all variables of equipment and use of ICT have increased compared to the previous year.
Compared to the national average, the Canary Islands stand out for the availability of computers, internet connection and use of electronic administration.
The main weaknesses are in the hiring of ICT specialists and the purchasing of Cloud Computing services.
Opportunities for the ICT sector in Tenerife:
It is clear that the Information and Communication Technology sector is on the rise. What’s more, it is very much needed, not only in Tenerife, but on the whole Canaries Archipelago.
These are some examples of the different opportunities that the ICT sector can offer:
- Development of open source software, a growing market that is also supported by the public sector.
- Development of digital services and software.
- ICTs applied to tourism. As the main sector in the Canary Islands, the range of possibilities of developing applications in the sector is very wide: data analysis, reservation applications, bots that improve customer service, promotion of geo-location activities, etc.
- Development of videogames. There is talent and a market for this type of application, especially in the field of e-Sports. All of these developments receive investment deductions.
- Auxiliary services for mobile phones.
- Technological platforms.
- Data Mining.
- Telecommunications services, network providers, GPS location.
- Call and information centre services.
- …
As we have seen, the possibilities are numerous and the infrastructure is also supported by tax benefits and facilities provided by the Public Administration.