Spain and Portugal seal Iberian alliance to strengthen cooperation and promote joint digital projects

News - 2021.10.28

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The Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation and the Portuguese Ministry of Economy and Digital Transition have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for an Iberian alliance in the digital field, to cooperate in areas such as the digital connectivity hub, 5G, the creation of clouds, Artificial Intelligence, digital infrastructures or digital entrepreneurship.

This is one of the documents signed today at the 32nd Spanish-Portuguese Summit, which renewed the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between the two countries, updating the existing 1977 treaty and recognising the deepening of bilateral relations in democracy.

Identification of joint projects

Within the framework of the summit, the First Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister for the Economy and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, held a meeting with her Portuguese counterpart, Pedro Siza, in which they discussed, in addition to the digital cooperation reflected in the memorandum, the identification of joint digital projects within the framework of the Recovery Plan.

Spain and Portugal have signed a cooperation agreement in the framework of the recovery and resilience plans, which defines four priority areas of cooperation: electric and connected vehicles and the recovery and management of critical raw materials for the energy transition, ecological transition and renewable energies, including green hydrogen; space programmes and technologies; and the development of capacities and digital infrastructures.

Within the framework of cooperation on digital issues, the agreement includes three specific projects, which both countries undertake to develop jointly.

  1. Connecting the agents of technological entrepreneurship. Both countries are committed to interconnecting start-up associations, test-beds, incubators and accelerators to develop synergies in the field of technology entrepreneurship.
  2. Collaboration project to create an Iberian network of Artificial Intelligence labs. Create a network of excellence in Artificial Intelligence research by 2022, ensuring interconnection between the specialised labs of the two countries.
  3. Digitalisation of Public Administration. Development of an Action Plan for the creation of cross-border digital services that respond to the needs of citizens, promote innovation and collaboration between the two countries in areas such as digital identity, interoperability, data governance or digital public services.

Iberian alliance to advance digital transformation

Spain and Portugal agree on the need to make decisive progress in digital transformation, one of the priorities of the European agenda and of the NextGenerationEU instrument and a fundamental axis of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. Digital transformation will account for around 30% of the investments to be deployed in the period 2021-2023.
One of the objectives of this Iberian alliance is to enhance national strategies, the Spain Digital Agenda 2025 and Portugal's Digital Transition Action Plan, jointly promoting digital transformation policies, developing synergies to achieve greater scale and strengthening the competitiveness of both countries.
Both countries are committed to jointly developing the interconnection of digital data networks and infrastructures and submarine cables, national and international connectivity, the implementation of 5G networks and edge computing, the creation of European data and Artificial Intelligence spaces, the promotion of cybersecurity, and the promotion of digital entrepreneurship.
Also to promote common strategies for accessing EU funding instruments (Recovery and Resilience Mechanism and the Digital Europe, Horizon Europe, Connecting Europe Facility - Digital programmes), as well as to develop joint IPCEI proposals (European projects of common interest).
To this end, Spain and Portugal will institutionally create Iberian consortia for participation in these programmes. Special attention will be paid to the connectivity and digitisation needs of the outermost regions (ORs) of both States.

Joint cooperation activities

The memorandum of understanding develops a number of cooperation activities:
  1. A partnership in the field of cross-border digital data infrastructures, including data processing centres and submarine cables, tethering points and their backbone interconnections, in the terrestrial and satellite domains, with classical or quantum networks and communications. The aim is to strengthen the Iberian Peninsula's position as a hub for digital interconnection in southern Europe.
  2. The reciprocal strengthening of the presence of Spain and Portugal in international and regional organisations and forums on connectivity and digital infrastructures.
  3. Jointly promoting the testing, development and use of 5G technologies and edge capabilities in transport corridors.
  4. The development of an experimental edge computing hub.
  5. In terms of entrepreneurship, the creation of a partnership and the interconnection of incubator networks in Spain and Portugal with the aim of deepening ties between the Portuguese and Spanish start-up ecosystems.
  6. The establishment of coordination and cooperation mechanisms in Artificial Intelligence research and development and subsequently promoting its adoption by companies and public administrations. The creation of data spaces and their interconnection will be promoted, in addition to the partnership in the field of cross-border digital infrastructures, to foster the digitalisation of strategic economic sectors and areas of common public interest.

Creation of a working group for co-operation in Artificial Intelligence

The memorandum provides for the creation of a working group for cooperative activities in the field of Artificial Intelligence research and development.
Among other areas, this group will work on ideas such as creating an Iberian network of specialised AI experimentation and innovation (R&) Labs, collaboration agreements for the creation of test-beds or sandboxes, experimentation with data in sectors of common public or economic interest, and the creation of an "Iberian Talent Hub" to attract and retain research talent in Artificial Intelligence.

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