In recent weeks we have been experiencing a series of news items, most of them very worrying and some more optimistic, but all of them assure us that we are entering a new stage in Catalonia, Europe and the world. I will take four different ones, relate them and make a comment on how we should prepare for this new stage.
A) It is becoming clear that we now have two very poor judges ahead of us in both the US and Russia. B) In the EU's attempt to react, the Commission's well-judged proposals are not finding sufficient response from all Member States. C) The new Chinese open source model and Elon Musk's recent announcement of another model may lead to radical changes and improvements in the functioning of the AI market. ID) Barcelona can now count on the presence of the Mobile World Congress until 2030, and is adding to the already successful 4YFN a new space called Talent Arena that can make us one of the most successful in the world. hubs Europe's leading digital talent pools.
1. Europe's technological dependence. The new foreign policy orientations of both Trump and Putin are pushing Europe to believe that the relationship of collaboration, and even aid, that we have had in the second half of the 20th century with the United States, and of respect with Russia in recent decades, are clearly at risk. This affects above all the defence sector, trade relations and technological development. I focus on the latter, but without forgetting that countries' own security and economic growth are increasingly closely related to their demographics, the availability of natural resources and the level of development of their technologies, and especially those related to information and communication. Countries with a small population and no natural resources become countries that are totally dependent on the three or four major world powers. Only leadership in talent and innovation can prevent this.
It is therefore clear that if European countries remain divided, with very few natural resources and without a high level of talent, transformed into new technological tools, they will become countries without any role in the global context, and dependent on the new physical tools, but above all on the intellectual tools of others, as is already the case with us now, when we use American or US platforms that store and control all our data.
The consequence of this reflection is that Europe must politically become a single state (in my opinion, federal in nature) and have a level of current new technologies similar to the USA and China.
2. The role of Spain and Catalonia. The challenge that all this represents is such that no European country could face it alone, but Europe can. A major problem we have is that none of the three major European countries that should lead it are in the best position to do so: the United Kingdom because it made a mistake by leaving, and Germany and France because they are in difficult political and economic situations. Brussels must take the lead, and it is already starting to do so, but with insufficient support...
What can Spain do? A very important part of what it does must come from Catalonia, since here we have many important centres and tools and many talented people who know how to use them, and both are now growing. I would like to tell you more about this in future articles, but I am just mentioning some of these things now. We have the MareNostrum5 at the BSC, one of the most powerful and fastest computers in the world, and now another high-power quantum computer is being added. We also have the ALBA Synchrotron, used by companies and centres throughout Europe. Recently, the EU has decided to place a new order at the Institute of Photonic Sciences. And let us not forget the importance of having the BUSCA, which brings together more than forty active and valuable institutes and research centres in the country. We also have the 22@ sector, which is accumulating a great focus of talent and innovation.
I do not want to forget the great impact that the annual presence of the Mobile Congress has in the country, which, apart from its commercial dimension, has the effect of turning Barcelona into a centre of new technologies on a global scale due to the importance of the activities that take place around it, organised by the Mobile World Capital. I will continue with all this to see how we can take advantage of these next five years of Mobile to help have a place in world technology and to ensure that part of this work also allows us to increase the already notable presence of Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain in the technological market and in innovation activities. It is necessary that governments, universities and companies decide to do so.
