The seventh European summit on exponential technologies, DES – Digital Enterprise Show, has come to Malaga for the second time to turn the Andalusian city into the world capital of technology. The event, which started yesterday the 13th and will continue until tomorrow Thursday, will leave an economic impact for the city estimated at around 34 million euros. It brings together more than 17,000 world managers who will seek their technological partner to increase their business competitiveness.
In its presentation, DES2023 has started with the presentation of the first Digital Transformation Index carried out by Futurum Group and DES, in which they analyze and identify how the digital transformation has diminished in companies and industries. Throughout these three days, the city on the Costa del Sol will be the venue to analyze the impact of AI not only on an industrial level, but also on a social level.
The impact of digitization
At the event it was announced the impact that digital competence has had in the last three years and how little by little it has been penetrating in the business field. Thus, 55% of those surveyed in the study have claimed to be digital leaders within their industry. Faced with this data, only 17% announce that their companies are advancing at a slower pace.
In the same way, in DES2023 it has been highlighted how technology has contributed significantly to the generation of employment in recent years, and it is that 43% believe that new technologies have created new job opportunities. And it is that although AI can lead to the destruction of certain jobs, it will also open up new models. The CEO of Futurum Group, Daniel Newman, affirmed in this regard that “in the current revolution it is still not clear what these jobs are going to be like, but the scenario that is opening up is fascinating.”
On behalf of Newman himself, and also by Vala Afshar and Mike Hayes, Chiel Evangelist Officer and COO of VMWare respectively, the importance of the humanization of technology has been pointed out. The experts affirmed that technological development only makes reaffirm the value of people in the digitization process.
This event, which has welcomed a multitude of experts, has had the participation of many of them. The CEO of Telefónica Tech Cyber Security & Cloud, María Jesús Almazor, explained how “values are more important than technologies, but we are the ones who make the technologies and not the other way around”. María José Talavera, Iberia Managing Director of VMWARE Spain, stated that “digital transformation is a culture that goes from the top to the employees”.
The Director of DES – Digital Enterprise Show, Sandra Infante, has highlighted the importance of AI in business activity as well as its impact on industries. For Infante, AI is the great protagonist of this event and it is that “the new applications that are developed will help improve the productivity of our country.” The director also believes that although AI has great challenges, these will not be greater than those produced by the arrival of the Internet or the telephone.
The Junta de Andalucía will take the lead in AI
The inauguration of the event has had the presence and participation of Juanma Moreno, president of the Junta de Andalucía, who has stressed the importance of DES for Malaga and the community itself. The president took advantage of make public the approval of the Artificial Intelligence Strategy of Andalusia next week. Moreno explained that this will allow “taking advantage of resources and their uses to improve citizen care.”
During the intervention of Francisco de la Torre, mayor of Malaga, he highlighted the greatness of “joining efforts and getting together to share experiences. It is a success that will allow us to better face the challenges. For Malaga it is a wonderful opportunity”.
Similarly, the president of the Malaga Provincial Council, Francisco Salado, stated that “DES is a meeting that must serve to show an innovative, thriving and dynamic Malaga.” Salado has valued the strategic plan carried out from his council to promote the digitization of municipalities with less than 20,000 inhabitants.
In another order, in the development of this first day of DES, highlighted the role of the city of kyiv as City Partner 2023 for the digitalization work that is being carried out in order to save the lives of the population in the conflict with Russia.
Kiev Chief Digital Transformation Officer and Deputy Mayor of Digitalization Oleg Polovynko said, “We continue to share our story of building resilience through digitalization. Our main mission is to draw the world’s attention to the situation in our country. We share our experience on how digital technologies can help cities stay resilient even in the face of the most difficult challenges.”
