The Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Function has announced that on November 3rd, the Ibero-American Digital Forum will be held in Madrid, a meeting that will bring together international experts and delegations from 22 countries with the aim of placing technology at the center of the region's agenda.
According to the department in a statement, the meeting aims to analyze technological transformation as an essential piece to reinforce social cohesion, democratic quality, and economic competitiveness.
The program includes three keynote speeches. The first will be given by the Mexican activist Olimpia Coral, who will address digital rights and the creation of safe virtual environments for women and girls. Coral promoted in Mexico the reform known as "Olimpia Law" after the non-consensual dissemination of an intimate video by her ex-partner when she was 18 years old.
The other two individual conferences will be given by the American scientist Elizabeth Bodine-Baron and the Spanish researcher Mateo Valero.
Bodine-Baron, a PhD from the California Institute of Technology and director of the Master's in Technology Policy at the RAND School of Public Policy, will focus her presentation on cybersecurity and mass data analysis to neutralize networks of electoral disinformation, following her experience as an advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy of the United States.
Valero, a professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and director of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), will share his trajectory in the field of supercomputing, backed by recognitions such as the Eckert-Mauchly Award and the Creu de Sant Jordi from the Generalitat of Catalonia.
The Forum will also include four round tables dedicated to digital rights and the protection of children on the internet; connectivity and cybersecurity in critical infrastructures; the modernization of public management in the digital environment; and the promotion of reliable and sovereign artificial intelligence.
In these debates, the Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining of Uruguay, Fernanda Cardona; the Deputy Minister and Reform Minister of Portugal, Gonçalo Matias; the Minister of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation of Chile, Ximena Lincolao; the Minister of Public Administration of the Dominican Republic, Sigmund Freund; and the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of Brazil, Luciana Santos, will participate.
The representation of the academic world and the private sector will be led by the president of Hispasat, Pedro Duque; the head of the UN's AI Governance Laboratory for Humanity, Ana García Robles; the professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Barcelona, José Ignacio Latorre; and the director of UNICEF for Latin America and the Caribbean, Roberto Benes, along with other business executives.
The sessions will be moderated by the Secretary of State for Digitalization and AI, María González Veracruz; the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Critical Infrastructures, Antonio Hernando; the Secretary of State for Public Function, Consuelo Sánchez; and the director of the Office of Economic Affairs and G20 of the Presidency of the Government, Manuel de la Rocha. The day will close that same afternoon with the I Ibero-American Ministerial Meeting on Digital Transformation and AI.
The event will take place at the headquarters of the National Mint and Stamp Factory and is part of the XXX Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, which will be held on November 4 and 5 in Madrid.