The general director of Red.es, Jesús Herrero, has defended that digitalization must be understood as a "state policy" against the discourses that warn that technology can make citizens "less free" and favor the emergence of "less democratic states."
"In all those discourses that tell us that technology comes to make us less free, comes to build less democratic states, we have very clear answers," Herrero pointed out this Monday during the 40th edition of the 'Meeting of Digital Economy and Telecommunications' of Ametic, the employers' association of the digital industry in Spain. The event is being held in Santander, within the framework of the summer courses of the International University Menéndez Pelayo (UIMP).
The forum brings together from this Monday until Wednesday the main agents of the digital ecosystem —Public Administrations, companies, the academic world, professional colleges, social representatives, and civil society— with the aim of debating how to reconcile technological advancement with well-being and promote sustainable and inclusive development.
The head of Red.es has emphasized that "technology must be transparent and ethical" and that those who promote it "must respond personally as any other sector of the economy does."
He has also stressed the importance of analyzing the side effects "with evidence and not with impressions" and of "actively closing the gaps that technology is also producing."
PUBLIC SERVICES
The director of Red.es has highlighted that it is necessary to "rethink public services" so that citizens can have "their town hall at home 24 hours a day."
At the same time, he pointed out that companies demand "to be at the forefront every day" and valued that "starting the course by giving ourselves homework and listening to the industry" is a sign that Spain is "a strong state, a robust state."
Herrero added that this state conceives "the economy as a motor of transformation of the society that has the honor of representing."
NEW CHALLENGES
From Red.es, they have pointed out as priority challenges the development of the data market, the strengthening of cybersecurity, and the push for Spain to be "a country with innovative companies."
"Red.es will continue to face the task of strengthening the country's capacity to take on new challenges with solvency," he affirmed.
Lastly, he has acknowledged the work of the Red.es team and has guaranteed that the entity will continue working "with passion, with determination, with professionalism," with the aim that "the Spanish technology sector continues to bring joy to the economy and to a country that needs it."