About 500 entrepreneurs and leaders of the world of society, university and knowledge have attended the celebration gala of the 20th CTA Birthday (Andalusia Technological Corporation) in the Sevilla Techpark Technology Park, an event that has had the presence of the president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno; The mayor of Seville, José Luis Sanz; the president of the CEA (Confederation of Entrepreneurs of Andalusia), Javier González de Lara; the president of the APD (Association for the Progress of the Directorate), Laura González Moleroand the president of CTA, Beltrán Pérez. CTA reaches two decades of activity as a reference for innovation and the transfer of knowledge in southern Europe and with the announcement of the next opening of a new headquarters in Granada, which will complement those that already work in Seville and Malaga.
In these 20 years of existence, the activity of CTA has contributed a contribution to the GDP of 1,756 million of euros and more than 35,000 high qualification jobs, as well as a fiscal contribution of 362 million euros, according to a report prepared by the University of Seville on the “economic legacy of CTA in Andalusia. An analysis of the impact generated in the last 20 years.”
The president of the Junta de Andalucía said that “Before, innovating was a risk, but now, the risk is not to innovate” And he pointed out that “Andalusia wants to go to more, and knows how to do it, because innovation is favored, for example, with less bureaucracy, moderate taxation, political stability and legal certainty. The result of all this is that Andalusia is, every day more, the great innovation strut of southern Europe.”
Moreno congratulated CTA “for 20 years of efforts, of vision of the future and of good results that They contribute to the advance of Andalusia Through two elements that are fundamental: public-private collaboration and knowledge transfer, especially between the university and the company. “
Beltrán Pérez
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The president of CTA, Beltrán Pérez, announced that the mission of the new strategic plan of CTA 2026-2029 is “to evolve the activity of the foundation to adapt to changing circumstances” and continue to be “Useful from the private sector with a clear public service vocation “. He stressed that CTA wants to “offer expert knowledge, talent and trust harvested to help accelerate processes and accompany the times of administrations and companies with the ambition to build a prosperous and competitive Andalusia, a land of opportunities.”
Pérez reviewed the main achievements of the first 20 years of CTA, in which this foundation has promoted more than 6,000 innovative projects and has financed more than 840 R&D projects They have mobilized a private investment exceeding 600 million euros, with an impact on GDP of more than 1,750 million euros and more than 35,000 jobs generated.
The members of the CTA cluster, which total more than 185 companies from all sectors and sizes, suppose 3.6% of national GDP and maintain almost 300,000 jobs in Spain. In addition, he pointed out that each euro contributed to CTA by the Junta de Andalucía “has returned to the public coffers multiplied by five”, through the Public Treasury for taxes and social quotes generated by the financed projects and their results.
For its part, The mayor of Seville He stressed that “CTA could not be located in a more appropriate place than this technology park, Sevilla Techpark, and stressed that CTA has become an example of how public-private collaboration can transform the productive fabric and has shown that innovation is not a promise: it is a reality that generates impact, employment and future.” He added that “today, we can say that Seville is the technological epicenter of Andalusia and international reference in entrepreneurship and innovation and, from Seville, we want to continue leading that transformation.”
He presidents from the one He congratulated CTA for “celebrating 20 years promoting the technological innovation of Andalusia for the world, knocking down barriers and demonstrating the power of the strength of the business union and highlighting the essentials of the public -private alliance.” He added that “the company is the institution that the Andalusian society most trusts and that corporations like CTA are depositories of it” and expressed its confidence that “the consolidated experience of these 20 years will mean an impulse to strengthen it and continue to promote the technological innovation that achieves an Andalusia that leads the future.”
The president of the APD said that “it is a privilege for APD to accompany CTA on its 20th anniversary with a joint meeting that reinforces our alliance and commitment to the Andalusian business fabric” and explained that “the CTA-APD Innovation Observatory is born from the coordinated work between two organizations that share the conviction that innovation is the engine of competitiveness and technological sovereignty.”
Observatory
The meeting to commemorate success in the impulse to innovation during the first 20 years of the Foundation included the presentation of the APD-CTA Observatory “Objective Innovation: Reactivating Europe“. The document, presented by the general director of CTA, Elías Atienzacollects about fifty prestigious firms to analyze how innovation is and will be the key element to achieve the technological sovereignty of Europe, after the alerts led by the Draghi and Letta reports about their loss of competitiveness with respect to the US and China.
Among the participants in the APD-CTA Observatory, there are ministers, regional counselors, presidents and business managers, scientists, experts, philosophers and a long etcetera for maximum level profiles.
The economist Enrico Lettaauthor of the great impact report on the single market that takes his last name, he participated in the CTA event through a video in which he explained his proposals to solve the loss of competitiveness of Europe against the US. In his opinion, “Europe is a continent with innovative people and new ideas, willing to assume risks, but the problem is that they have to leave for other more prone ecosystems to innovation and with greater availability of financing.” To avoid this, according to Letta, what Europe urgently needs is to complete the establishment of a single market that, in addition to integrating financial markets to have greater financing capacity for innovation, add the fifth freedom (knowledge, research and data). This single market, in Letta’s opinion, will turn Europe again into “a land of innovation” as it has been in other times. His collaborator Tullio Ambrosone, director of Arel Single Market Lab, attended the event to clarify in more detail some of these challenges.
The meeting, which was moderated by the economic journalist Luis Montotoalso had a reflection of the humanistic philosopher of innovation David Pastor Vico about the need for cooperation in this environment of fast technological change and with a dialogue between the president of Cotec, Cristina Garmendia; The president of the CSIC, Eloísa del Pino; and the Minister of Industry, Energy and Mines, Jorge Paradela.
Collaboration
In his final message, Paradela stressed during his speech the collaboration lines that keeps CTA open in areas such as green hydrogen or his role in the elaboration of the value chain plan grows health industry. Thus, it highlighted that “CTA has managed to read the future challenges intelligently of Andalusian society and has played a fundamental role as a catalyst for industrial innovation, connecting science and business “in its first two decades of life.
Jorge Paradela has highlighted, in this way, that it is “a great example of the good results that the Public-private collaborationdemonstrating that Andalusia has the clear will to star in the south of the industrial and technological transformation that Europe demands. “
