Madrid's plans to turn the capital into a benchmark in innovation

Since Ángel Niño took the reins of the Madrid City Council's Department of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 2019, there has been an idea that he has repeated over and over again: "I want to turn Madrid into a world benchmark in innovation and a pole of attraction for talent ".

The councilor, an engineer by profession and who defines himself as passionate about technology and innovation, has focused his mandate precisely on making Madrid a competitive space for a future that will be marked by technology. "Madrid was not in the innovation rankings of the last ten years, as Barcelona was. That effort had not been made and we had to create an attractive city for Spanish, European and Latin American entrepreneurs. How is it done? With public policies so that entrepreneurs feel comfortable in this city and want to come here to set up their innovative businesses," says Ángel Niño.

"I would love to see in a few years that a company that was born in our start-up incubators has become a unicorn," adds the councilor.

For this work, the innovation area has almost doubled the innovation budget in the last two years from 13 million in 2019 to the more than 20 million it has had in 2021 and 2022.

"Ten years from now, cities are either smart or they will not be competitive. That is why our commitment to artificial intelligence is very strong. We can boast of having been the first administration to open a public artificial intelligence center, in the Chamberí district in 2022. The European Commission said in 2015 that a great effort had to be made for this technology to be able to compete with Asia and the United States, and that effort has not been made, but we are trying to compensate for it. AI is being used in absolutely everything, but the talent within this technology chooses where to live and we have to convince the leading companies in this that Madrid is the city where they have to stay".

Also convinced of the importance of Web3 and blockchain, next week the City Council will award the first blockchain awards in Spain, in which the winning start-ups will be awarded 40,000 euros to develop their business model in the Spanish capital.

"We also seek to make the city a benchmark in this technology. We have not opened a blockchain-related center because resources are limited, but we have created some very important prizes. What is clear is that there are technologies such as AI, blockchain or quantum computing that will mark the future of our cities and our lives," says Niño.

Along with these technologies, the Minister also pays special attention to mobility in the Madrid of the future, especially last-mile solutions. "It is not a futuristic idea to think about delivery drones or robots. I think there is still time to see it, but above all because drone technology and regulation have to mature. Of course, the sooner the tests are done, the better, For this reason, we are closing the opening of a Sandbox in Villaverde that will be focused on being able to carry out these tests with autonomous cars, drones or robots. It is the first space of its kind in the world", explains the councilor.