Opportunities and challenges of an increasingly digital society

More connected, more efficient, more sustainable cities. The great revolution represented by the implementation of new technologies together with the Internet of Things leads to dizzying changes in our daily lives, in our homes and streets, as well as in companies and organizations. To analyze this context and provide the keys to the future in this unstoppable technological advancement, Futuribles, a conference organized by EL PERIODICO in collaboration with Telefónica and CaixaBank, was organized.Experts and institutions agree in their judgment: technology is and will remain the lever of change, but personal involvement also contributes to the profound social change we are already experiencing.

“We are experiencing a real revolution, a truly historic moment in the change of personal, social and also business relations,” he summarized. Albert Sáez, director of EL PERIÓDICOpointing out that “Digitalization is a nuclear element in the construction of the future.” This is how this day started, held last Tuesday at the Hotel Gallery in Barcelona, ​​where the opening speech was given. Ester Manzano, Director General of Digital Services and Citizen Experience at the Generalitat of CataloniaHe explained the success of technology applied in service delivery and communication with citizens.

“Technology should be an accelerating lever to overcome all the challenges we face as a society.”Manzano stated, referring to areas such as “sustainability, feminism or social democracy.” For the managing director of Serveis Digitals i Experiència Ciutadana, Artificial Intelligence cannot be seen as the “great enemy” but instead “gives us superpowers to do good” in a nod to comic book superheroes.

Success experiences

In this sense, he drew attention to two experiences of the Catalan Administration that served to improve relations with citizens and guarantee access to public services. On the one hand, the State’s Fields of Citizen Experience, which citizens evaluate to determine whether the services offered by the Administration, from certain procedures to mobile applications, are accessible, usable and understandable. From his experience, Manzano pointed out that “It is not easy to achieve quality everywhere”. The challenge now is to ensure that procedures are agile and easy, the language is understandable, and the structure of online information is simpler.

On the other hand, Generalitat’s video service now has over a thousand remote services and has a high satisfaction rate: citizens give it 5 out of 5. In the data, the improvement is significant: it is estimated that every 150 video services represents a saving of 85.5 kg, or 35.6 kg of CO2 if a private car user. kg CO2 if traveling by public transport. “As a government, we face a challenge,” Manzano concluded.

The changes we experience in homes, companies, schools, streets, and our daily lives are largely due to this great revolution we are witnessing. Pilar Conesa, founder and CEO of Anteverti and curator of the Smart City Expo World Congress, began her speech at the round table by saying, “Technology is the accelerator of this transformation.”. Conesa predicted, “The city is where changes will occur in the fight against climate change.” In this sense, he stated the following. “The best and most sustainable mobility is inactivity” and concluded that new technologies must be used to achieve greater efficiency and lower energy consumption. Smart City Expo World Congress will be held at Fira Barcelona Gran Via between 7-9 November.

In the same sense, Chema Casas, managing director of Telefónica in Catalonia, said that “technology is one of the most important tools to make resources more sustainable.” He emphasized that the tools for structuring smart cities have increased in the last 10 years, that smart cities with sensors and measurement devices have reduced their prices, enabled massification, become wireless and consume less energy. According to Casas, the real revolution lies in the rollout of 5G, which enables the Internet of Things.

“If we want to successfully face the challenge that 70% of the population will be concentrated in cities by 2050, we need tools to make resources more efficient and more sustainable.”Referring to the application of technology to smart cities, he pointed out smart irrigation based on soil moisture, smart garbage collection based on filling rather than schedule, or giving direct information to the driver so that he knows where he can park and slow down. city.

In his name, Jesús Lanero, CEO of CaixaBank Tech, emphasized that “Change management is the biggest challenge for organizations” and that “corporate culture and innovation culture” are required for this.. “A company that does not have this will find it difficult to survive,” he concluded.

According to Lanero, the recipe for success involves a double intervention: top management sponsorship and employee value proposition; “Offering training, flexibility and a career in an organization with a culture that encourages collaboration, communication and empowerment.”.

university world

New technologies have opened the doors to a world of possibilities in the university environment, despite the lack of knowledge of faculty members. Tools that facilitate the functioning of the campus as well as the work of staff and students have gradually begun to be used. The experience he described Xavier Triadó, Vice-Rector for Digital Transformation at the University of BarcelonaHe is particularly concerned about cybersecurity in a field where he works with 70,000 students (equivalent to the population of Valls).

The challenges the university is addressing are huge: expensive cloud computing, connecting with an increasingly less-literate student body, or making the virtual campus easier and more useful for teachers. Triadó gave as an example the launch of an app that makes it possible to eliminate all plastic cards (approximately 120,000 per year) or send personalized and helpful messages to students. “When you know how to use it, you become more competitive, you go further.”he claimed.

Moderated by: Natalia Ríos, editor-in-chief assets, economy supplementThe roundtable discussion, company and investment of Prensa Ibérica, ended with a discussion on the lack of technological profiles in the Spanish workplace. In an environment where 46% of technological projects in Spain have difficulty finding personnel, Jesús Lanero called for “a clear commitment to vocational training, increasing the presence of women in STEM fields, and promoting internal training in organizations”. Openly, Pilar Conesa criticized the fact that “there is a gap between women: we are losing power and capacity there” He favored a fundamental cultural change in school and family.