Carolina Pascual has held leadership roles within her own venture, Lights and Shadows, and served in the Department for Innovation, Universities and the Digital Society. Her influence grew through support to Distrito Digital, which attracted a growing cluster of technology companies. As the regional innovation ecosystem expanded, questions emerged about how aid was distributed, with the Valencia Innovation Agency drawing scrutiny for what some perceived as favoritism toward particular provinces.
In a climate driven by digitalization and rapid tech adoption, the government led by Ximo Puig moved to accelerate progress in this sector at the start of the current legislative term. The strategic decision was to establish the Ministry of Innovation, Universities and Digital Society and to appoint Carolina Pascual, an engineer born in Elche who teaches at the University of Alicante. Pascual also serves as dean of the Official College and has held leadership roles in the Valencian Society of Telecommunications Engineers, contributing to developments within the Department of Telecommunications in the professional community.
From the outset, Pascual pursued a ministerial path with a focus on decentralization, encouraging regional leadership while relocating a key base from Valencia to Alicante. The move was framed as a push for a more inclusive digital transformation and the creation of an ecosystem where technology firms could thrive. The aim was to ensure that digitization would uplift the entire region, forming a connected network of municipalities, research centers, and industry parks.
A defining achievement of the administration has been the Digital Zone, located within the Ciudad de la Luz complex. The initiative has united around 300 technology companies and more than a thousand professionals, drawing support from a broad range of partners including local authorities, educational institutions, technology parks, and trade associations. As the project expanded, plans emerged for new facilities at the Port of Alicante to accommodate additional firms and collaborators.
Programs such as the Digital Transformation Plan, the Valencia Innovation Strategy, and the GenT research talent return and recruitment initiative have reinforced the region’s commitment to innovation. Pascual has also advocated for narrowing the digital divide by extending high-capacity fiber networks to all corners of the Valencian Community, with special emphasis on sparsely populated areas where access remains limited.
In the higher education arena, Pascual’s leadership has faced a challenging backdrop shaped in part by the broader institutional history inherited by the ministry. Still, there have been notable positive developments, including the enhancement of professional accreditation for the University of Alicante and ongoing efforts to balance enrollment with enhanced scholarship availability. The minister’s focus on science and technology has drawn attention to the university sector and its role in regional growth.
Josefina Bueno, the new Minister of Innovation
Despite progress, multi-year funding plans for universities have encountered delays, and the horizon for completion remains uncertain as the new minister, Josefina Bueno, looks toward next summer. Collective bargaining for public university staff has also faced stalemates since 2019, with ministries delaying progress and not delivering on promises. Valencia remains the only community without a unified framework to standardize and improve salaries across teaching and support staff within higher education.
Last year’s controversy surrounding AVI’s funding allocations drew sharp criticism. In a distribution of a 52.3 million euro package spanning universities, research centers, and associated companies, Alicante received only a fraction of the funds. The imbalance sparked debates across opposition parties as well as among academics, business leaders, and trade unions, highlighting tensions in policy design and equity concerns in the distribution of public resources. These concerns are noted as ongoing considerations in regional governance and budgeting for the innovation agenda.