Collaboration agreement between AMETIC and APTE

The Association of Electronics, Information Technology, Telecommunications and Digital Services and Content companies and the Association of Science and Technology Parks of Spain sign an agreement aimed at promoting participation in European R&D&i projects, generation of knowledge and support for internationalization.

The Association of Electronics, Information Technologies, Telecommunications and Digital Services and Content companies (AMETIC) and the Association of Scientific and Technological Parks of Spain (APTE) have signed a collaboration framework agreement by virtue of which a cooperation model is articulated between both parties on aspects of mutual interest that the agreement focuses on promoting participation in European R&D&I projects, the generation of knowledge and support for internationalization.

The agreement is based on the fact that the European ICT sector, in general, and the Spanish one in particular, are in a process of transformation in the midst of the global digital revolution. The sector requires a value proposition that brings together all companies and professionals around a single vision supported by innovation, the generation of knowledge and its translation to global markets. Both AMETIC and APTE understand that they can contribute to that process.

Support for “Smart Cities”

Within the chapter of promoting participation in European R&D&i projects, one of the specific objectives is to promote collaboration between science and technology parks and cities to support the phenomenon of “Smart Cities”. To this end, AMETIC has a working commission on Smart Cities with more than 90 registered companies and chairs the Smart Cities Committee of the CEOE, as well as the Inercia Alliance. On the other hand, AMETIC has a European projects office, known as AproTECH2020, to promote the participation of Spanish ICT entities, with special attention to SMEs, in European R&D&i projects and their management. All of which is part of the objective of bringing AMETIC services and their potential closer to the ICT companies in the parks that do not yet belong to this Association.

Training and internationalization

The generation of knowledge and training is another of the objectives common to both associations. In this sense, the signed agreement aims to explore the possibility of developing a joint APTE-AMETIC training program aimed at ICT companies in the parks, after previously carrying out a study of real business needs in terms of training.

Since both entities have relationships with organizations and initiatives such as ICEX and Invest Spain and internalization is a common strategic objective, it is considered that the ability to innovate in the design of specific programs for the internationalization of ICT companies will be more likely if done jointly. For this purpose, it is proposed to organize different activities related to internationalization such as business missions of ICT companies (direct or reverse), investment and international cooperation forums, training sessions on issues related to a certain market,... In short, all those actions leading to promoting and facilitating the internationalization of ICT companies in the parks and AMETIC.

As explained by Felipe Romera, president of APTE, "the main sector of the scientific and technological parks that are members of APTE is the ICT, which represents 22% of the entities that are currently located in them, reaching the figure of 1,420 entities. Given the importance of this sector in the parks' companies, we consider the possibility of developing lines of cooperation with AMETIC to be important, so this agreement will facilitate the fulfillment of our objectives in terms of support for development, cooperation and business internationalization. in our parks, objectives on which both associations agree.”

APTE currently includes 68 members: 50 science and technology parks in operation and 16 in project, in addition to 2 collaborating entities. The operating parks are home to 6,452 entities, which employ 151,562 people (20.4% dedicated to R&D activities) and have a turnover of 22,327 million euros. The main sector of the science and technology parks in Spain is ICT, which represents 22% of the entities that are currently located in them, reaching the figure of 1,428 ICT companies.

José Manuel de Riva, president of AMETIC, for his part, recognizes that "our organization offers its members a meeting place where they can democratically agree on sectoral positions that are subsequently transmitted to public authorities, in particular, and to society, in general. Likewise, AMETIC promotes actions and initiatives that reinforce the strategic positioning of the ICT industry, stimulates the creation of new companies, supports professional development, encourages investment in innovation and facilitates the increase in demand for ICT services”. The president of the technology association ends by saying: "We consider it very interesting for us to be able to incorporate into the AMETIC discourse the vision of the ICT companies of the APTE park network and open the door to a future voluntary incorporation. But the most important thing is that the development of this agreement with APTE will generate synergies for the benefit of all the companies in the ICT sector."