Digital Catalonia Alliance

The Digital Catalonia Alliance (DCA) is an initiative that gathers the main emerging technological sectors of Catalonia into an innovative, visionary, disruptive and collaborative alliance of technological communities.

The DCA wants to become the promoter of the digital economic sectors of Catalonia, and, for that reason, it works to:

● Solve the common challenges of the sector’s SMEs

● Offer support to the adoption of technological changes for companies and the society

● Group digital innovation benchmark companies in order to provide a dynamic ecosystem that contributes to the digital economy

● Align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and with the strategic challenges of the territory

Digital product and service companies are the center of the DCA’s activity. The alliance’s goals are to drive its growth, help scale the emerging digital ecosystem, encourage the development of collaborative projects, and work to stimulate demand through access to technology providers, resources, and policy makers.

Currently, the DCA focuses on five communities: Internet of Things (IoT), Drones, Artificial Intelligence (AI), NewSpace, and Cybersecurity. However, the initiative’s roadmap envisages the formation of new communities within the field of innovative digital technologies.

The DCA is, therefore, the alliance that gives coherence to the emerging digital economic sector, as well as homogenizes the services of the communities that are part of it -which, at the same time, depend on their respective strategies and programs-, identifies synergies and shortcomings, and provides knowledge and guidance in the digital ecosystem as a whole.

Communities

DCA-IoT

The Internet of Things is the interconnection of objects through telecommunications networks.

It is a sector with great potential for economic growth and job creation. Catalonia has a very rich ecosystem of companies dedicated to offering IoT solutions, most of which are SMEs, with a turnover of over 200 million euros. Today, IoT applied widely to sectors such as Smart Home, Health, Wellness, Retail, Smart Cities and Smart Mobility.

DCA-Drones

Drones, or UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), have become a decisive element in a wide range of sectors thanks to the ability to capture and transmit real-time data from the air

Catalonia has an outstanding ecosystem made up of companies, organizations, research centers and universities that carry out their activity throughout the UAV value chain and the application for civil use, whether aerial, terrestrial, aquatic or underwater.

DCA-Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity encompasses the set of physical, logical and administrative measures aimed at the digital protection of companies, people and systems - be they devices, applications or data - in the face of digital attacks.

Today, cybercrime is one of the main threats faced by companies. In Catalonia, there is a business fabric within the framework of cybersecurity that needs to be strengthened and strengthened so that it can respond to the country’s existing needs.

DCA-AI

Artificial Intelligence is a computer science discipline devoted to the development of algorithms that allow machines to make intelligent decisions, or at least behave as if they have human-like intelligence

This technology has the potential to be applied in a myriad of fields and sectors, some of which have managed to implement it with relevant results. It is, therefore, one of the disciplines that will have the most power and influence in the model of society and economy of the future. In Catalonia, artificial intelligence is expected to generate an additional increase in GDP of 0.8% by 2030.

DCA-NewSpace

NewSpace represents a new economy based on the democratization of space and the aerospace industry thanks to the use of smaller satellites, which have lower cost and development time than conventional satellites

This paradigm shift allows many more actors to use them in vertical or transversal applications in various productive sectors. In the immediate future, the number of launches of these satellites is expected to increase and, as a result, significant growth is expected in the number and consolidation of the Catalan entities that are currently linked to NewSpace.

DCA-Blockchain

Blockchain is the platform on which other next-generation technologies will converge and it has the potential to make an agile and complete digital transformation possible.

Blockchain technology provides highly transformative tools that were unknown until recently. It is a decentralized, distributed ledger that records transactions of a digital asset on a permanent, immutable, and secure registry. It, therefore, eliminates intermediaries and any kind of third-party guarantors. The database is distributed and encrypted, so the information it contains is both transparent and incorruptible.