During the 19th century, there was a belief that if a person traveled at 32 kilometers per hour riding one of the technological innovations of the time, the train, they could suffer damage to the retina and breathing problems in a human body subjected to that speed. Today, when we use concepts such as “scientific research”, “innovation” or “technological development” in the media, social networks or in the daily lives of citizens, we tend to cause ideas such as “complicated”, “expensive”, “experts”, “specialization”, “a lot of time”, etc. And these ideas that are generated in citizens as a result of this great wave of technological innovations that sweeps the world, cannot become a barrier for them that limits their access to technologies and innovations; but, above all, that it causes a rejection of progress, technology and innovation.
Terms such as “Artificial Intelligence”, “Machine Learning”, “Big Data”, “Internet of Things (IoT)”, “Metaverse”, “3D modeling”, “Blockchain” and others, have emerged as disruptive technologies in recent years. 30 years, with an element common to all of them: the modification of our way of life, the way we relate to our family and friends, the way we communicate with other human beings or simply the way we interact with the world around us. surrounds It is in this change of social paradigm, caused by an increasingly rapid technological revolution, where the actors who are part of innovation and technological development through Research Centers, companies in the innovation sector, ICT companies, public organizations , associations, foundations or any company that adapts technology in its processes. We must increase our efforts to achieve better user communication with our technologies and, above all, keep in mind that any technology that cannot be used by any citizen, of any age, of any economic condition or from any place, will lack the most important condition: its acceptance.
The driving idea that must govern the development and execution of technological innovation in current times cannot be other than the democratization and universalization of the use of technologies by citizens. This universalization of technology can only be achieved through the development of products and services that incorporate into technological innovations the ease of use by users, the speed in obtaining results and, above all, economic accessibility for any citizen. company or organization. We should not conceive scientific research, innovation and technological development as processes isolated and disconnected from the global world, which is developed by a few, understood by a few others, and whose sole purpose is consultation by a number of experts at a given time. .
The question that we must ask ourselves in the coming months and years in the field of technological innovation and development is how we ensure that all those ideas, research or discoveries that are made or can be made by the most educated and qualified generation we have ever had, become products and/or services that are used by all citizens, by companies, by organizations both in our closest environment and in the furthest point from where we are.
It is, therefore, in technological ecosystems where new forms of collaboration and work, sharing of ideas and results, but above all, the creation of more agile and optimal communication channels that enable the rapid flow of information must be developed. ideas and technological advances, from the actors who are capable of creating and/or developing them to those actors in the technological ecosystem who are capable of converting them into products and/or services to bring innovation and technology closer to the citizen. That is, a Technological Innovation Cycle must be created that allows the rapid conversion of technological innovations from the field of ideas, research or science into products and services that are usable by citizens. We must direct technological research and development to the user and by extension to the market, as a system that allows us to generate not only technological value, but other values such as economic or values to improve the quality of life of citizens.
This idea of bringing citizens closer to technological innovation through the development of products and services has been the leitmotif of a group of technology companies and startups that have been born and developed in Extremadura in the last 15 years supported by a public system. private support for research, innovation and the creation of technological companies within the community. Companies and startups that, through the development of products and services based on technological innovation, have managed to ensure that they are used by millions of people around the world, by companies or organizations both nationally and internationally, but above all, that have allowed, through their national and international expansion, to create a strong technological sector in the Autonomous Community of Extremadura that, in addition to providing economic value to the community’s data, retains in the territory the talent that is generated there, attracts talent from outside to fill highly qualified jobs and, above all, develop a new industrial sector within the region.
For this reason, and as we have been expressing previously, bringing innovation closer to citizens through the development of products and/or services for them, must constitute the philosopher’s stone on which to build any development policy for technology-based companies in any territory. where you want to have technological innovation as the force sector on which to sustain future development. In the image and likeness of how some young people in Palo Alto (California) created the largest current technological and innovative hub, while they dreamed that they would change the world by creating technological products and services that could be used by millions of people.