The delegate of the Government of the Junta de Andalucía in Almería, Aránzazu Martín, chaired together with the deputy for European Initiatives, Esther Álvarez, the sixth of the 8 provincial technical conferences under the name Vuela Meeting 2024, organized by the Puntos Vuela network in Andalusia. An event in which they gave an institutional welcome to the more than 90 Puntos Vuela professionals invited to this event.
These events bring together Local Innovation Agents from each province, professionals, and public and private entities from the project environment interested in learning, debating, inspiring, generating alliances and opening up new ways to boost the digital vitality of towns and neighborhoods.
The aim of this province-by-province meeting is to review the implementation of the “Strategy for the digital revolution of the Towns 22-25”, analyse the work in the network of centres and anticipate the challenges and trends in the short and medium term. In addition, it seeks to create synergies that generate regional initiatives and design new digital revitalization strategies with an exponential positive impact on towns and neighbourhoods. Among other topics, the topics discussed are new digital markets, new professions, agricultural and livestock innovation or the challenges of artificial intelligence. The final objective is above all to make inspiration go viral by sharing good practices among professionals from all over Andalusia.
The Government delegate, Aránzazu Martín, has highlighted that the Vuela Points bring electronic administration closer to citizens, because “Local Innovation Agents are those who accompany people in their digital procedures, teach them and resolve their doubts. Of course, a very important help in favour of the digitalisation of the whole society, but also in favour of the fight against depopulation, because thanks to your work the administrations are in each and every one of the municipalities of the province”.
The Provincial Deputy for European Initiatives, Esther Álvarez, has valued the institutional commitment to this project, understanding that digitalisation is key to equalising opportunities in all corners of our province. “Guadalinfo is not just an access point to the internet or training, it is a driving force of progress for our small towns. For entrepreneurs, for the elderly, for young people… Your work contributes to ensuring that everyone has the same opportunities, regardless of where they live.” In this sense, she has valued the work of the facilitators: “You are the bridge between technology and people, and without you, this project would not have the impact it has today.”
The program of all Vuela Meetings has a common core and another specific part for each province. Thus, in the case of Almería, participants attended a presentation by the Experts of the Digital Agency of Andalusia in Almería Rafael Mata, José Antonio Magro, Carlos Baena and Eduardo Gutiérrez on Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Automation Unit. Next, the provincial coordinator of the Major Security Plan of the Civil Guard in Almería presented the App “Alertcops”
Finally, the Local Innovation Agents (AIL) in charge of the Puntos Vuela Almerienses shared good practices such as the awareness-raising activities for safe internet use that are being developed at the Punto Vuela La Gangosa in Vícar (led by Desiderio Sanz Ibáñez, AIL of the centre), the collaborations with the CADE and businessmen presented by the AIL of the Punto Vuela de Pechina Juan Antonio Sánchez Miralles or the technological camp for young female pilots launched this summer by the Punto Vuela Dúrcal (Granada) which presented its Local Innovation Agent.
Vuela Almería Points: digital services and assistance in 2024
The Vuela Points network in Andalusia has more than 750 centres providing service, of which 389 have completed the transformation of their equipment and spaces after an investment of 22,509,442 euros by the Andalusian Government. The transformation of the rest of the network will be completed before December 2025. Almería currently has 95 active centres and 61 of them are already Vuela Points after an approximate investment of 3,529,765 euros. The Andalusian Government plans to complete the transformation of the rest of the centres before the end of 2025.
Between January and September 2024, 8,423 people have registered for the first time as new users of the 95 Vuela Points active in Almería. In addition, 21,826 people have accessed the network’s services in the province at least once during this time and participated in one or more of the 10,945 activities programmed by their centres between January and September.
In total, the Vuela Points in Almería have provided 104,762 services to their users since January. The most worked digital skills have been Communication and Online Collaboration, followed by Information and Digital Literacy, Problem Solving, Creation of Digital Content and Network Security.
New Fly Points
The new Vuela Points provide towns and neighbourhoods with highly connected spaces for teleworking, coworking and active learning open to residents of all ages, digital nomads and small businesses for the development of their personal and professional activities. They have open Wi-Fi, a secure teleworking area, a maker space to test emerging technology (robotics, 3D printing, virtual reality devices or drones), individual access points to electronic administration and new equipment (digital and multimedia interactive whiteboards, laptops, smartphones or tablets). In addition to the above, Vuela Points also include demonstration areas for digital, health and financial services.