Spain’s south coast, especially Malaga, is famous for its sun, beaches, sea, and luxury properties. Now, Malaga is planning to become the new silicon valley. The latest infrastructure developments and news from tech giants show it won’t take long.
Can Malaga Become the Silicon Valley of Europe?
Yes, it can. Malaga is already a famous city in its unique location on the Iberian Peninsula. It is getting high demand from people all over the world for different purposes. Sun, sea, and beach trio are the most demanded aspects of Malaga, in addition to luxury properties.
Now, the city is aiming to become also a technology city. The city had a developed structure for long years. In 1992, the Andalucia Technology Park (Parque Tecnológico de Andalucía) has opened. The park is now known as ‘Malaga TechPark’.
Spain's ‘Silicon Valley' in Málaga: Technological Park of Malaga
It is a science park that first opened in 1992. Malaga Tech Park was planned as a new center for technology as a Spain Silicon Valley. The park hosts more than hundreds of international companies and start-ups. In 2022, it celebrated its third decade of being a tech hub for international companies and employees.
Currently, Málaga Tech Park hosts more than 600 companies and more than 22.000 workers. The tech park is creating a research environment by connecting students, researchers, and business professionals. That’s why the University of Malaga is working closely with tech park. The university and park are aiming to create a network to transfer research between.
The tech park of Malaga also draws attention with its employment and financial opportunities. Malaga TechPark contributes 19% of the city of Malaga’s GDP and it also has 20% of employment in the city.
The Malaga TechPark offers many advantages to set up in the park. It includes the following:
- Malaga is a unique city
- A benchmark technology park
- Motor for economy and innovation
- High-quality infrastructures
- Source of talent
Technology giants such as Huawei, Orange, and Oracle already had their place in the tech park. More companies are expected to join the tech park in the following years.
#eCityMálaga: Technologic and Sustainable Version of Modern Cities
Malaga tech hub also develops its own projects. In addition to these, the most highlighted one is the ‘eCityMalaga’. It is a project with a public and private collaborative economy initiative. It will define the next meaning of the modern city. Modern cities are expected to be energy efficient and sustainable. This project will be an example.
The project will be developed in Malaga TechPark. The main aim of the project is to create an urban benchmark for sustainability and circularity. The main fields will be energy, transportation, building, and resources.
In 2027, Malaga TechPark will become the first urban space for a Circular City in a real environment. The project will be eco-efficient, renewable, innovative, and digital. It will create an environment that can be sufficient for itself.
More projects like eCity are expected to be hosted in the technology hub. In addition to projects, big companies will join the park. It will give amazing benefits to the country.
The Spanish media named the park in Malaga nuevo silicon valley. Big companies also started to join the technology park. Google and Vodafone will establish their new headquarters in Malaga.
Vodafone Establishing Research and Development Center in Malaga
Vodafone chose Malaga to establish a research and development center. The announcement included there will be over 225 million euros in investment in five years. The center will create more than 600 direct highly skilled job opportunities.
To choose the ideal location for the new center, Vodafone made a questionnaire. Eight cities from five countries were in the questionnaire. It included the following points:
- Lifestyle
- The availability of talent with the necessary technical skills
- Working conditions
- Transportation
- Institutional support
- Links with universities and other established companies
The city got the best score for these points. Vodafone Spain CEO Colman Deegan talked on the topic. He said: “The Andalusian city stood out because it had the best combination of all the selection criteria. We are convinced that the digital ecosystem that has developed in Malaga in recent years will continue to improve even further.”
The Andalusian regional government also has more projects ongoing. The Ministry of Economy and Digital Transformation has a plan named ‘5G Andalusia Pilot’. This project has 50 partners including 29 companies, 14 public institutions, and customers in different sectors.
By involving in this project, Vodafone started a new test in collaboration with the Spanish railway administration, Adif. They chose the Maria Zambrano train station to run tests on the 5G network.
5G will provide new solutions for the train station. These are; digital check-in, boarding with pre-registered biometric data, and interactive maps. This network also will be used in tourism.
Malaga and Vodafone have another project. They also chose this city for important research. The researchers at the University of Malaga started to work on the 6G technology.
6G is a future technology faster than 5G. With 6G, the internet will be faster than ever. It will be started to use after 5 years. The city can be a big center for 6G.
Malaga is Becoming a Safety Engineering Center for Google
During the cyber security summit in Madrid, Google made an announcement. They will open a new Safety Engineering Center in Malaga in 2023. It will be the second biggest in Europe.
Malaga and Google have bounds coming from the past. In 2012, VirusTotal was purchased by Google. It is a leading software for checking viruses. The software was created by Malaga entrepreneur Bernardo Quintero and his team.
President of Global Affairs and Chief Legal Officer at Google, Kent Walker made an announcement on Twitter with a video. According to Walker, Malaga will be a global hub for cyber security and malware research.
The new center of Google will be located near the port of Malaga. The center will work on internet security and viruses. This will also support the city to become a technology center. The center will be open in the second half of 2023.
How Spanish Silicon Valley Will Affect the Future?
It will bring more popularity to the city. Technology and sustainability is the main aim of the city. While working for making Malaga the new silicon valley, there is also work in another field. The city and country working hard for making the Malaga Expo 2027 host city.
The city’s main title for the 2027 Expo is sustainable development goals in various fields. These are; industry, cities, production, climate, and natural resources. Experts say that the city is only one step away from being the host city. It will help the city and country to be more popular.
The city is getting more popular day by day. Malaga was chosen as the second-best city for expats. Now, Malaga silicon valley is getting mentioned in the international media. This news will draw more digital nomads to the city.
Now, the new properties in Malaga are starting to be constructed more with the latest news. The effect of the Spain tech center silicon valley is expected to be on various fields from real estate to commerce. The economy of the city will be more vibrant with the next news.
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