Francisco explained how, during the last century, the Andorran economy was based mainly on the services industry, related to trade, tourism and financial activities. In this sense he emphasized that “the country’s modernization and economic diversification have been a priority in recent years. The technological transformations of the most traditional sectors are key to make them more competitive and innovative. Francisco recalled that “on the scale of Andorra, as a micro-state, it can be problematic when it comes to resources (development, research, economy, etc.), but it also offers many practical advantages: proximity between interested parties, flexible legislation, agility in creating, implementation of solutions or availability of data and accessibility, among others”.
In this context, he said “an opportunity was identified to improve Andorra’s strenghts: The creation of the Data Hub, the national platform to centralize the data generated throughout the country by different public and private entities”. Francisco highlighted “this platform offers a unique vision of the country, provides an advanced analytical environment, and promotes innovative tools to improve and optimize decision-making of stakeholders, thus creating a technological environment to foster collaborations between the public administration, private companies and researchers.
Francisco was accompanied by Óscar Martínez from ClearPeaks, with whom technological alternatives for the implementation and deployment of the Data Hub are being analysed. In fact, several technologies, architectures and models have already been considered and a platform based on Cloudera has been created that works in a private cloud provided by Andorra Telecom. The different information sources, gathered and integrated, are used to provide real-time analysis tools for the visualization and monitoring of hydrology, meteorology and snow data for an alert system for both civil protection and rescue teams.
Big Things 2019 was one of the best events in recent years and featured the participation of large firms such as Mercadona and Bank Santander, as well as prestigious speakers such as Telefónica’s data director, Chema Alonso.
