Technology key in changing Spain's productivity model

The technology sector will be key in changing the economic productivity model in Spain, according to the a recent study by the Observatorio Industrial del Sector de Electrónica, Tecnologías de la Información y Telecomunicaciones, a watchdog for technology development in Spain. Increasing demand for a sustainable economy may offer concrete business opportunities for the electronics and ICT sector. The Observatorio considers it crucial to accelerate the use of systems and products based on electronics and ICT in other productive sectors to help control and reduce the emission level of pollutants. The Observatorio has also come up with a innovative plan to guide Spain throughout the implementation process of telework in companies.

According to the Association of Information Technologies and Communications of Spain (AETIC), the sector of electronics, information technology and telecommunications grew by 2% to €65.000 million in 2008. While exports increased by 4%, imports were down by 11%. In order to accelerate growth for the sector, but also for the Spanish productivity, key recommendations include:

• Identify which technologies are most efficient to help reduce CO2 emissions, and accelerate their implementation, especially in transport, construction and energy.
• Encourage employee participation in innovation processes and new forms of work organization in enterprises.
• Clarify the concepts and challenges associated with the Internet of the future, to the extent that they can generate opportunities for the sector.

The process of pushing the above recommendations to implementation will involve several Ministries, AETIC, trade sector organisations, unions and several other stakeholders.