IE School of International Relations and the Rafael del Pino Foundation
The School of International Relations of Instituto de Empresa and its Center for the Government of Change in collaboration with the Rafael del Pino Foundation organised the GovTech Venture Day on 11 April 2018.
Technology is evolving faster than ever before. Trends such as advanced robotics, Big Data, smart grids and artificial intelligence are radically changing the business landscape, reshaping the nature of our economy and shifting the boundaries of what is possible and what is not. These technologies pose huge challenges to society in terms of job creation, security and sustainability. But they also provide great opportunities for governments and businesses that, if used correctly, could help us achieve unprecedented levels of prosperity.
In order to facilitate that process, IE's School of International Relations and its Center for the Government of Change in collaboration with the Rafael del Pino Foundation, launched the first GovTech Venture Day in Spain, a cutting-edge and highly competitive programme designed to support the identification and development of start-ups. They are using new technologies to help governments and companies working with public institutions to address some of the most pressing issues of our time with the aim of creating real networks and investment opportunities for those entrepreneurs who have ideas that can really help both the private and public sectors to create a fairer, safer and more prosperous world.
In recent months, 6 start-ups have been selected based on their originality, financial viability and ability to have a positive impact on major societal challenges such as climate change, growing physical and digital insecurity, rising inequality and social vulnerability among others.
Finalists will have the opportunity to present their projects at the Rafael del Pino Foundation's headquarters to a selected audience of investors, government officials, business pioneers and representatives from key industries. The winner will also have the opportunity to test their technology in real institutions and meet global experts in their field to receive advice, ideas and best practices.
The event was structured according to the following programme:
16.00 Welcome and Introduction
16.30 Presentation of the competing Star-Ups
18.00 Pause
18.30 Can new technologies save democracy? HELEN MARGETTS, Director of the Oxford Internet Institute PERE VALLÈS, CEO of Scytl TANYA FILER, Chair of the GovTech Initiative at the University of Cambridge OZREN JUNGIC, Public Policy Analyst, Government of Canada DIEGO RUBIO, Executive Director, Center for the Governance of Change (moderator)
19.30 Prize-giving ceremony
19.45 Closure
Summary:
We live in a time when technology is advancing faster than ever before. This accelerating change is radically altering the business landscape, redefining the nature of the economy and blurring the boundaries of what is possible and what is not. It poses enormous economic, political and social challenges, but it also offers great opportunities for governments and businesses to achieve unprecedented levels of prosperity. In order to facilitate that process, IE's School of International Relations and its Center for the Government of Change in collaboration with the Rafael del Pino Foundation, launched the first GovTech Venture Day in Spain, a cutting-edge and highly competitive programme designed to support the identification and development of start-ups, which are using new technologies to help governments and companies working with public institutions to address some of the most pressing issues of our time. Over the past months, 6 startups have been selected based on their originality, financial viability and ability to have a positive impact on major societal challenges such as climate change, growing physical and digital insecurity, rising inequality and social vulnerability among others. The finalists presented their projects on 11 April 2018 at the Rafael del Pino Foundation's headquarters to a selected audience of investors, government officials, business pioneers and representatives of key industries. The project of Unblur, the winning Start-Up, was presented by its CEO, Alfonso Zamarro, who explained that his business project consists of developing a programme to enable emergency responders to make better decisions on the ground in real time. Information such as incident assessment, possible risks or team coordination must be up-to-date, relevant and available in real time. Currently, however, such information arrives incomplete, fragmented and unfiltered, making it difficult to make the right decisions. To solve this problem, Unblur has developed an intelligent assistant, IRIS, which integrates all the information and technological tools needed to support the decision-making process. Another of the finalist companies, Civiciti, is a platform for citizen participation because, as its CEO Pablo Sarrías explained, democracy does not happen every four years. The platform is a meeting place for citizens, governments and organisations to promote open government and citizen participation. Civiciti enables participation, consultation and deliberation between governments and citizens. It is a channel created so that municipalities and organisations of any size can have a complete, secure and easy-to-use solution for direct communication with citizens. The aim of the platform is to enable organisations and governments to discover what issues are of concern to society and, as a result, make more informed decisions and share experiences around the world. LetMePark, in turn, is an app that helps drivers find parking spaces and makes the process easier by automating the process because the parking space can be booked from the app and paid for through the app, explained Anna Nohovska, one of the company's partners. The app also helps car park owners to improve the efficiency of their business. The platform also contributes to creating a solid foundation for the development of autonomous vehicles and smart cities. DigiConsul is a revolutionary platform for managing consulate activity. CEO Paul Horner explained that it is a modular e-government platform for digital document delivery, consulate capacity planning and management, and e-visa issuance. It uses technological tools for storing biometric and facial recognition information, verifying the authenticity of applicants' bank accounts, and processing applications faster and more accurately, among other things. Regarding Knok, Gonzalo Rodríguez, its country manager, pointed out that it is a platform for on-demand medical consultations, either through videoconferences or home visits to the patient. In essence, it consists of giving people access to primary medicine through technology. In this way, it aims to decongest hospital emergency departments and reduce waiting times for a person to be seen. The platform only includes doctors who have a four- or five-star rating from users, and the user can choose the doctor they prefer. Finally, Refundme is an application to help travellers abroad manage VAT refunds on their purchases. This process is currently inefficient and leads to queues and delays at airports, which are detrimental to their image. Moreover, given the large number of tourists today, the number of fraudulent requests for VAT refunds is also increasing. In fact, the process is so slow that a total of 1.2 billion euros of refunds go unclaimed each year. Refundme is a platform that allows the entire process to be carried out through the platform, avoiding queues and allowing the customs administration to effectively check the veracity of the applications. The event was introduced by Juan José Güemes, President of the IE Entrepreneurship & Innovation Centre, who reviewed the history of Ferrovial as an example of the importance of entrepreneurial initiatives for the Spanish economy and how far they can go. He was followed by Manuel Muñiz, Dean of the IE School of International Relationships, who spoke about the challenges posed by technological development.
The Rafael del Pino Foundation is not responsible for the comments, opinions or statements made by the people who participate in its activities and which are expressed as a result of their inalienable right to freedom of expression and under their sole responsibility. The contents included in the summary of this conference, written for the Rafael del Pino Foundation by Professor Emilio González, are the result of the debates held at the meeting held for this purpose at the Foundation and are the responsibility of the authors.
The Rafael del Pino Foundation is not responsible for any comments, opinions or statements made by third parties. In this respect, the FRP is not obliged to monitor the views expressed by such third parties who participate in its activities and which are expressed as a result of their inalienable right to freedom of expression and under their own responsibility. The contents included in the summary of this conference, written for the Rafael del Pino Foundation by Professor Emilio J. González, are the result of the discussions that took place during the conference organised for this purpose at the Foundation and are the sole responsibility of its authors.
