Technological Breakfast sponsored by Bilbomática: “Technological Initiatives in the EU”

El día 3 de noviembre Bilbomática, junto con la fundación DINTEL, patrocinó en el Club Financiero de Madrid, un desayuno tecnológico sobre "Iniciativas tecnológicas impulsadas por España en la Unión Europea". 

D. Juan Fernando Muñoz, D. Jesús Rivero, Dª. Natalia García, D. Óscar Fernández, D. Tomás de Lucas, D. Leopoldo Simó, D. Carlos Mora, D. Walter Mattheus, and Dª. Mª Ángeles Turón (from left to right).

D. Walter Mattheus, General Director of Bilbomática, stated that Bilbomática is a Consultancy and Software Engineering company focused on the generation of solutions in the Information Technologies and Communications area. It is also specialized in solutions development in the different environments of Public Administrations.

Supported by more than 350 workers and with a global turnover over 18 million (€). 20 % of its turnover coming from European Union projects, Bilbomática has more than 20 years experience in this sector. In Spain, it has premises in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Pamplona & Valencia.

Bilbomática constantly invests in Research and Development and Technological Innovation by means of a working team of more than 30 professionals, which provides more than 4% of its turnover. This investment is mainly focused on promoting its Software Factory by developing solutions aimed at Public Administrations, solutions which improve and simplify the internal management of the Administration, optimise communications between Public Bodies and private companies and/or citizens, and interoperability between different Administrations. Our Company also takes part in several R+D projects at a European and national level. 

The main business areas in Bilbomática are Consultancy and Technical Assistance, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), e-Government, mobility, Open Source and SAP.

Mrs. Natalia Garcia, Madrid Office Manager, reflected on the present situation and the future presidency which is close. According to the European experiences of Bilbomática, thanks to its objective vision of the strong and weak points of the IT area when it comes to working in the European Union, it would be interesting to consider this moment as a good opportunity to lead and/or support technological initiatives in Europe (Government and e-Government, Interoperability, Security and so on. Bilbomática´s work experience outside Spain, which is perhaps less well known, is focused mainly on two acting lines which are: promoter of the Research+Development and Innvovation (by means of European funding, developments for different entities are accomplished) and contractor for the European Union.

Mr. Óscar Fernández, European Projects Manager in Bilbomática, added that the European Commission of the EU’s government and is made up by two types of entities: Directorate Generals (equivalent to the Spanish Ministries and focused on particular areas) and Agencies (smaller and equally focused on very particular areas). Bilbomática started working with the European Commission in 2001/2002 and at present it is working with several Directorate Generals, Agencies and Technological Institutes.

The main task of Bilbomática is aimed at the development, software maintenance and technical assistance in general, and some examples of projects that have been accomplished are the Web Portal of the Vicepresident of the European Commission, the European Country of Origin Information Common Portal, the European Judicial Network, the European Judicial Atlas in civil and commercial matters or the European Immigration Portal, amongst many others.

Bilbomática explained the strong points and disadvantages with which the Spanish IT Sector has to struggle when competing in Europe, introducing issues which were discussed by all participants, and trying to identify the possible ways of joint collaboration between companies and Governments, in order to try helping to promote the exterior hiring of the national industry area.

On his side, Mr. Juan Fernando Muñoz, General Deputy Director of Information Technologies in the Health and Social Politics Ministry, explained Spain is in a good position at a European Level, bearing in mind the high balance level between the offered quality and costs. Something very important is the Contact Network, being a pity that Spain does not obtain more advantage of this initiative, as Greece does.

Spain has more to offer than what it may seem at first, there are very interesting e-Health projects developed in our country, field in which, together with Nordic countries, Spain is a leading country. Another very interesting area in which Spain has quite a lot of potential has to do with e-Procurement. One of the projects accomplished by Bilbomática, the procurement platform for the Basque Government, has been chosen as finalist for the European Awards of e-Government, which will be made public at the end of November.

Mr. Leopoldo Simó, General Deputy Director of Data Processing in Work and Immigration Ministry, indicated how important the presence in the Evaluation Commissions is, when it comes to awarding. The big size of companies is an advantage, and being present in the mentioned Evaluation Commissions is always positive. Mrs. Natalia Garcia added that although big companies count with important resources and investment possibilities, the medium size of Bilbomática can be considered an advantage, because of the flexibility and adaptation capacity companies this size have.

On his side, Mr. Carlos Mora, Deputy Director for the Modernization of the management of the Work and Immigration Ministry, mentioned that at present the first phase of the common computer application in the immigration area is being finished, which will give support to all those related to the subject in each Ministry. The second phase (which will be developed from May 2010 onwards) will consist of contacting with Consulates through the Ministry of External Affairs and Cooperation.

Mrs. Mª Ángeles Turón, Deputy Director of New Technologies in the Ministry of Justice, commented on the existing difficulties when it comes to finding joint projects in Europe within the justice are. Some projects developed at the moment have to do with the criminal area, which implies a big interconnection challenge, as each country has its own way of working and applies its own laws, making difficult the mentioned interconnection. 

Together with the Industry, Tourism and Trade Ministry, works have been developed in the computerized and digital Civil Registry. The project has not been finished yet, but in a second phase, it will be extended to Consulates.

The European Justice Portal is something difficult to accomplish right now, as it is first essential to build the Spanish Portal, and once over, start dealing with new challenges in Europe.

Mr. Tomas de Lucas, Chief of the Communication Area in the Education Ministry, said that presently works in the Education Area are done in a centralized way and no problems at an international level arise. They deal with issues related to the e-Government in Spain. There are some projects at a European level, but as they usually are related to evaluation of the training or of the Spanish Education System, not many problems arise.