Public investment in technology decreases in Spain by 17.8% during the first half of 2024

Oct. 7 (Portaltic/EP) –

The Investment by Spanish public administrations in the ICT sector has decreased by 17.8 percent in 2024 with respect to the investment made during the first half of 2023, which translates into a declining public push for technology and its advances in areas such as softwareInternet or cybersecurity.

The Digitalization and innovation are two focuses of great importance for private companieswhich rely on new technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), as one of the main pillars to increase their business activity.

He public sector has followed these same premises in recent yearscontributing millionaire investments in the technology and telecommunications sector.

However, this initiative has been slowed down during this year, since, during the first half of 2024the Spanish Administration has reduced the investments and the boost it had been offering to the technology sector, reducing the volume of tenders aimed at this sector as its budget.

This is what the report has stated ‘Analysis and evolution of the ICT-Telecom Sector in Public Tender’in which, developed by the analysis technology firm DoubleTrade, An evolution of the progress of public investment in the ICT sector in Spain is collected.

Specifically, as collect the report, Spanish public administrations have allocated a total of 5,862 million euros to the improvement of computing and telecommunications in the first half of 2024.

However, this budget represents a drop of 17.8 percent compared to the investment made during the first six months of 2023when it opted for digitalization with an investment of 7,135 million euros. That is, a total of 1,273 million euros more than this year.

From DoubleTrade they have pointed out that this notable difference between both years is due, in part, to a specific millionaire investment that took place in March 2023.

However, the decrease in investment has also been reflected in issues such as public tenders linked to the ICT sector, that fell 4.7 percent in the first half of 2024with 381 fewer tenders compared to those called in the same period of 2023, when there were a total of 8,089 public tenders.

These figures highlight the need to continue betting on investment in the ICT sector and technological innovation to advance in various areas in the public sector.

For example, the report details that the Ministry of Finance allocated 1,302 million euros for a dynamic procurement system for the supply of communications equipment, servers and storage systems.

For its part, the Generalitat of Catalonia reserved an investment of 322 million euros for a telecommunications center, and the Bank of Spain has invested 221 million euros to improve the institution’s communications.

By region, according to the report data, Madrid registered around 1,620 tenders linked to the ICT sector last year and offered an investment of more than 2,981 million euros. Likewise, Catalonia registered 1,360 public tenderswhich represented an investment of 1,084 million euros.

CONSULTING, SOFTWARE AND THE INTERNET

On the other hand, the report reflects that, among all the functions that IT technology encompasses, Public administrations have highlighted the provision of consulting services, ‘software’ and the Internetwhich have represented 53.6 percent of the total public tenders in the sector.

Furthermore, in recent months there has also been evidence of need to have “first-level cybersecurity systems”, as the analysis company has pointed out. This is due to “the proliferation of malware that puts data protection at risk”, whether internal data of the organization itself or its clients.

As a result, among the investment granted during this semester for the cybersecuritythey took out bidding a total of 3,760 public tenders to “shield the companies’ software”, for a value of 2,946 million euros.

Likewise, the public sector also tendered 1,330 tenders for the supply of computer equipment, with which a investment of 1,078 million euros. Specifically, 433 million euros were allocated to radio, television and communications equipment with a total of 928 tenders. Likewise, 606 public tenders were related to telephony, and up to 976 tenders were tendered for computer services, valued at 550 million euros.

CYBERSECURITY AND AI AMONG THE KEY INNOVATIONS

In addition to all this, the general director of DoubleTrade in Spain, Xavier Piccinini, has stressed that the implementation of AI solutions, cybersecurity and the use of the cloud have been keys to “increase the efficiency and competitiveness of companies in Spain”. In fact, as he clarified, these technologies have favored the digital transformation of companies and their ability to adapt “to an increasingly digitalized business environment.”

Another point that the manager has highlighted is the importance of guaranteeing the correct functioning of the national ICT industry, that “it is essential for multiple activities”, which range from customer service to the supervision and maintenance of critical infrastructures.

Piccinini, has also ruled that the Efficiency of public institutions “depends largely on effective data management, its monitoring and control of IT information”, This is seen in the constant increase in investments in sectors such as consulting and software.