The Cabildo presents ‘La Palma Smart Island’, a project that will boost the sustainable growth of the island

Improving economic competitiveness, energy efficiency and sustainable mobility are some of the main pillars on which the initiative is based.

The Cabildo de La Palma and the companies Deloitte and Telefónica, who were awarded the La Palma Smart Island project, were responsible for initiating the presentation of this transversal and participative project to different agents and groups on the island of La Palma this Tuesday afternoon.

The president of the Cabildo de La Palma, Mariano Zapata, expressed the importance of the implementation of this project that “promotes a new ecosystem that achieves the model of an intelligent island and that, in addition, works in a sustainable way and is fully connected to new technologies, showing the attractiveness of the island to our neighbours and visitors”.

For his part, the Digital Transformation Councillor of the La Palma Island Council, Gonzalo Pascual, emphasised that the La Palma Smart Island project “aims to bring technology within the reach of the citizen, abounding in the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals through initiatives based on mobility, smart tourism, security and emergencies and the environment that will make us a more efficient island”.

With the presence of associations, companies and representatives of the island’s public administrations, the new Smart Office, one of the cornerstones of the La Palma Smart Island project, was officially inaugurated. This will be the physical location for the dynamisation of the project, the space where the data obtained will be analysed and where training programmes, networking and workshops, among others, will be held.

La Palma Smart Island is a project led by the Innovation, Projects and Information Society Service of the Island Council of La Palma, with funding from the Canary Islands Development Fund (FDCAN). The initiative is conceived as a tool to achieve a strategic objective such as the social and economic wellbeing of the island’s citizens, providing it with technologies that will enable a more efficient management of resources, services and infrastructures, creating spaces for interaction between citizens, businesses and administrations.

Six Smart domains

The consultancy firm Deloitte, together with Telefónica, the company awarded the project, are in charge of the planning and development of the project. The project is based on six Smart areas, including mobility, the economy, the environment, government and people, with the aim of laying the foundations for a more attractive and competitive island, a Smart Island that seeks to address public issues through efficient solutions based on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), based on the basis of multiple stakeholders, such as administrations, businesses and citizens.

Benefits of Technology

At the event, which was attended by the President of the Cabildo Insular de La Palma, Mariano Hernández Zapata, and the Councillor for Innovation, Territorial Planning and New Technologies, Gonzalo Pascual Perea, the project was presented in depth, The benefits that the Smart Platform will provide for the inhabitants and visitors of the island of La Palma were highlighted, such as access to all the information on public transport routes and timetables from the Cabildo’s App ‘La Palma en tu mano’ within the Smart Platform or the implementation of an intelligent system for the management of emergencies and energy efficiency that will be deployed throughout the island, The implementation of a network of sensors, megaphones, webcams, video walls and weather stations will be deployed throughout the island in order to manage agricultural resources, establish more efficient routes, issue alerts and transmit useful information to the public immediately.

Enjoying La Palma on a different level

La Palma Smart Island is a project that will offer solutions adapted to the times in order to move towards a sustainable future. It is and will be, in short, a fundamental tool for improving the quality of life of residents and visitors, and a determining element in the creation of new business opportunities for entrepreneurs.

La Palma Smart Island will allow us to grow in a sustainable way and be more competitive as a society and a destination based on the infinite possibilities offered by technology and innovation.