The 4th DEEP LEARN SUMMER professional summit kicks off in Gran Canaria
‘Best in Gran Canaria’ joined the opening session of ‘DeepLearn 2021 Summer’, contributing with local content to the international event on artificial intelligence and deep learning technologies.
The annual event, hybrid on this occasion and located in its fourth edition in Gran Canaria, brings together for five days (from July 26 to 30), 275 attendees to the INFECAR venue site, plus an estimated 300 online participants. It is an event of a marked academic and professional nature, focused on international research training, whose objective is to update participants on the most recent advances in the development of deep learning.
The programme consists of presentations, masterclasses, several industrial and pitching sessions, as well as a recruiting session. By such a comprehensive approach, the Organization Committee seeks to offer a complete program that addresses the current applications of Deep Learning and the large-scale processing of data in branches such as neurosciences, language processing, human-computer interaction, computing, medical games, health, etc. With a target audience of students, researchers and professionals who want to be updated on recent developments and future trends, Deep Learn is a window into the world of data and its technical and operational exploitation.
On the opening day, "Best in Gran Canaria" presented the advantages that can be activated on the island, especially for Technological Innovation and R&D activities, the island resources available at the moment (University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, PLOCAN, Smart Destination initiative by SPEGC,…) and the initiatives which will be activated in the short term (eg. SPEGC’s High Technology Incubator for Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence applied to the Marine and Maritime sector).
"Best in Gran Canaria" will remain as a prominent agent during the week, participating in B2Bs and in one-on-one meetings with professionals from the artificial intelligence and massive data collection sector.
Meetings between ‘Best in Gran Canaria’ and the traveltech start-up ecosystem
‘Best in Gran Canaria’ has held meetings this week with different companies linked to the Israeli start-up sector, with the aim of establishing connections to promote Gran Canaria as an ideal destination for the development and programming of digital solutions, most specifically in traveltech and tourism-related customer-relations apps.
These quality b2b meetings involved several organizations and entrepreneurs and it proved an interesting engagement by consulting companies specialized in management and promotion of small and medium companies, high-tech industry organizations, R&D centres and the media. All of them are duly linked to high technology and innovation. The 2-day event was organized by Patronato de Turismo de Gran Canaria and lead by SPEGC/’Best in Gran Canaria’ on the technical content.
‘Best in Gran Canaria’ took this opportunity to introduce to advantages that shall be activated if based on the island. As a growing technology hub for start-ups and IT companies, Gran Canaria presents a comprehensive package: the fiscal and economic conditions of the Canary Islands’ Economic and Fiscal System (REF), which includes a 45% deduction for Technological Innovation activities and a 4% corporate tax rate, financing schemes (eg. Cabildo de Gran Canaria/SPEGC’s own participative loan) and qualified talent. Other arguments such as quality and cost of life equally play a decisive role.
Over the course of the coming weeks, new follow-up meetings are scheduled, with traveltech development and operations at the top of priorities for both delegations. It is no longer a secret, that the israeli counterparts also showed interest in considering Gran Canaria as an entry point to the EU, Africa and LATAM, as well as its potential as a remote talent base.
Gran Canaria: EU-Certified Quality of Life
As the residents of Gran Canaria and the millions who visit it well know, the island ranks as one of the territories with the best quality of life in Europe.
The reasoning and the intuition which explain why independent professionals and workers relocate year after year to the Canaries is forcefully and quantitatively backed up in the latest report drawn up by the European Commission's European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON). ESPON's mission is to give advice and reinforcement to the European Union's policies for cohesion, and it publishes an annual report on the status of the living conditions in Europe. The report analyses up to 50 variables, grouped into three major categories (quality of life enabler indicator; life maintenance indicator; life flourishing indicator), with a level of breakdown in line with the NUTS-3 standard, and including the territories of the European Economic Area (Norway, Switzerland, Iceland). This analytical exercise provides specific data for the island of Gran Canaria.
Among other factors, there is analysis of indicators such as quality of air, water, noise, contamination, access to healthcare, green infrastructures, labour market, natural spaces, governance, social interaction rates, and the like; this allows the identification of the potential of the various European regions, cities and territories, and the economic challenges they are facing.
The result of this study, with 2020 data, places Gran Canaria as the fifth territory at national level in terms of quality of life (with a score of 0.58), practically tied with the fourth (0.59 points). The Canarian territories rank immediately after the NUTS-3 of the Basque Country and well ahead of Spain's remaining island and coastal destinations. It is quite clear that Gran Canaria places at the topping range, rivalling regions and provinces in Scandinavia, Germany and Switzerland.
In comparison with the highest scoring territory of the ranking (0.69), Gran Canaria outstandingly performs in various aspects: healthcare, environmental health, biodiversity, cultural values and social harmony/sense of social belonging. In the final analysis, this compound score, known as TQoL, reflects the capacity of living beings to survive and flourish in a certain place, thanks to the economic and societal factors and the ecological conditions of the territory.
‘Best in Gran Canaria’ and the SPEGC (link) are working to share information and provide support for all those professional and entrepreneurial projects which decide to grow and consolidate their global impact from a destination which is a unique place to live: Gran Canaria.
Gran Canaria: ‘Embrace your new Home’
‘Best in Gran Canaria’ and the Economic Promotion Agency of Gran Canaria (‘Sociedad de Promoción Económica de Gran Canaria’- SPEGC) continue with their shared efforts to provide information, intelligence and support to companies, entrepreneurs and professionals with relocation plans to the island. Gran Canaria is indeed a top-tier destination for work, entrepreneurship, business and personal development. As such, this full-scale digital approach aims at showcasing how easy it is to relocate on the island rather than merely introducing the attributes that make of Gran Canaria a global hotspot for quality of life.
After the launch of ‘Moving to Gran Canaria: the complete relocation guide’ and its broad success in the media, the latest version already includes feedback and tips received from readers, users and local economic agents. Hence, the guide is now a validated instrument for attracting talent and professionals that has been widely advertised and used by established and soon-to-arrive companies. We equally know that both remote workers and expats remain as key audience of this thoughtful document.
What’s new?
- Promotional video: designed to attract and retain digital professionals. It also aims at raising the awareness of the genuine and welcoming character of Gran Canaria’s society.
- A specific website hosted at ‘Best in Gran Canaria’ corporate site, including videos, testimonials and the downloadable version of ‘Moving to Gran Canaria. The complete relocation guide’, both in English and Spanish.
- Comprehensive support/’Landing package’, that not includes administrative knowledge already displayed on the guide, but also local intelligence, tips and other support and information services offered by ‘Best in Gran Canaria’, via an exclusive soft-landing desk (softlanding@spegc.org). Our experts will guide you through the relocation process.
Gran Canaria commits to a reliable and comprehensive landing service (our ‘Landing Package’), that encompasses a set of instruments and professionals whose objective is to facilitate and speed up the adaptation to your new home: Gran Canaria.
‘Best in Gran Canaria’ participates at the virtual meeting with video game developers from the Visegrad Group
Best in Gran Canaria took an active role in today’s virtual mission with video game developing studios from the Visegrad Group countries (Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary).
This meet-up was organized by ‘Canary Islands Films’, a group of public institutions including 2 regional entities and 2 entities at the island level (SPEGC among them). For Canary Islands video-game developing studios joined the event, Rising Pixel and Eteru from Gran Canaria, along eight studios from the Visegrad group. The private sector introduced their latest content, as well as their ongoing & forthcoming projects. From ‘Best in Gran Canaria’ perspective, it has been a great opportunity to show the economic and fiscal advantages available on the Canary Islands and to facilitate one-on-one collaboration between local and international companies.
The video game sector is a growing industry with great potential related to investment and job creation. Gran Canaria, as a technological hub for the IT and audiovisual companies, has powerful instruments such as the 45% tax deduction for Technological Innovation activities, qualified talent and its own financing instrument (participative loans from SPEGC to finance disruptive and innovative projects based on the island). It must be noted that the services offered by the Sociedad Económica de Gran Canaria – Economic Development Agency of Gran Canaria – through its brand ‘Best in Gran Canaria’, also represent a key support to establish a foothold in Gran Canaria (tailored-training, offices, information & soft-landing package, tax consultancy services via SAE – Business Support Service, etc.).
Gran Canaria: up and coming start-up ecosystem
Gran Canaria has placed 5th in the national ranking and at 64th in Western Europe in the latest annual report on technological and entrepreneurial ecosystems drawn up by StartupBlink. This means it has risen four places in the global ranking over last year's figures, according to the 'Global Start-up Ecosystem Index Report', to reach number 225.
In addition, StartupBlink provides a comparative analysis of destinations by quantity and relevance of their start-ups, as well as by the resources available for their acceleration. Thanks to the 48 start-ups based on the island (in different stages of development), 22 co-working spaces and 3 accelerators, Gran Canaria has placed immediately after Spain's major technological centres (Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao). In particular, the report highlights various verticals with particular strength: Transport (destination #109 worldwide), Social and Leisure (#144) and E-commerce (#154).
In addition to the organic growth of the local entrepreneurial ecosystem, the Canary Islands have turned into an ideal place to relocate companies with pilot projects or with global scale projects, particularly in digital environments. The explanation for this growing impetus for the entrepreneurial environment lies not just in the institutional support and the interest of investment funds, platforms and venture building programmes, both local and national; it is also due to a series of fundamentals: expertise and qualification of the local talent, lower operative and living expenses, tax advantages and funding instruments, and the capacity to attract and retain international talent.
The high impact of the ‘Economic and Fiscal Regime of the Canary Islands’ (REF, in its Spanish acronym) is well-accounted for in start-ups’ business plans: not only can it support the commercialization/service placement (4% tax rate for corporate tax), but also benefit from a deduction of up to 45% of expenses incurred in technological innovation projects (up to 75.6% in the case of R+D), alongside other exclusive funding.
StartupBlink is a global leader in the collection and representation of data concerning entrepreneurial ecosystems.
The SPEGC (Sociedad de Promoción Económica de Gran Canaria - Gran Canaria Society for Economic Promotion) provides support and information through its ‘Business Support Service’ (SAE), office space in the Gran Canaria Technology Park and its own investment instruments.