Aragón EDIH has renewed its recognition as a European reference ecosystem in innovation and technology transfer by the European Commission. The hub will have a budget of 4.4 million euros, financed 50% by the Digital Europe program during the period from 2026 to 2028. This Monday, the Aragón EDIH 2025 Forum: Digital Leadership was held with the participation of national and European leaders.
During the previous three years, over 120 companies have benefited from the Test Before Invest services, which allow testing the viability of digitalization projects with advanced European technologies before their full implementation. Technology maturity tests have been conducted, and more than 200 professionals have been trained in the Aragón EDIH Academy program with 28 courses offered at three levels: Basic, Advanced, and Expert.
More than 50 companies have received advice in seeking funding and one-stop-shop services. Three editions of StartTech have boosted technological acceleration in start-ups, and 15 networking actions, 2 forums, and over 30 events have taken place in the three Aragonese provinces, as well as at national and international meetings.
Aragón EDIH received the BDVA i-Space Platinum, recognition for excellence as one of the seven unique Platinum reference centers in Europe for Big Data and AI (ITA) and for HPC infrastructures (BIFI of the University of Zaragoza), as well as the EDIH Network 2024 «Public Choice» award for the best Collaboration with other EDIHs or European initiatives, and the special 2025 award from the Association of Telecommunications Engineers of Aragon.
Aragón EDIH 2025 Forum: Digital Leadership
The forum was held at the Technological Institute of Aragon and brought together national and European leaders to discuss the future of Artificial Intelligence. Esther Borao, director of ITA and coordinating center of Aragón EDIH, emphasized at the opening: «We are witnessing a clear example of how public-private collaboration can translate into real results, driving the digitalization of our productive fabric and strengthening Aragon’s competitiveness in Europe.»
Participants and contents of the forum:
Malgorzata Nikowska, head of the Artificial Intelligence Innovation Unit and Policy Coordination at the European Commission (DG CNECT), participated remotely addressing the future context of the European EDIH Network and the strategic lines of cooperation at the community level.
A panel on success cases featured Cosme Martínez, founding partner of MyTruff; Miguel Subirá, managing director of Podoactiva; Alex García, CEO of EdTech Learning Solutions; and Lucía Royo, Innovation Manager of Electroingenium, moderated by David Íñiguez, ARAID researcher and head of the Computing Area at the BIFI Institute of the University of Zaragoza.
Regarding the role of the EDIHs network, Alberto Gago from the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence; Ana García from the Big Data Value Association; Victoria Sánchez from the EOI of the Ministry of Industry; and Alejandro Ramos from CIDIHUB, the coordinating entity of the Spanish EDIHs network, spoke in a session moderated by Pablo Pérez Benedí, director of the Ecosystem Area of ITA and president of Aragón EDIH.
The final session included representatives from the seven entities of the consortium: Esther Borao (ITA); Daniel Rey (Aragonese Institute of Development); Manuel González (University of Zaragoza); Jesús Arnau (CEOE Aragon); Carmelo Pérez (CEPYME Aragon); Celia Elfau (Aragonese Council of Chambers); and Félix Gil (TECNARA).
The Aragón EDIH Consortium
Aragón EDIH was launched in 2017 by seven Aragonese institutions: ITA, IAF, UNIZAR, TECNARA, CEOE Aragon, CEPYME Aragon, and the Aragonese Council of Chambers of Commerce. In 2022, it was recognized as a reference Digital Innovation hub by the European Commission for its maturity and specialization in Artificial Intelligence technologies, cognitive systems, and high-performance cloud computing (HPC-Cloud), especially applied in areas such as smart manufacturing processes, robotics, and logistics.
Its objectives are to achieve the European 2030 Goals in its areas of specialization, promote technological sovereignty in Europe from Aragón, increase the competitiveness of the Aragonese productive system, improve innovation outcomes by promoting high technological differentiation, and convert digitalization into a source of regional, national, and European development.
