Toni Pérez recommends bridging the digital divide and putting people at the epicenter of digitization processes

The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, participated this morning in the presentation of the Smart Region of Murcia project, an already operational realization that will shortly operate in the Murcian region.

Pérez highlighted the importance of "defining the needs so that technology and innovation provide the answers" to day-to-day governance issues. The mayor of Benidorm pointed out the evolution of the process and the importance of "reducing the digital divide", giving an example of the Benidorm ICT experience, because the fundamental thing is, he insisted, "putting people at the epicenter of the digitization process".

Benidorm's experience in developing Smart City together with the capacity for data analysis has been a determining issue in the round table shared with the Secretary of the CENID Digital Intelligence Center, Professor Muñoz Guillena, from the University of Alicante, and with the regional director of Telefónica, José Manuel Plaza. The General Director of Information and Digital Transformation of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia, Javier Martínez, was the moderator of the debate.

Toni Pérez elaborated on the importance of the transformation process and the opportunities offered by innovation and technology in new market segments, "such as that of the energy nomads who come to our latitudes from central Europe and require the best connectivity and the best services, such as neighbors, residents, and tourists.

From the field of municipalism, Pérez highlighted, at the question of the moderator, the importance of Next Generation funds in the process, asking for "immediacy and diligence so that they exercise their driving role." The mayor pointed out that "the delay is unforgivable" because, he insisted, "stimuli for transformation" are needed. Finally, Pérez "regretted that there has not been a PERTE for Tourism in all this time."

The day ended with the presentation of the Smart 5K Project of the Region of Murcia and the conference by the cyclist Perico Delegado on the smart transformation operated in Tourism.