"Through Etorkizuna Eraikizand hand in hand with the society of Gipuzkoa, we have set ourselves the goal of building the Gipuzkoa of the future from the present. For this process, the contribution of the knowledge centers of our territory is essential". This is how the deputy general, Markel Olano, explained on Monday, February 11, the relevance for Gipuzkoa of the renewal of the collaboration agreement that the provincial institution has with Tecnun, the UPV/EHU, the University of Deusto and Mondragon Unibertsitatea , four of the universities based in our territory.

Etorkizuna Eraikiz is the main axis of an agreement thanks to which the academic centers will continue to develop research, analysis and dissemination work linked to the project. The universities signed the agreement during a meeting that took place at the Palacio Foral. The meeting was attended, on behalf of the Provincial Council, by the Deputy General, Markel Olano; the Provincial Spokesman and Deputy for Governance and Communication with Society, Imanol Lasa; the Deputy for Economic Promotion, Rural Environment and Territorial Balance, Ainhoa Aizpuru; and the Director of Management Strategy, Sebas Zurutuza. 

On behalf of Tecnun, the director Raúl Antón and the deputy director of research, José María Sarriegi, attended; the University of Deusto was represented by its rector Jose Mª Guibert and the vice-rector José Antonio Rodríguez Ranz; from Mondragon Unibertsitatea, the rector Vicente Atxa and the vice-rector Jon Altuna participated in the meeting; and finally, the rector Nekane Balluerka and the vice-rector Agustin Erkizia of the UPV/EHU were present. The agreement will be in force for two years and the Provincial Council will allocate a total of 1.2 million euros to its materialization. "Collaborative governance is one of the main characteristics of Etorkizuna Eraikiz; that is to say, what we do, we do it among all of us", recalled the Deputy General. In this sense, he stressed that the agreement will allow the Provincial Council to engage with the knowledge system of the territory, highlighting the value of the road traveled to date.

As he explained, the contribution of the universities has been key to the development of various pilot programs, and he expressed his conviction that this collaboration will continue to bear fruit in the future.

The work of Tecnun

Tecnun will work in the area of cybersecurity, electromobility and entrepreneurship. Specifically, he will be in charge of developing a self-diagnostic tool on cybersecurity for SMEs in the territory, and will work on the development of an algorithm for the control of independent electric motors in vehicles.

The director of Tecnun, Raúl Antón reaffirmed the commitment of the institution he directs to Gipuzkoa. "In Donostia for over 50 years, more than 60% of our students are from Gipuzkoa and there are currently more than 5,000 engineers from Tecnun working in leading companies in Gipuzkoa. With the signing of this agreement, the collaboration between the Provincial Council and Tecnun is committed to technologies that will be fundamental for the development of the territory". In this sense, he detailed that they will work in areas such as cybersecurity, entrepreneurship and electromobility, where the star project of the next course is the electric Formula Student team, Tecnun e-Racing.