The Diplomat
Ten Latin American countries participated yesterday in the conference ‘The Data Centre industry in Spain and Latin America. A shared vision for the future’, organised by the Foreign Trade Institute (ICEX), together with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Spain DC, the Spanish data centre association.
The aim of the meeting was to inform public representatives and experts in digitalisation from these ten countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, El Salvador, Paraguay, Peru and the Dominican Republic) about the Spanish experience in the sector. In addition, the aim was to expose the possible risks associated with data centre construction projects, generate synergies between Spanish entities and Latin American governments and present Spanish companies involved in the entire project cycle of a data centre.
Its medium-term purpose is to support the development of data infrastructures and contribute to the implementation of a digital bridge between Latin America and Europe.
After the institutional opening, several expert panels were held on critical aspects to consider before, during and after a data centre project, followed by a networking lunch and finally bilateral meetings between Spanish companies and representatives from Latin American countries.
At the opening of the conference, the CEO of ICEX, María Peña, stressed that the data centre industry is “a determining transformation vector” in the economy, with a long value chain, characterised not only by its high technological value, but also by its talent and training capacity.
María Peña also pointed out that ICEX’s objective is to contribute to its promotion through internationalisation and to encourage its experience to help other countries to achieve their own objectives. In this sense, she indicated that, in the digital era, it will be the data that will contribute to further strengthening the ties that link Spain with Latin America, not only technological, but also cultural.
The conference was attended by a total of 45 Spanish companies involved in the entire life cycle of a data centre, representing a sample of an industry that is already a determining vector of transformation for the Spanish economy.
Spain is the European country where the data centre sector is growing the most. It is a new sector that generates new opportunities for the export of digital services from Spain, in an economic and commercial world in which organisations and companies are choosing to migrate their IT infrastructure to data centres.
Aware of the capacity of this industry, ICEX wants to export the Spanish model to other geographical areas, especially Latin America.
To support this industry around data centres, ICEX collaborates with SpainDC -Spanish Data Centre Association-, a recently created entity, and with the IDB, which has sovereign funds for the digitalisation of Ibero-American countries, and technical operations for the development of digital infrastructures in countries in the region.
