Mataró, in collaboration with the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), recently evaluated the initial months of its Centre of Excellence and Data Office (CEOD). The city is strengthening its focus on the data economy, seeing it as a critical infrastructure for transforming public services.
The CEOD is part of the EDINT project, which stands for Data Spaces for Smart Urban Infrastructures. FEMP leads this initiative, funded by Spain's Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan, with support from the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Function through Red.es.
Evaluating Progress and Future Steps
The evaluation session took place at the TecnoCampus Foyer. It served as a collective analysis of the progress, lessons learned, and capabilities developed during the CEOD's activation phase. This event solidified Mataró's role as an applied experimentation node within the EDINT ecosystem, according to officials.
The meeting brought together institutional representatives, international experts, technology companies, and technical managers. They shared achievements and planned the model's evolution towards a new consolidation stage. The institutional block and a presentation by Mataró CEOD managers led to a round table discussion. Representatives from BeTipo and municipal companies AMSA and PUMSA shared experiences and use cases developed within the project.
Data as a Transformation Engine
After a break, another round table, titled “Data as a Transformation Engine,” discussed the challenges and opportunities of the data economy. This discussion included local and supra-municipal perspectives. Participants included Toni Merino, Mataró City Council manager; Eva Guijarro, head of the Digital Transformation and Technologies Area at Localret Consortium; Miquel Estapé, director of the Open Administration of Catalonia Consortium; Karma Peiró, executive director of the Visualization for Transparency Foundation; and Josep Lluís Checa, general director of the TecnoCampus Foundation.
The keynote speech was delivered by Genís Roca, an expert in digital culture and technological transformation. His presentation, “Data, Cities, People and Future,” reviewed the history of artificial intelligence. Roca explained how the smart use of information can help build more efficient, human, and future-ready cities. The event concluded with an institutional closing by Daniel Hurtado, Councillor for Information Systems and Telecommunications and Deputy for Urban Agenda.
