Alcoy “Alcoy Digital Land”

Alcoy is famous for its Art Nouveau architecture. Buildings, such as the Casa del Pavo and the Circulo Industrial de Alcoy can be seen sporting some typical Art Nouveau attributes. Right outside the city you can visit the Font Roja Natural Park and the Serra Mariola Natural Park, and spend the day hiking and enjoying the mountain view. Alcoy is home to many rock paintings dating back as far as 10 000 years ago. Home to more than 20 bridges, Alcoy is also known as the city of the bridges. The San Jorge Bridge is one of the most popular views of the city. Each year in April the city of Alcoy hosts the Moros i cristians (Moors and Christians), a festival that commemorates the historical conflict between the Moors and the Christians. The festival with its parades, historical costumes and activities lasts several days. Alcoy is also known as Ciutat del Nadal (Christmas City), highlighting its Parade of the Three Wise Men, one of the oldest in the world, a festival of national tourist interest and Intangible Cultural Property.

Economy

Alcoy, like many other cities in the world, is dealing with an aging population. Despite this they are the financial, commercial, and cultural centre of the surrounding areas. Textile has represented the main economic activity for centuries. In addition to the textile industry, the city’s economy is based on other sectors, basically focused on industry, such as the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors (mainly cosmetics), the food sector and manufacturing.

Interests and Future Goals

Alcoy supports digital transformation, innovation and the intelligent city model. Alcoy has a clear commitment to innovation and digitalization of the city and the territory, and has a well-defined strategy. Alcoy and its territory, have a long tradition of associationism and participation in networks of various kinds.

Alcoy contemplates its “Alcoy Digital Land” strategy of digitalization and modernization of the economic sector, placing human capital and local talent at the center of the adaptation and transformation of the business to digital technology. Alcoy understands that a strategy aimed at promoting digital knowledge, skills and competences in any field (private, public, educational, etc.) is the only dynamic element. On this basis, the city of Alcoy has defined the following mission: To promote talent and human capital as a dynamic element of the digital transformation in local companies and in the city, strengthening constant communication between the economic, educational and public sectors.

The city has identified the list of activities to be carried out in the short, medium and long term to make its strategic mission and ambition a reality. A total of 16 specific activities have been identified, ranging from the creation of an advisory group of experts in digital transformation made available to companies in the territory, the creation of a public IoT network, training for children and companies to the creation of a Digital Innovation Hub. A large part of these projects will have an impact not only on the city, but also on its nearby territory and they will be extrapolated to other European regions. Among the many examples of good practices already carried out or in progress, we can highlight:

• Alcoy has the Alcoidemà project and the 2018-2025 strategic plan. Furthermore the city has been working for some time on the elaboration of the Integral Sustainable Urban Development Strategy (DUSI Strategy), a planning instrument that has allowed Alcoy to obtain European funding linked to ERDF funds for the 2014-2020 period.
• The Rodes project aims to create a living space where the citizens of Alcoy will be able to enjoy a multifunctional space that meets their needs and provides a differential and avant-garde value to the territory. They hope to accomplish this by 2022. The creation of a technological space will allow to attract companies and professionals of value, as well as it will foment the interrelation between companies of the industry and the technology or the exchange of ideas for the development of projects.
• Alcoy, member and headquarters of Distrito Digital: Distrito Digital is a project promoted by the Valencian government to use the competitive advantages of the Comunitat Valenciana, creating a unique environment to house technology and talent companies. It is the headquarters of the technological transformation and the digital economy, the centre of the largest innovation ecosystem in the Mediterranean
• The objective of the agreement between Distrito Digital and the Alcoy City Council is to create synergies between Distrito Digital and external companies/institutions that want to initiate collaborations and join the digital hub that is being generated. Alcoy, will have a physical headquarters of Distrito Digital in the city, concretely in Rodes.
• Other good practices are the participation in the Join, Boost and Sustain project, Alcoy’s commitment to Innovative Public Procurement, the participation in networks related to innovation and digital transformation such as the Innpulso Network, the Spanish Network of Intelligent Cities and the Valencian Network of Cities for Innovation, the Alcoi Smart City master plan and the SmartOffice, the Network of intelligent tourist destinations, various innovation projects subsidised by different public bodies of the Generalitat Valenciana and the Smart City and Alcoy City of Knowledge chairs at the Polytechnic University of Valencia.

Regarding Alcoy’s good practices related to Open Data and data analysis, on the one hand, since 2019, Alcoy has an open data portal with 27 datasets (several in real time) and use cases. And on the other hand, in April 2019, the “I Big Data Alcoy Congress” was held as a professional forum oriented to the presentation of the advances around Big Data applied to AI and intelligent territories management with a business oriented digital transformation objective.

In addition, Alcoy was part of the OpenData group of the DCC since its creation, where cities like Nice, Derry, Gelsenkirchen or Sofia are also present.

Regarding the governance related to data analysis, it is worth mentioning the current tender of the city platform, which among others, will facilitate the interaction of the different elements of the city, integrate the existing ones and contribute greatly to decision-making.