The technology companies of Tarragona are orienting part of their activity towards the defense industry at a time of increased public funding and institutional impetus for European rearmament. The move affects an ecosystem that until now had focused a good part of its business on digital services, cybersecurity, cloud, and artificial intelligence with civilian uses.
Tension appears in the sector's own turn. Technologies that are already applied in everyday areas are presented as an entry route into defense contracts, while the Generalitat de Catalunya encourages companies to reconvert and military spending in Spain grows strongly.
Military spending rose almost 50% in one year and reached 34.3 billion
The increase in public funds is one of the factors that explain that change. Military spending in Spain has grown almost 50% in one year and has tripled in six years, going from 11,000 to 34,300 million euros, a volume that the sector interprets as a business opportunity for companies in the territory.
Sergi Novo, manager of the TIC Catalunya Sud Cluster, maintains that the increase in defense budgets is a great opportunity for the ICT sector in the region. Within this framework, he places Tarragona's companies in a favorable position to bid for dual-use contracts linked to strategic services.
"With experience in key areas such as cybersecurity, cloud solutions and artificial intelligence, and digital infrastructures, companies in the territory can opt for dual contracts" - Sergi Novo, manager of the TIC Catalunya Sud Cluster
Eurecat, with several headquarters in Tarragona and a member of the cluster, is among the players already developing projects that combine scientific research and the defense sector. The focus is on dual technology, with applications in both security and the civil sphere.
Castellá, who is also commissioner for Open Government and ICT at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, states that there are more and more resources and funding, and that this opens up room to seek technological solutions. At the same time, he warns that artificial intelligence can also become an attack vector, and therefore he defends sovereignty in these systems.
The Generalitat pushes for reconversion and the URV foresees more demand for talent
The shift does not only come from companies. The Generalitat de Catalunya has urged industry to reconvert towards the defense sector to take advantage of the European rearmament process, and the message also reaches the auxiliary automotive industry, which plans to diversify its business with that demand.
In an event organized by the Cambra de Barcelona, the Minister of Business and Labor assured that Catalonia's commitment to this sector is clear and added that the Government considers it strategic from the beginning of its term. That institutional push coincides with greater business interest in contracts linked to strategic defense services, according to Novo.
Josep Domingo Ferrer, professor of Computer Science at URV, notes that there are many companies moving to benefit from these contracts and that this can correct a previous deficit in Catalonia. He also points out that technologies such as autonomous drones or, in the most extreme cases, robot soldiers, are not so different from those that already work in other sectors.
"Israel, as an example, has dedicated itself to making many dual-use tools, beyond defense, and that makes it export a lot. The ethical question already depends on each individual, but one must take into account that allocating money to these matters is an investment, it is not a bottomless pit" - Josep Domingo Ferrer, Professor of Computer Science, URV
That shift towards defense also points to the labor market. The sector foresees a greater demand for technological profiles in programming, mathematics, and data analysis, while the training of current and future professionals will be oriented towards these needs in collaboration with the URV and the territory's vocational training centers.
Novo adds that the demand for ICT professionals will grow especially in dual technologies and value solutions for defense. He also foresees that artificial intelligence will modify talent models, but links it to job creation.