Embracing Open Sources

NOVEMBER 8TH, 2007
By MASTER

Innovation from Aragon

Simo, by far the largest IT fair in Spain, opened yesterday for a week of presentations and company exhibitions in Madrid. During the last years it has become more like a flesh market, with tanga showgirls and sales people spreading their pitch, instead of real entrepreneurs and tech-savvy geeks announcing new ventures. But anyway, it still remains as the largest event in the IT market in this country and an important reference in our industry.

Last year they started a new, refreshing initiative: the Vivero (SME incubator) area. It consists on an evaluation of some of the newest and most innovative companies in Spain, where a relatively small number is selected to present their projects in a stand during the whole SIMO week. This year, 58 companies were selected to participate in the Vivero area. I am proud to announce that Warp Networks has been selected among these innovative breed, to present ourselves and our flag project, eBox Platform.

But there is something that deserves even more attention. Aragon, our region, has a disproportionate amount of companies in the area. Up from a total of 58 companies, 8 are from Aragon (Warp Networks, Omepet, Libelium, Cierzo Development, LSLuz, Icom-Sip, Zitralia and Alfa Technologies), just behind Catalonia with 12 and Madrid region with 16. The figures are much more meaningful when you consider them relative to their population:

Madrid, with 13.42 % of the country population, has 27.58 % of the companies in the Vivero area (2.6 companies per million inhabitants)
Catalonia, with 15.96 % of the country population, has 20.57 % of the companies in the Vivero area (1.7 companies per million inhabitants)
Aragon, with 2.85 % of the country population, has 14.80 % of the companies in the Vivero area (6.3 companies per million inhabitants)

I could feel that there was something in the air in Zaragoza and Aragon, a new generation of innovative entrepreneurs with disruptive ideas and great ambition, but I must admit that the figures are far more overwhelming than what I thought. This can only be good