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The City council of Madrid, Cisco, major technology and services companies and the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) have joined efforts to help Madrid become an international point of reference in innovation and new technologies

MADRID, March 16, 2015 - Today, Cisco announced it will be supporting the City Council of Madrid in the "Madrid Campus of Innovation" project. The campus is in a restored municipal area located in the district of Villaverde and will be transformed into a facility for fostering entrepreneurial and innovation projects. The goal of the campus is to become a focal point of innovation, where Madrid's citizens will have access to a startup incubator and to IT training and conferences, and where they can discover the latest advances in technology.

The project -driven and managed by the City Council of Madrid, with the support of Cisco and other major technology and services companies such as Ferrovial, Intel, Microsoft, Indra and Telefonica, and the Technical University of Madrid (UPM)- aims to help

The new centre located in Villaverde will be a space open to the city's economic and social ecosystem -citizens, administrations, companies (including large, medium and small companies, and start-ups), universities, education and research establishments, professional colleges and foundations? with three main objectives: the promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship, training and employment, and technical and scientific innovation.

Responses to urban challenges

The focus on open collaboration is essential in order to respond to Madrid's growing demand for innovation and technology to solve urban challenges. The campus will help meet this demand through technological innovation on multiple areas such as healthcare, transportation, energy management, education, leisure and administrative services to help create economic, social and environmental sustainability.

The concept of the project came from the idea to transform Madrid into an effective model to inspire and promote the creation of new companies and economic activities while also generating revenue and employment. This new model aims to help Madrid become an international point of reference in new technologies.

Cisco is investing in open innovation as a tool to support new corporate ecosystems, and has broad experience in the creation of Internet of Everything Innovation Centres based on open collaboration. Cisco has officially launched IoE Innovation Centres in London, Rio de Janeiro, Songdo (South Korea), Barcelona, Berlin, Tokyo, and Toronto.

Cisco predicts that 50 billion devices will be connected to the Internet in 2020. The Internet of Everything is generating great progress opportunities for both existing companies and new start-ups in markets such as intelligent cities, intelligent homes, connected vehicles, portable devices, big data, analytics, and cybersecurity. To help companies capture these markets, the initiative at Madrid Campus of Innovation brings technology leaders into an ecosystem open to innovation.

On-going and ad hoc activities

The campus of Villaverde will carry out both on-going activities and ad hoc events within four areas of action:

• Outreach: periodic sessions with partners on the latest technologies, monographic sessions on solutions of general interest, outreach in technological trends, and meetings with partners and clients.
• Training: design of made-to-measure annual training curricula and professional certifications.
• Innovation and entrepreneurship: annual sessions and competitions on strategic subjects such as Internet of Things or cybersecurity, coaching for startups and incubation of new companies in areas of common interest.
• Small and medium businesses: quarterly sessions in specific markets (retail, tourism, distribution) with success stories and best practices in productivity, competition and technology.

According to Jose Manuel Petisco, General Manager of Cisco Spain, "Public-private collaboration is of fundamental importance in improving the quality of life of citizens. By supporting this project, Cisco is taking part in a unique initiative of innovation and entrepreneurship that enjoys the commitment of the City Council and the collaboration of the major technological leaders, and is also a meeting point for citizens and educational institutions."