Fundación Ctic Centro Tecnológico Member

CTIC Technology Centre (CTIC) is a private non-profit Research and Technology Organization (RTO), specialized in the research and development of cutting-edge and emerging technologies. Its main objective is to promote and foster the implementation of activities related to the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in all spheres of economic and social life that may contribute to the development and improvement of society.

At International level, CTIC has developed and participated in 36 projects which have covered many areas of expertise using Technology as its base; these projects have covered Latin and Central America, and Africa, being financed by Governments, Cooperation Agencies and the European Union.     
At European level, CTIC  has participated in 42 varied Technological projects covering a wide area of expertise and financed by the principal Funding Agencies of the European Union: Horizon FP6, FP7, AAL,CIP

CTIC staff is formed by a team of >70 persons including engineers and PhD researchers specialised in ICT and emerging technologies, who generate high added-value knowledge through the research carried out in emerging IT fields and the proactive collaboration with national and international research groups. 

PRINCIPAL AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION

CTIC´s main activities  are focused on enabling technologies of digital transformation for example: Standardization and Open Data; Blockchain; Artificial Intelligence and Big Data; Web of Things (WoT); Immersive Technologies, Quantum Computing and Data Spaces. The research on these technologies aims to promote the intelligent and innovative development of territories (Smart territories); to improve business competitiveness through innovation and digital transformation (Industry 4.0); and contribute to improving people's quality of life (eHealth, Ageing and Wellbeing).

CTIC is the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Chapter for Spain and the Latin-American Spanish-speaking regions. W3C is an international organization whose main mission is to design and promote the adoption of W3C standards among developers, application creators and the Web community in general, promoting at the same time the inclusion of organizations that lead the development of future technologies. CTIC leads W3C’s e-Government strategy at International level. In January 2007, W3C launched a research project on the international e-Government map in order to establish, on the basis of that knowledge and through cooperation agreements with supranational organizations (OAS, OECD, the World Bank, EC, UN, etc.), a set of universally applicable guidelines to guarantee interoperability between administrations. 

INFRAESTRUCTURE AVAILABLE

• ISAAC - INFRASTRUCTURE FOR SIMULATION IN QUANTUM COMPUTING

Quantum computing involves a new way of processing information by computers that makes it possible to address problems that are not currently addressed by classical computing. This is especially limiting in a context like the current one, of integral and global digitalization, in which millions of new devices are being connected to the Internet every day (Internet of Things), generating huge volumes of data (Big Data).
ISAAC aims to remove the barrier to access to quantum computers currently held by companies and research groups, offering access to a simulation environment in which quantum algorithms can be designed, developed and validated and, once optimized, can be deployed with guaranteed operation in quantum computers, which are currently scarce, but will increase in the coming years, according to the forecasts for the development of this technology.
The potential customers and users of this infrastructure are:

• • Large companies, end users of the technology, with their own quantum algorithms for applications in the financial, service and industrial sectors.
  • Technological companies, specialized in quantum algorithms that require tools to test and validate their algorithms.
  • Scientific community, for the development of their lines of research.

It has a hybrid architecture with 8 processors supported by 2 high performance GPUs simulating a quantum computer of 38 qbits that will allow to make simulations that can be used in different sectors bringing the power of quantum computing to society.
processing technologies, vision technologies, intelligent software and sensors.
The most relevant technologies that integrate the Laboratory are Big Data and Data Analytics; Cloud Computing; Technologies for Interoperability; 

• CTIC DATA HUB

CTIC-DATAHUB is a unique Shared Data Space infrastructure, which implies a complete turnkey solution with a configuration of very high performance servers for storage, computing and high performance processing, both in CPU and GPU computing technologies with high speed interconnections and a modular and scalable architecture, configuring a functional unit with technical specifications that are detailed below.

CTIC-DATAHUB aims to be a significant stimulus for the development of frontier R&D projects aligned with the emerging initiative, both in Europe and Internationally, of Shared Data Spaces, which can be exploited both internally by CTIC, and in collaboration with various entities at local, national and international level, thus placing the region at the forefront of this paradigm at International level.

• LOCAL ENERGY DEMONSTRATOR 

In 2023, Peon, the headquarters of CTIC RuralTech Project, created a unique new infrastructure, a photovoltaic plant, within the project “Aldea/Village  0”.It is a demonstrator and a pilot of the Local Energy Community concept whose installation consists of 88 solar panels and a peak power of 35kW, which serves six homes in the Valley, the local school the Technology Centre itself and which also  includes a climate simulator with high electricity consumption.
This pilot project is aimed at designing a model of collective, sustainable, autonomous consumption that can be replicated in other rural areas. This pilot acts as a demonstrator and will serve to test and experiment both the available technologies and the community organisational models, becoming a reference that can be visited, to encourage the creation of energy communities in other areas.

In this infrastructure, different research is already being articulated in the field of renewable generation and energy distribution technologies, storage solutions, etc., and progress is being made in the development of concepts such as electricity flexibility or demand response programmes. For example, a battery system has been implemented to store surplus energy and use it at night and during peak demand hours.

CTIC is also involved in the Horizon Europe projects "Data Cellar@ and "Glocalflex@, which address different technological aspects around the concept of Local Energy Communities. The installation allows it to carry out different research in the fields of renewable energy generation and distribution technologies, and storage solutions, as well as to advance in concepts such as electricity flexibility or demand response programmes.

• CLIMATE SIMULATOR

An infrastructure for the development of Agriculture 4.0 projects from the perspective of research and development in digital technologies (software and hardware). The infrastructure contains three independent simulators equipped with different equipment and sensors to control temperature, humidity, light, ventilation, irrigation... This Simulator experiments with how the valley's typical crops, such as beans, can be adapted to situations of climatic stress. This is based on the data collected by the climate stations deployed in situ throughout the valley, on which projections of future climate conditions are applied, depending on the possible scenarios considered, studying how crops respond to these climate change scenarios. The conclusions obtained from the research carried out in the Climate Simulator, in combination with the information stored in RGIS, allows us to design the landscapes of the future, based on the data of the present and the demands imposed by climate change.

The direct application of this information reservoir, designed by and for the village, and in particular for this valley, is the visualisation platform and the warning/alert system, which the valley's residents will be able to access via their telephone, facilitating efficient decision-making based on real data (fire risk, need for irrigation, optimal sowing, sustainable water consumption, etc.). For example, when the forest fire sensors register temperatures above 30 ºC, soil humidity below 30 %, wind speed above 30 km/h and from the south, residents will receive a message on their Smartphone informing them: "Very high risk of fire due to conditions 30/30/30, take extreme precautions".

PRINCIPAL FIELDS OF ACTIVITY

• DATA ECONOMY and VALUE CHANGE

In this context, CTIC works, on the one hand, with companies and entities helping them in their digital transformation processes to become data-driven organizations. On the other hand, CTIC applies its knowledge and experience in interoperability, advanced architectures and W3C digital identification standards, verifiable credentials and linked data, to the development of data spaces, the cornerstone of the deployment of the Strategy. European Data.

• HEALTH AND WELLNESS 

CTIC develops projects and initiatives to promote active aging in order to improve health, participation and safety, offering innovations to promote personal autonomy, skills and well-being (both physical and mental), mainly of older people.

It also develops innovative projects and initiatives based on AI technologies, always keeping in mind the specific needs and characteristics of users, and their context. All this, with a single objective: to innovate in the real world, improving and expanding human capacities for the good of our products, clients and society in general; thus improving the quality of life through a person-centred approach.

• TERRITORIAL INTELLIGENCE

At CTIC we carry out and gather Territorial Intelligence, giving it a ranking which will provide and guarantee sustainable development as well as counting on the local community and in a context of permanent social and technological innovation.

CTIC supports the digital transformation processes of the territories, supporting companies and producers in the evolution of traditional business models and the generation of new ones and not only collaborating with the Public Administration and all of the Territorial agents both from the perspective of improving and innovating their own processes and services to citizens but also from the perspective of their role as agents responsible for territorial development.

To achieve these goals we have created a center in a totally rural environment which is specialized in the use of territorial intelligence and the development of specialist technologies, called  CTIC RuralTech.
Through this Innovation Centre located in RuralTech we focus our activity associated with rural areas and deploy our Digital Transformation strategy in R&D and innovation aimed at the development of the agro-livestock economic transformation activity , as well as the improvement of the quality of life of rural communities.

• BUSINESS and INDUSTRY 5.0

This Area encompasses all those initiatives, projects and services aimed at developing a more competitive business fabric by accompanying companies in the digital transformation and adoption of emerging technologies to promote their competitiveness.

We rely on our own methodologies (e-Company, e-Industry 5.0) that we have been developing since 2004 and are supported by their application in numerous projects, especially within the framework of the CATDE (SAT Network) initiative, which we promote in collaboration with the Institute of Economic Development of the Principality of Asturias (IDEPA) which allows us to work with more than 1,500 Asturian companies a year.

Our methodology is designed for rapid adaptation to the specific characteristics of companies from the perspective of their sector or business area, aimed at awakening the demand for technological innovations and accelerating their innovation processes through the integration of disruptive technologies.

Due to our experience in Industry 5.0 we can solve problems in a wide variety of areas from the optimization of industrial processes based on machine learning, quality control, or infrastructure monitoring, to situation simulation and unaided training, as well as predictive maintenance applications, thus realising important developments for companies in the areas of infrastructure/technology, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning.