The eighth edition of the Fiware Global Summit is making a stop in Spain, more precisely in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, from the 14th to the 15th of September.
It is one of the reference events for innovation and digital transformation, as well as one of the most important open source conferences for public administrations, academia, developers, entrepreneurs, investors, ICT companies, accelerators, SMEs, and large enterprises at the European level.
The aim is to bring together key players from each category to discuss the challenges of the technological market and to increase digital ecosystems useful for administration, public and private business operations, and, more generally, for the sustainable economic development of the cities.
The Fiware community, which today counts more than 520 members worldwide, will meet thanks to the support of SPEGC (la Sociedad de PromociónEconómica de Gran Canaria) and Cabildo Gran Canaria and with the collaboration of CidiHub, FIIHub, Best In Gran Canaria and Innovalia.

An ecosystem of smart cities

Let us proceed in order. What is Fiware? Fiware is an independent open source platform, born thanks to the co-investment of European funds and private resources, aimed at increasing the competitiveness of the Old Continent in the ITC (Information and Communication Technology) field. This gave rise to the Fiware Foundation in 2006, which today embraces the big names in European software, from Engineering for Italy to Telefónica for Spain.
The mission, reads their bylaws, is 'to develop an open sustainable ecosystem around public, royalty-free and implementation-driven software platform standards that will ease the development of new Smart Applications in multiple sectors'. Openness and accessibility to data, in brief, are framed as a common good and a tool for improving the living conditions of European citizens.
As a result, the projects supported cover all critical sectors that affect the everyday life of citizens as well as entrepreneurs: agribusiness, energy, water, industry, and tourism. From the waste cycle, environmental data collection, and electricity management to technologies to make public transport services and the agricultural and food supply chain more sustainable and efficient.
Interoperable, portable, and smart solutions for equally smart cities. An ecosystem that, to date, counts more than 250 smart cities using Fiware technology to maintain a sustainable market. These include some of the main European capitals, such as Berlin, Vienna, Madrid, and Brussels, but also an important presence in India, Japan, Brazil, and even Australia and the United States. In Italy, in addition to Rome, we count Arezzo, Florence, Messina, Perugia, and Turin.

The eighth edition of the Global Summit

"We look forward to welcoming experts from all over the world, the Fiware community, and hundreds of participants to discuss how we can jointly advance open source towards new, innovative, inclusive, and sustainable business models," said Ulrich Ahle, CEO of the Fiware Foundation.
"The goal is to find smart solutions to drive the digital transformation of the various sectors. The fact that on this occasion the Summit will be held on an island like Las Palmas de Gran Canaria will allow the community and neighbouring islands to further develop Fiware's activities in tourism and the circular economy."
This year, the Global Summit will showcase the latest in blockchain technologies, artificial intelligence, and robotics, with a focus on the development of data spaces and data models for the strategic economic sectors mentioned before and labelled as Smart Cities, Smart Industry, Smart AgriFood, Smart Energy and Smart Water.
Ample space will also be given to Digital Innovation Hubs, accelerators, and venture capital, activities capable of generating business and funding opportunities. Another distinguishing aspect of this eighth edition will be the importance of live training for developers and technical experts, with introductory sessions on Fiware technologies and practical sessions with use cases.