With the internet, the world became connected. The first email was sent in 1985, but the network did not reach homes on a massive scale until a decade later. Since then, a person from Manacor, where the infoManacor portal was born in 1999, can communicate with someone else in Wisconsin almost instantly. More than 30 years after the expansion of the internet, however, the challenge is no longer just to connect people from around the world, but also to ensure that data travels faster and is processed closer to where it is needed.

The Balearic Islands face the challenge of moving out of the tail end of research and development (R&D) investment. The archipelago continues to occupy the last position among the autonomous communities in terms of the percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) allocated to these activities, at 0.4%, compared to the 1.5% Spanish average. In other words, the Islands proportionally dedicate almost four times fewer resources to this than the state as a whole. A difference that highlights the path that still remains to be traveled, but which also puts on the table an opportunity to promote a more diversified, competitive economic model that is less dependent on tourism.

Few professionals know the gears of technology and public management in the Balearic Islands with the perspective provided by four decades of experience. José Juan Novás –Pepe Novás, in innovation circles– has constantly crossed the border between senior management of private tech companies and institutional modernization. Now, from the coordination of the Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of the Cercle d'Economia de Mallorca, he has become one of the most authoritative voices when it comes to addressing the great challenge facing the Islands: how to transform our productive model through digitalization, sustainability and knowledge.