Mediterranean Hub - I’m Mediterranean At a Glance

In 2007, WISeKey and OISTE presented a project for the creation of a Euro-African Hub within the framework of Malaga Valley's activities. The Euro Hub was conceived with the purpose of optimizing the economic, social and cultural relations between Europe and Africa and making Malaga the new EuroAfrican Technological Hub.

The Euro HUB was presented to prestigious organisations such as CERN, the European Union, the World Economic Forum, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and the Digital Solidarity Fund (FSN).

The project has now taken on a new dimension, focusing on the objectives laid out by President Zapatero at the Union for the Mediterranean (UPM) recently organised by President Sarkozy in Paris on 14 July this year, where leaders from 43 countries, representing 750 million inhabitants launched Union for the Mediterranean (UPM).

As a result, the EuroAfrican Technological Hub became the “I’m Mediterranean Hub” and, Malaga the “Technological Capital of the Mediterranean”.

WISeKey, OISTE, Malaga Valley and the Ville of Malaga have culminated in the “Mediterranean Cities and Local Governments Summit”, proposed by the Malaga City government and the FSN, which will be held in Malaga on October 2-3, 2008, where the "I’m Mediterranean" Hub, will be launched.

In Paris, the President of the Spanish government advocated strengthening the socio-economic and cultural cooperation in the region and underscored the fundamental role of the new information technologies. Zapatero invited European and Mediterranean leaders to the Mediterranean Cities Summit in Malaga, with the objective of promoting a truly Mediterranean digital space (ref. 2) This initiative will help Malaga to become the “Technological Capital of the Mediterranean”.

The cooperation among the City Government, Malaga Valley, FSN, the Technological Park of Andalusia, Mediterranean cities and the Spanish government is an unprecedented opportunity for making Malaga the Mediterranean Hub. This could have an international cooperation component in the release of a "Mediterranean digital space Declaration" which would be ratified and signed by all public and private sector dignitaries who would participate in the Malaga Summit, and in the development of the "I’m Mediterranean" Hub.

This HUB includes a component of digital identities federation proposed by WISekey that enables the development of citizen's customized portals adapted to the particular needs and interests of each one in a real environment Web 2.0 (ref 2).

WISeKey and OISTE are currently in the process of adopting this technology and other advanced technologies to the Mediterranean Hub with the objective of making Malaga a European reference in the areas of new technologies and the information society. This summit will open a new chapter in multilateral Mediterranean cooperation next October. The Malaga Hub would fulfill its aim of supporting Mediterranean governments and regions to develop infrastructure for a new information society which is sustainable, flexible and expandable to provide services to citizens via the Internet.

Today, governments and regions are facing new challenges when it comes to providing services and benefits to its citizens. They have limited resources and are increasingly under pressure as demand for new and better services grows. At the same time, public expectations have changed significantly in recent years due to growing use of personal technology in the region, creating a new culture of behavior and ways to interact among themselves and with central and regional governments.

The initial platform will consist of a suite of online services that Mediterranean cities represented by their mayors will be able to customize and integrate into their current government solutions with a single entry point – “the citizen identity”, providing high-level services to citizens by using Malaga and its Technology Park as a regional hub.

The Mediterranean Hub will support local and regional governments to improve their efficiency and modernize its services, although many do not have the equipment to meet citizens' expectations due to lack of funds, technical expertise and other resources. Malaga will become an incubator service repository for cities that do not yet have the means and skills to launch full applications establishing a local hybrid (installed in the city of reference) with the Malaga Hub.

This platform of collaboration - Mediterranean Hub - aims also to create "the digital Mediterranean identity (" I'm Mediterranean, Soy Mediterráneo") concept, of which little has been said but that many European politicians argue could become a reality.

This project will allow the enhancement and promotion of innovative means for financing digital solidarity in the Mediterranean space, and it will only be possible through the implementation of the platform Mediterranean Digital Space.

References:

(1) OISTE and Malaga Valley Group today signed an agreement to use WISeKey’s Common Global Root and scalable PKI hierarchy to establish a Euro-African Hub
(2) Comunicado OISTE y el Grupo Malaga Valley firman un acuerdo para la utilización de la Raiz Comun Global de WISeKey y la jerarquia P
(3) Zapatero presenta Oficialmente Candidatura Barcelona sede Union Mediterraneo