Rayco León, Island Council of Fuerteventura: “Culture also has its role in the creation of start-ups”

Rayco León perceives that “the differentiation processes have accelerated and we all must enter them, from the administration, to the educational system... especially in basic issues that should have been developed a long time ago.” I think that many shortcomings have been seen with respect to differentiation, because we are still users. We are in the user world in the digital part. We need to make the leap to our young people when it comes to planning their professional career, as it would affect them when it comes to innovating and proposing innovation.“

The way of understanding entrepreneurship is a mental matter. And another external detail influences this mental concept: technology, “we continue to maintain the concept of technology consumers. Young people are more involved in the telephone, more than ever, however, they are not able to consider how can I develop or how can I understand or how can I take advantage of these opportunities that are being offered to me? I have everything else at my fingertips.”

The Minister of Culture, Historical Heritage and Innovation highlights the scope of the actions in innovation “it is one of the problems of innovation and investment”. This is because they seek to “convince investors not only outsiders but also insiders that innovation is worth investing in.” The island must have an innovation roadmap and from there the opportunities will arise, this is one of the main projects that we are working on in the Technology Park of Fuerteventura, in which, based on a consultation marked in 2015-2016, opens up the opportunity for the aerospace sector, which is delving into the technology, into the climatology necessary for the development of this type of research. It is an opportunity, in a specific airspace such as that of Fuerteventura. There are many pending issues that the Technological Park has, of all this knowledge, of all this technology, but at this moment it is focusing on the generation of a great project that attracts the ecosystem and that also carries out scalable conservation missions. Right now there is a business incubator that hosts everything from training to technology-related companies. There is a lot of work and we believe that we are going to achieve it.“

When carrying out entrepreneurship, whether through a company or a startup, there is something that is vital for it to work: attracting people to encourage entrepreneurship or publicize the projects in a way that attracts others. This desire is highlighted by Rayco León, since “it is one of the objectives we have for this year, we have had to work and generate a clear gateway for those people who want to settle, invest in Fuerteventura or for someone who wants to know the ecosystem of the island, to also serve as a project. Many times we get companies from the linked territory or from other parts of the world to attend us.” “Space is one of the advantages of Fuerteventura, but we have to know how to take advantage of it. We have not made the mistakes of other places. The concept of progress must be closely associated with intelligence activities that we have to constantly contextualize in this globalized world”.

Another aspect to take into account when carrying out projects in culture is its development through networks such as Twitch, Tiktok or YouTube, platforms in which people use their creativity. Culture also has its role in the creation of startups. This is what Rayco León affirms: “we are believers that in Fuerteventura any type of activity can be carried out, from anywhere in the world, because what better place than the Canary Islands and all the benefits it offers, from there any activity is possible . We have the firm purpose of generating spaces for entrepreneurship”.

The advancement of technology has given rise to more nomadic workers, those who are known as “digital nomads”. The people of Europe think of the islands, all the islands, to come to work, to create their own startups, among other purposes. The evolution of technology has considerably favored this aspect, something that Rayco León highlights. “Companies have had no choice but to enable teleworking and they have necessarily seen that this movement worked and that the quality of life of the worker improves, the climate and the quality of life that we have in the Canary Islands sells itself”. The fundamental objective of this is “to develop specific projects” in order to favor “the development of opportunities and of evident enrichment and progress in a broader aspect”.