AIR-Andalusia, the European Digital Innovation Hub, presented in Malaga

The innovation ecosystem formed by BIC Euronova, UMA innTech, Innova IRV Foundation and Málaga TechPark is driving the adoption of artificial intelligence through AIR-Andalusia.

The members of this Malaga consortium have brought together the local business community to facilitate free access to advanced technologies, strengthening Malaga’s position as an innovation hub in southern Europe.

02/07/2026 BIC Euronova

On Wednesday, at The Green Lemon space, Málaga TechPark hosted the presentation of AIR-Andalusia, the European Digital Innovation Hub specialising in artificial intelligence, robotics and advanced digital technologies, to the Malaga ecosystem. The meeting brought together the local business community with the aim of providing small and medium-sized enterprises with the tools they need to accelerate their digital transformation in a highly practical way, with support and funding from the European Commission.

This ambitious project will run for 36 months, until January 2029. It has an overall budget of €5.12 million, 50% co-financed by the Digital Europe Programme, and is focused exclusively on technology transfer to SMEs, mid-caps and the public sector.

The event was organised by the local consortium that makes it possible to bring this major European project to the province and implement it locally. The University of Malaga, through UMA innTech, BIC Euronova, Innova IRV Foundation and Málaga TechPark form an ecosystem that acts as a local headquarters and a direct bridge between local companies and the Andalusian hub. Based on the European ‘test before invest’ principle, this close institutional and public-private collaboration demonstrates the maturity of the environment and is key to ensuring the real transfer of scientific and technological knowledge directly towards market needs.

During the session, attendees learned in detail about the portfolio of services and activities provided and managed directly from the Malaga headquarters. These services, whose actual costs are 100% subsidised and represent a cost of €0 for companies, will be activated through five operational calls and assigned strictly on a first-come, first-served basis. Participating companies discovered how they can rely on these four entities to access everything from personalised digital maturity diagnostics to the creation and acceleration of deep tech startups, as well as expert support to attract European funding for R&D.

The local ecosystem highlighted the availability of top-tier technological capabilities, such as consultancy in agentic artificial intelligence, access to experimentation infrastructures in 4G/5G, Open RAN and IoT, and use of UMA’s LAENTIEC laboratory, with 90,000 square metres dedicated to testing new emergency response technologies. These local services also open the door to the general AIR-Andalusia catalogue, an unprecedented deployment that mobilises more than 170 services and 60 training activities. These include the AirAcademy initiative, which will soon hold seminars in Malaga on AI applied to cybersecurity, no-code automation and specific programmes for CEOs to understand the real applications of generative AI in their business models.

The development and success of all these capabilities draw on the strength of the business environment in which the consortium operates. As the central setting and physical meeting point of this alliance, Málaga TechPark provides an ecosystem that currently brings together more than 719 resident companies, with turnover exceeding €4.8 billion per year and a community of more than 29,000 professionals. The combined strengths of UMA, Innova IRV, BIC Euronova and the park itself allow companies to test disruptive solutions while reducing risk, with a direct impact on strategic areas such as smart industry, aerospace, healthcare, biotechnology and sustainable tourism. In this way, local talent is connected with a major global network of technological innovation.