Microsoft and the Universitat de València have launched today the “Privacy and Digital Transformation Microsoft Chair” whose main objective responds to the need to promote the generation of a key knowledge to guarantee the maximum competitiveness in the present and future in the employment sector.
The event took place in the office of the Principal which is a building from the first third of the 20th century. The principal, Mr. Esteban Morcillo Sánchez, presented the Chair in the presence of nearly a hundred people from the academic and institutional community. He highlighted “the commitment of the Universitat de València with the challenges posed by the development of the institution in the context of digital transformation.” At this point, the Principal has recalled the commitment of the UV with the computer calculation. Esteban Morcillo has underlined the creation of Chairs like this since it is the place from which knowledge is spread. “The institutional chair makes visible this physical area of impact on society and bridge between the productive and the business fabric.” At this point, he has highlighted the role of business like Microsoft which, apart from being a driving force for the economy, “they are producers of new knowledge which could hardly be achieved by other fields and they are capable of transforming society.” The Principal has said that technologies “will be what we will be able to make of them, but in any case they will be there. There is no way of opposing to their progress since they create extraordinary realities. We are witnessing a digital transformation.” In this regard, he affirms that the Universitat de València is the ideal place for this development: “We are an university of general studies, that is to say, it includes all areas of expertise but with a humanist vision.” In this way, he has highlighted the commitment of training the graduates in high capacities in order to become agents of the digital transformation with the values of the Universitat de València.
Óscar Sanz, Director of Education of Microsoft Ibérica has affirmed: “In Microsoft, we have the solid commitment of listening to the needs of the employment world in order to promote an education which provides the best preparation for the workers of tomorrow. The launching of this Chair together with the Universitat de València responds to our leading edge position in critical and vital aspects such as privacy and protection of data. These aspects are crucial for all the business fabric which is already immerse in a necessary transformation.”
The Chair starts for an initial period which is comprised until 2020 and it will promote training courses on privacy, cybersecurity and digital transformation. Likewise, sessions with an educational/training finality with first-level speakers, both in the field of business and university, will take place.
The search for synergies in the field of privacy and safety as developers of digital transformation will promote conferences, educational cooperation encouraging, development of joint research lines, research works and doctoral theses conducting, promotion of national and international meetings of experts on topics of interest, and cooperation for research projects.
The experience as the tool for leading the project
Today, the Universitat de València and Microsoft have appointed Ricard Martínez Head of the Chair to lead the project and promote scientific and technological activities in the field of privacy.
The new Director of the Chair has highlighted during the inaugural event what he defines as challenges for privacy and digital transformation. Likewise, he has affirmed that “public and private organizations of this country are facing an important challenge. This is related to the need of changing their way of making and understanding the regulatory compliance in privacy.” He has underlined that there are opportunities at present and “our responsibility is to generate applicable solutions from the point of view of the fulfilment of the objectives of the right of protection of data.” Finally, he claimed that in the digital transformation process, “information technologies will be the essential platform for getting the knowledge to anywhere in the world, overcoming social and economic differences between people and countries.”
Martínez has devoted his career to the study of privacy both from the point of view of the research as well as the performance of responsibility positions in the management of public and private organizations. He has encouraged the consciousness of the right of protection of data.
An evidence of this is the development of his responsibilities as Data Protection Officer in the Universitat de València and as professor of Constitutional Law in the same institution. Furthermore, he has been Head of the Transparency Service of the Valencian Provincial Council, Chair Person of the Spanish Professional Association of Privacy, and responsible y responsible of the Studies Area of the Spanish Agency of data protection. He is Doctor in Constitutional Law with the Special Award of Doctorate of the Universitat de València. He has devoted his research to the study of the right of protection of data and to several issues related to the repercussions of the Information and Communication Technologies in the private life. Furthermore, he is author of several publications which focus on safety, privacy and protection of data.
About the Universitat de València
Today’s Universitat de València is the result of more than five centuries of history which have allowed to gather some knowledges and unique documentary treasures which have made it one of the best Spanish universities.
Over more than five hundred years, the development of the Universitat de València has progressed in parallel to the growth of the city and it has been a crucial part of its urban structure. The UV has created areas for teaching, research, creation and dissemination of culture and science as well as knowledge transfer.
The Universitat de València is one of the first five Spanish scientific centres due to the wide teaching and researching activity in all the areas of expertise (basic sciences and engineering, health science, educational sciences, social sciences, economic and legal sciences).
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) is the leading company in platforms and productivity in the “mobile-first, cloud-first” word and its main aim is to help each person and each organization in the planet to do more in their everyday life.
Last update: 17 de february de 2017 08:00.
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