The Information and Communication Technologies Research Centre (CITIC) receives the Spanish National Computer Engineering Prize for its Inclusive Talents program  

Manuel F. González Penedo, Director of the Information and Communication Technologies Research Centre (CITIC); Fernando Suárez Lorenzo, President of the Galician Professional College of Computer Engineering (CPEIG); Mª Carmen Barreiro Santos, President of A Coruña’s Cerebral Palsy Association (ASPACE Coruña); Julio E. Abalde Alonso, Vice-Chancellor of the University of A Coruña (UDC) and Javier Pereira Loureiro, CITIC’s Assistant Director at the National Computer Engineering prize ceremony.

Inclusive Talents, the collaboration programme set up by the University of A Coruña’s Information and Communication Technologies Research Centre, a member of the CIGUS Network, and the cerebral palsy association Aspace Coruña, has received the National Computer Engineering Prize in the ‘Humanism and Social Commitment’ category, awarded by the General Council of Spanish Professional Computer Engineering Colleges (CCII).  

The Inclusive Talents initiative has a twofold objective: to raise awareness of the situation of people with cerebral palsy and to drive the vocation for science and technology among students. The aim is to encourage students to work hand-in-hand with Aspace in the search for innovative technological solutions that will improve the day-to-day lives of people with this condition. The ideas presented throughout the course of the project, currently in its third edition, include anti-collision systems for wheelchairs, adapted toys and 3D-printed tools such as painting nozzles.

The project is supported by the University of A Coruña’s Social Council, the Spanish Ministry of Innovation’s Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), the Galician autonomous government (Xunta de Galicia) and A Coruña City Council. This year’s edition of the project, which had previously been limited to the province of A Coruña, was extended to include the whole of Galicia, and included the participation of students from Ourense.  

The prize, which was awarded for the first time ever this year by the General Council of Spanish Professional Computer Engineering Colleges (CCII), recognises the crucial work in research and innovation  carried out by professionals, companies and institutions whose advances make a decisive contribution to  economic and social development and increase the value of the computer engineering sector.

One of the objectives of CITIC and all the other centres in the CIGUS Network is to transfer the results of their research to society,  promoting dissemination actions that encourage scientific vocations and guarantee the renewal of talent in their field of activity.