In 2015, the Regional Government of Galicia (Xunta de Galicia) decided to take the lead in the use of public procurement to bring innovation. The goal of this decision was to find new creative solutions to transform the current technological changes into positive outputs, outcomes and impacts for the public sector and thus for society. The public demand for products and services (i.e. public procurement) can be used as a strategic tool to implement these new policies.
The Civil UAVs Initiative is a strategic initiative of the Regional Government of Galicia to improve public services using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned surface vehicles (USVs). The initiative is being implemented through pre-commercial public procurement and public procurement through innovative solutions. The Civil UAVs Initiative is led by the President of Xunta de Galicia and managed by the Galician Agency for Innovation (GAIN). This strategic initiative integrates 10 ministries of the regional government, the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and the Aerospace National Research Centre (INTA).
After the first successful experiences of public procurement of innovation in the health public sector, in 2015 the Xunta decided to explore the possible use of public procurement of innovation (PPI) as an instrument of a multidimensional initiative to digitise an important set of services provided by the public sector in different areas through the use of UAVs with two final objectives: (a) fostering a new industrial sector in the region to complement automotive and textile (aerospace sector) and (b) fostering the development of Lugo, the less developed rural area of Galicia. Three different entities act as contracting authorities in the CUI: GAIN itself, AMTEGA (the IT agency of the regional government) and INTA. Up to 31 March 2019 they had procured 12 PPI contracts for a value close to €164 million – €74 million of public investment.
The Civil UAVs Initiative is a political response to two important global public goals: economic growth and societal equality. The final objective of this intervention is to foster the creation of new high-quality jobs through the industrial and economic development of the rural areas, around Rozas Aerodrome , Lugo (an old infrastructure from the Second World War). The Civil UAVs Initiative has become an international benchmark in public investment in the unmanned vehicles segment, not only because of the investment already made, but also for the broad kind of programmes and activities covered under the initiative.
The main activities of the programme include:
- aerospace, scientific and industrial infrastructure development;
- common R&D programmes with top companies;
- public procurement of innovative solutions;
- incubation of new companies.
More than 280 products and solutions are being created to digitise public services or activities of the public sector in 20 different areas through, for example, artificial intelligence, robotics, new computing technologies, virtual and augmented realities, space technologies or 3D printing.
This allows the regional public sector to achieve:
- fewer risks for humans: for example, in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in fire combat, sea rescue or emergencies management;
- better performance: in the management of forest, agricultural and sea resources with new solutions that allow the public sector to obtain information and data that cannot be obtained without these new solutions;
- value for money: reducing the price of all the aerial operations of the public sector and significantly increasing the possibilities to repeat these operations and improve their results;
- automation and robotisation: transformation of manual activities into automated activities, such as land image classification and sample analysis of water quality;
- better services to citizens: such as medical transport (especially in rural areas), support systems for fishing, tourism management and promotion (tourist information).
The policies or areas which are being digitised (UAVs, AI and robotics) include:
- the heritage catalogue;
- linear infrastructure and infrastructure inspection;
- control of urban fraud;
- spatial planning;
- transport systems;
- emergency management;
- rescue and medical transport, e-Health;
- cartography and cadastre;
- agriculture and forest resources management;
- firefighting;
- tourism management and promotion;
- security and border control;
- illegal hunting and fishing.
The impact of the CUI in the area is contributing to national, regional and local economic growth, and social equality. This is thanks to the efforts of the three levels of government (national, regional and local) coordinated under a strategic initiative and implemented through creative policy tools. Public needs and demands are being used strategically to obtain results in different public policies while the public services and activities are modernised.