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capabilities on the market, so we decided to patent it. Our commitment,
which we fulfilled, was to create an R&D team in Galileo and concentrate all
its activities during the first years on developing and getting the product on
the market. An initial success of the team was the development of digital algorithms capable of identifying olive trees in aerial photographs. These algorithms were later used by Galileo Engineering and Services S.A. to carry out
work for the European Union and the Spanish firm TRAGSA to identify
potential receivers of European grants for the exploitation of olive plantations. A new product for the automatic restitution of maps was created that
was eventually used by 40 operators working in two shifts. It had a turnover
of 600,000,000 pesetas (3,600,000 euros).
Then what happened? The members of board of directors of Galileo decided
to bring in lower-level people obsessed with quick profits. The newcomers
decided, in order to get direct funding, ‘while R&D projects were under
development’, to outsource to a company called Inforten Services the assembly and comercialization of personal computers imported from Taiwan,
Inforten Services being responsible for developing management software for
firms. This change of objectives gave other companies in the sector time to
leapfrog ahead and put equivalent products on the market. This change of
focus of Galileo, S.A., knelled the demise of our dreams.
The merger of Banco de Bilbao (BB) and Banco de Vizcaya (BV), giving
rise to BBV, and the later merger of Iberduero and Hidrola to create
IBERDROLA brought about changes in Galileo, which ended up as a small
company within the group, the IAC now being absent. In 1996 a purchase
agreement was negotiated, the new shareholders now being Control de
Gestión, Tracasa (Trabajos Catastrales, S. A.), and a group of Galileo directors
and technicians. In 2007 Galileo acquired 100 per cent of Tracasa’s shares; the
capital was now fully Canarian, and the company dedicated itself to the development and introduction of management systems for public administrations.
I am told that in 2016 the company was merged with the Maggioli Group, a
leader in consultancy in the public and municipal administration market in
Italy, with more than 1400 employees and a turnover of 120,000,000 euros.
What did we at the IAC learn from this experience? Frankly, that it was
better to ‘stick to what you know best’. To transfer technology, at least here, it
was not viable to create a new company; instead, transfer had to be done
either through already existing firms in the sectors that interested us, or by
creating projects or intermediate transfer entities jointly with them.
We never abandoned the idea of creating something useful for exploiting
the technological capabilities of the IAC, thus contributing to the creation of
a technological business base in the Canaries. In fact, it was part of our early
F. Sánchez
capabilities on the market, so we decided to patent it. Our commitment,
which we fulfilled, was to create an R&D team in Galileo and concentrate all
its activities during the first years on developing and getting the product on
the market. An initial success of the team was the development of digital algorithms capable of identifying olive trees in aerial photographs. These algorithms were later used by Galileo Engineering and Services S.A. to carry out
work for the European Union and the Spanish firm TRAGSA to identify
potential receivers of European grants for the exploitation of olive plantations. A new product for the automatic restitution of maps was created that
was eventually used by 40 operators working in two shifts. It had a turnover
of 600,000,000 pesetas (3,600,000 euros).
Then what happened? The members of board of directors of Galileo decided
to bring in lower-level people obsessed with quick profits. The newcomers
decided, in order to get direct funding, ‘while R&D projects were under
development’, to outsource to a company called Inforten Services the assembly and comercialization of personal computers imported from Taiwan,
Inforten Services being responsible for developing management software for
firms. This change of objectives gave other companies in the sector time to
leapfrog ahead and put equivalent products on the market. This change of
focus of Galileo, S.A., knelled the demise of our dreams.
The merger of Banco de Bilbao (BB) and Banco de Vizcaya (BV), giving
rise to BBV, and the later merger of Iberduero and Hidrola to create
IBERDROLA brought about changes in Galileo, which ended up as a small
company within the group, the IAC now being absent. In 1996 a purchase
agreement was negotiated, the new shareholders now being Control de
Gestión, Tracasa (Trabajos Catastrales, S. A.), and a group of Galileo directors
and technicians. In 2007 Galileo acquired 100 per cent of Tracasa’s shares; the
capital was now fully Canarian, and the company dedicated itself to the development and introduction of management systems for public administrations.
I am told that in 2016 the company was merged with the Maggioli Group, a
leader in consultancy in the public and municipal administration market in
Italy, with more than 1400 employees and a turnover of 120,000,000 euros.
What did we at the IAC learn from this experience? Frankly, that it was
better to ‘stick to what you know best’. To transfer technology, at least here, it
was not viable to create a new company; instead, transfer had to be done
either through already existing firms in the sectors that interested us, or by
creating projects or intermediate transfer entities jointly with them.
We never abandoned the idea of creating something useful for exploiting
the technological capabilities of the IAC, thus contributing to the creation of
a technological business base in the Canaries. In fact, it was part of our early
F. Sánchez