people time

To build this road We need to remember who we areWhere do we come from and what do we want to achieve? I am 57 years old. I was born in Madrid in 1963 and throughout my life I have seen my country achieve amazing goals. The last forty years of Spain’s life are, quite simply, the best in our history, now nearly a hundred years old. During these years We multiplied our per capita GDP fourteen times; we’ve got Increase our population from 36.7 to 47.4 million people; We have reached 82 years of life expectancy (third highest in the world); The infant mortality rate is 2.7 per thousand live births (one of the lowest rates); we’ve got 3rd best healthcare system; We have nearly tripled the number of cars and the number of passengers visiting our ports. And if you’ll allow me, youWe have one of the best digital communication networks in the world.

We are one of the most supportive countries, prominent leaders in organ donation and the undisputed reference in vaccination rates. Telefónica, the company that I have the honor to head, has gone in just a few decades from being a medium-sized national operator to a multinational with a presence in over twenty countries and over a hundred thousand people. What took the US 88 years and the UK 118 years, Spain did in just four decades.

Things just don’t happen. None of this was done by magic. The arrival of democracy in 1977 and the entry of Europe in 1985 changed our history. But there was something else. For the first time we started to use our full potential. The literacy rate rose from 91 to 99 percent and the number of college students increased ninefold. We’ve come this far because We understand that the future is built for everyone, without fear of moving forward, innovating to change for the better, preserving and expanding knowledge.

It is true that the emergence of a pandemic coincides with the greatest technological revolution. It is true that the era Artificial intelligence will change everything.

But it is equally true that we are well prepared. Our country graduated from the best forty years in its history. It is the first technological revolution that finds us at the fore. Europe has taken a step forward in its project of integration and Next generation EU money gives us a chance To prepare for the next fifty years.

The challenge remains enormous and it is up to us to imagine, design and build what we want to be, and build bridges there. with Confidence, Decision and Anticipation. It’s time for values, not just technology. It’s people’s time. People are the biggest challenge. We are the people and not the machines that have to decide where this new and accelerating digital world will turn in where there is no longer a representative room for protection, which presents the paradox of having to enter dynamically into a terrain full of opportunity and, at the same time, oTo preserve many things that cannot and should not be digitized: a hug, a perceptive look, a hand on a shoulder or a smile. It is the time of people in the age of algorithm.

It’s the perfect time for keep doing things together And remember that we must always dream of the impossible before we can achieve it.