D-Link has announced its participation for the second consecutive year in the "Digitalize Your Town" competition, created by the Higher Technical School of Telecommunications Engineers (ETSIT) of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM). The challenge is aimed at students in their fourth year of ESO (Compulsory Secondary Education) and first year of Bachillerato (Upper Secondary Education), who have designed engineering projects to contribute to the development and digitalization of rural Spain. University students studying telecommunications at various Spanish campuses participated as team mentors: in addition to the UPM, at the University of Zaragoza, the Polytechnic University of Valencia, the University of Valladolid, and the Polytechnic University of Cartagena. Their role was to guide and support the contestants in developing their proposals.
The project aims to enhance digital skills training for younger generations and promote STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) careers. It also seeks to raise awareness among all stakeholders about the problem of rural depopulation, highlighting rural areas as attractive environments for entrepreneurship and career development.
At the corporate level, this second edition of Digitaliza tu Pueblo has the participation of companies such as D-Link, Huawei and the Cellnex foundation, in addition to the involvement of the Aranda de Duero City Council and the support of Teleco Renta (Telecommunications studies promotion plan).
The topics covered by the submitted projects are very broad, and the quality and detail of the presentations are outstanding, with videos and various materials explaining the project's purpose and how it was implemented, both in terms of components and software. All the teams focused on proposing solutions to real-world problems in their towns or regions within the areas of transportation, health, agriculture, or livestock. There are also proposals related to tourism. The jury, made up of experts in the telecommunications sector, including representatives from D-Link, will select the three winners. In addition, another prize will be awarded to the team whose presentation video receives the most "likes" on the competition's Instagram and YouTube accounts.
Antonio Navarro, General Manager of D-Link Iberia, commented , “We are very grateful to the UPM and ETSIT for giving us the opportunity to continue contributing to the promotion of engineering applied to rural areas.” Navarro added, “At D-Link, we have the necessary technology to facilitate internet access in rural areas lacking broadband infrastructure, with various ranges of 4G/5G devices, as well as access points that enable long-distance radio links to extend coverage to villages or isolated areas from internet access nodes.”
