ARQUIMEA Research Center, featured in Cadena Ser’s Hoy x Hoy Tenerife program

April 23rd, 2024, San Cristóbal de La Laguna.

Last April 18th, the broadcast of the SER channel Hoy x Hoy Tenerife took place from our research center. During the two hours of the program, the audience was able to know in detail the research that we carry out from the Center of Excellence, listen to the main researchers of each orbital and know in depth the impact that this type of innovation projects have on the island.

The program also featured the Innovation Councilor of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Juan José Martinez and the manager of the Science and Technology Park of Tenerife, Olga Martín, who together with Rubén Criado, general director of ARQUIMEA Research Center, talked about the productive model of the island and the importance of offering economic alternatives such as research. “The most important thing about ARQUIMEA is to create technologies that are differential worldwide and to accelerate them so that they are useful for society and that this is done very quickly”, assured Rubén Criado and emphasized that “when we analyzed where to locate ourselves, we saw many places and we saw that the Canary Islands were taking seriously to be an innovative ecosystem. With the same funds as a company, here you can do more things. There is also an important ecosystem with the two universities, the IAC, ITER and Plocan”.

The program emphasized the different research orbitals of ARQUIMEA Research Center, interviewing its principal investigators:

“Drug discovery is a long, complex, and expensive process. We develop neural network algorithms for machines to help us speed up certain stages that are very long, and that we can reduce to minutes,” said Orlando Avila, principal researcher of the Artificial Intelligence orbital.

Borja Jerez, head of the quantum orbital, explained that: “The energy consumption of the hardware on which ChatGPT runs is equivalent to the energy consumption of the entire city of Toledo in one day. Thanks to photonic technology, we could considerably reduce this consumption. At ARQUIMEA Research Center we have a project for the acceleration of these neuronal processes using light chips.”

Sara Vidal, head of the Biotechnology orbital, explained one of the research lines of her area: “We work with extremophilic bacteria, which are bacteria that grow in extreme environments, for example, the volcano of La Palma. These bacteria produce molecules that offer a wide range of possibilities. We can isolate antitumor or antibiotic bacteria and use them for soil bioremediation or to make industrial processes that are currently highly polluting, sustainable.”

Finally, Manuel García-Sañudo, CEO of ARQUIMEA reflected that: “We are always late for the future because the future is being invented right now. We must be aware that everything depends on us. The environment generates a circumstance for you, but the initiative, the assessment, and the decisive bet on a path has its fruits.”

The complete program is available at the following link from minute 13:24 onwards.

“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.”