Gibraltar and La Linea team up with WISeKey for cross-border technology research centre

Gibraltar & El Campo
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20th September 2021

Gibraltar and La Linea have signed agreements with technology company WISeKey International Holding to develop a cross-border research and development centre to spearhead innovation in the region.

WISeKey, a global company active in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence [AI], blockchain and the Internet of Things [IoT], said the initiative aimed to develop “a joint 4th Industrial Revolution Center of Excellence” and tap opportunities on both sides of the border.

The company confirmed the initiative in a statement on Monday but had already flagged it up with a prominent visual advert, featuring images of Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and La Linea Mayor Juan Franco, on screens outside the NASDAQ technology stock exchange in New York on Friday.

WISeKey, which is listed on the NASDAQ and the Swiss stock exchange, is led by the Swiss-based La Linea-born businessman Carlos Moreira, who tweeted footage of the advert.

@WISeKey is delighted to join forces with @FabianPicardo Chief Minister #Gibraltar and Juan Franco Mayor @Ayto_LaLinea for the development of a joint 4th Industrial Revolution #4IR Center of Excellence #LLG 4IR Center of Excellence) spearheading innovation in the region #NASDAQ pic.twitter.com/X2KxCt8crP

— Carlos Creus Moreira (@CreusMoreira) September 17, 2021

The company has already signed Memorandums of Understanding with the Gibraltar Government and La Linea’s town council for the project, which is still in its fledgling stages but aims to be up and running by the end of the year.

The timing of the announcement comes at a critical time for Gibraltar and La Linea, with the UK and the EU hoping to commence discussions in the coming weeks for a UK/EU treaty on the Rock’s future relations with the bloc.

The UK, Gibraltar and Spain have stated that their hope is to establish a new immigration and, potentially, customs framework that will facilitate the creation of a cross-border “area of shared prosperity”.

The business model of the joint La Linea/Gibraltar 4th Industrial Revolution Center of Excellence [LLG 4IR Center of Excellence] is to assist innovative start-ups in areas such as AI, blockchain, IoT, satellite technology, drones, cybersecurity and quantum computing to perform collective research and development activities.

The centre will seek to promote their technologies internationally, facilitate the rapid adaptation of 4IR-based solutions, foster stronger collaboration between the public, private and academic sectors and cooperate to ensure that the latest technological standards are made available in a safe and trusted manner.

The LLG 4IR Center of Excellence will connect securely with the WISeKey Geneva Center of Excellence and will coordinate with other centres and blockchain ecosystems around the world, allowing all partners to fully benefit from shared experiences and resources.

Each Center of Excellence is expected to develop a particular expertise that can be shared among all centres.

The La Linea/Gibraltar centre will start operations with the launch of WISeSAT Fossa Systems satellites at the end of 2021 with an earth station located in La Linea.

The objective of this pilot project is to enable the joint centre to become a hub for IoT cybersecurity satellite deployment and communication under plans being advanced by WISeKey and Fossa Systems, a company involved in reinventing the design and manufacturing of satellites.

“We are delighted to join forces with Gibraltar and La Línea governmental authorities,” Mr Moreira said.

“Currently, WISeKey is working with several government and leading global companies to establish centres of excellence in selected regions around the world for the creation of a number of interconnected Centers of Excellence and has entered into strategic agreements with a series of disruptive companies working with 4IR technologies.”

“As we can witness with the development of the Malaga Valley, where I was personally involved with the planning and development and have been serving as Vice President since 2015, this part of the world has a unique appeal due to its geolocation.”

In announcing the project, WISeKey said the “4th Industrial Revolution” was changing the dynamics of the technology and value creation chain, cross-border collaboration and the way companies integrate their research and technology to create value for their customers.

New business and cooperation models emerge through integrating business partners and clients, it said.

“We are excited about the potential of the LLG 4IR Center of Excellence which is expected to play a key role in accelerating the digital transformation across Gibraltar, be pivotal in enabling a paradigm shift for our operations through more digital technologies, while unlocking new business and operating models,” Mr Picardo said.

La Linea’s Mr Franco added: “The LLG 4IR Center of Excellence will play a pivotal role in uplifting the technical skills of the regional workforce and bringing advanced technology capabilities to realize the digital transformation of the region.”

“The LLG 4IR Center of Excellence will also benefit from WISeKey’s operational performance to enable greater efficiencies and significant cost savings and help further strengthen their global leadership in 4iE technologies.”

WISeKey has 1.5 billion of its microchips installed in virtually all IoT sectors including connected cars, smart cities, drones, agricultural sensors, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, servers, computers, mobile phones and crypto tokens, among other.

The company says it is “uniquely positioned” to be at the edge of IoT.

Its semiconductors produce a huge amount of “big data” which, when analysed with artificial intelligence, can help industrial applications to predict the failure of their equipment before it happens.

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:triangular_flag_on_post: I see a Red Flag with this move.

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The 4th Industrial Revolution was brought to us by Klaus Schwab:

And relates to all the 5G initiatives – 5G for the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Look who is its Founder - Carlos Creus Moreira:

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Carlos served before founding WISeKey as United Nations Expert on CyberSecurity and Trust Models. He served during 17 years as UN Expert for many leading organizations of the United Nations System including ILO, UN, UNCTAD, ITC/WTO, World Bank, UNDP, ESCAP (83-99).

This "Joint 4th Industrial Revolution Center of Excellence" looks to be a spearheading the surveillance Super State of the Technocrats, of which there should be no doubt on which side the Government of Gibraltar sides.

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27th September 2021

A collaborative initiative to create a technological knowledge centre straddling both sides of the border could act as a catalyst to establish this region as a hub for what the World Economic Forum has termed the 4th Industrial Revolution.

The initiative, launched last week, seeks to bring together companies working in different areas of cutting-edge technology ranging from artificial intelligence to quantum computing, Internet of Things and cybersecurity to grow and develop faster by pooling knowledge and resources.

To the layman, the concept is hard to fathom and littered with complex jargon and buzzwords.

But to Carlos Moreira, the Geneva-based chief executive of WISeKey, the attraction of creating a 4th Industrial Revolution Centre of Excellence – as the initiative is somewhat cumbersomely described – with one foot in La Linea and another in Gibraltar, is clear and straightforward.

WISeKey’s idea is to bring together companies operating in different areas of the 4th Industrial Revolution and the technology that goes with it, to share their knowledge and resources with other members of the centre.

"Think of it as an aircraft carrier where people land, refuel their planes, and fly again," he said.

"Every company doesn't have to build a huge infrastructure in order to accelerate their research."

"In the same way you plug into the grid for electricity, you plug into the Centre of Excellence and you get everything you need.”

The nature and speed of the changes unfolding in the technological world mean that even competitors will be able to work together as "friendly enemies".

"Everybody needs to cooperate these days," Mr Moreira said.

"Nobody can do it alone anymore. This is very complex.”

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

The choice of location is no accident.

For one, Mr Moreira was born in La Linea – his father used to work at the Rock Hotel in Gibraltar – and knows the area well.

But there are other reasons too.

"It's unique in the world," he told the Chronicle.

"You have Gibraltar with [its expertise in] blockchain, artificial intelligence, e-gaming. There's a huge intellectual capital in Gibraltar that could be easily converge into this 4th Industrial Revolution hub."

"And then you have La Linea in Spain, which has availability space which could be used to integrate this kind of dual centre."

"The idea is to start virtually, but as soon as you are start building processes and developing technologies, you will start to have multinationals who would like to join."

Mr Moreira said this was a private sector initiative led by WISeKey, which has signed two MoUs, one with Gibraltar, the other with La Linea.

This is not a “bricks and mortar”, at least in its early stages, but rather a knowledge-based enterprise that taps into new ways of working in the cloud. In time though, the initiative and its pooled resources will act as a magnet for companies operating in these sectors.

Neither is it a new concept. Similar 4th Industrial Revolution Centres of Excellence already exist in many other places including Switzerland, Silicon Valley, India and Singapore, some of them with WISeKey’s involvement.

In setting the centre up in this region, WiseKey will draw on its Swiss experience, which shares many similar aspects to what is envisaged here.

"There's a lot of learning from the Swiss model and how we manage to create synergies with Europe that can be used now in Gibraltar," Mr Moreira said.

"We are basically a Swiss company initiating a collaborative joint centre which Gibraltar companies may wish, or not, to be part of."

Ironically perhaps, the centre will benefit from having one foot on either side of the border, both inside and outside the EU.

"The idea of mixing both creates a unique offering...and will blend the best capabilities in Gibraltar [which is a pioneer in sectors such as gaming, blockchain and non-fungible tokens] with the best capabilities in Europe, because La Linea is the plug toward European innovation," he said.

"That will create an offering that is unique in the world."

The development of the Centre of Excellence is not contingent on the successful outcome of talks for a UK/EU treaty, and Mr Moreira stressed it was a “depoliticised” initiative.

But with the governments of the UK, Spain and Gibraltar all publicly committed to agreeing a framework that will create what they describe as “an area of shared prosperity”, the opportunities that may open up through technological collaboration that transcends borders will be lost on no one.

“Combining a distressed area like La Linea with an economic powerhouse like Gibraltar that needs expansion and needs interactions with Europe is obviously a very powerful model that will fly, especially now with the 4th Industrial Revolution requirements where you can do a lot of things with less space than before,” he said.

Mr Moreira’s enthusiasm for the project and its possibilities is contagious.

And he makes no effort to hide that his background means he brings a different type of engagement too.

"When I come into Madrid and I talk to authorities, I say 'shame on you to have a part of Spain in that situation, you should have solved the problem already'," he said, reflecting on how La Linea has been largely ignored by successive Spanish governments.

"You cannot punish La Linea because of geopolitical issues, that doesn't make any sense."

"You have to protect 70,000 people who have a 40% unemployment rate and are being portrayed by Netflix like the Cali of Europe [a reference to a Netflix documentary about drug smuggling in La Linea]."

"That's pretty sad and it's bad for everybody and it's bad for Spain, because its reputation is engaged with this."

"Our approach is pragmatic. Let's give an opportunity to these people."

4th INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

The 4th Industrial Revolution is a concept launched in launched in 2016 in Davos by the World Economic Forum, of which WiseKey is a member.

Mr Moreira founded Geneva-based WISeKey in 1999 after working for the United Nations as a cybersecurity and technology expert for many years.

The company is listed on the Swiss stock exchange and on the NASDAQ tech exchange in New York.

WISeKey has for years been investing in companies active in the 4th Industrial Revolution, in areas such as microchips, artificial intelligence, blockchain and quantum computing.

It is about the development of disruptive technology that impacts all areas of modern life and is transforming the way we live.

It underpins too the "metaverse", a new tech buzzword that denotes a communal cyberspace where virtual and augmented reality are applied to the physical space in order to interconnect people, objects ranging from speakers to cars and satellites, and services of all types.

"We are moving away from 'bricks and mortar' types of projects...to develop technologies that are creating a huge amount of new value, but on the metaverse, virtually," Mr Moreira said.

"The intersection of this knowledge, once you combine them, they create more value."

"When you combine blockchain, data and artificial intelligence, for instance, you create digital disruption, you create automation."

"And this is the new generation of companies."

Now, the object is to promote such collaboration in the geographically strategic Strait of Gibraltar region, specifically in La Linea and Gibraltar.

In the 4th Industrial Revolution, "...you are basically disrupting the model by bringing technologies that have the disruptive capability power," he said.

"The first was the industrial revolution, moving from the agricultural to engines, then into machinery, then to the internet and now the conversions of technology are creating an amazing parallax shift."

"WISeKey is one of the companies that encapsulates this 4th Industrial Revolution."

Space NFT will be world first

While WISeKey’s 4th Industrial Revolution Centre of Excellence is still in its early stages, it already has one tangible project under way.

The company has invested in a collaboration with FOSSA Systems, a Spanish company founded by another man from La Linea, Julian Fernandez, and which has developed a miniature satellite.

This strategic investment will allow WISeKey to integrate FOSSA Systems into its Internet of Things framework.

Julian Fernandez, CEO of FOSSA Systems said: “We are pleased to be collaborating with WISeKey to initiate the development of a constellation of low-cost IoT satellites allowing all sort of IoT secure communications, a segment of satellite communications that has a huge growth potential.”

WISeKey and Fossa are currently installing a satellite earth station in La Linea with an antennae atop a municipal building in that city.

In December, WiseKey will launch the world’s first NFT created in space and a satellite will send a crypto key into the antennae in La Line.

"This will be a world first, it's never been done before," Mr Moreira said.

"From the satellite, you send an encrypted key and you create a non-fungible token to something very big that will be announced by the end of the year."

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Did You Know that WiSeKey launched a digital certification platform in March?

WISeKey Launches Digital Vaccination Certificates Platform VaccineTrusts.com, to be Used as a Proof of Evidence for Those Who Have Received Coronavirus Vaccine

The VaccineTrusts integrates Digital Vaccination Certificates (DVC) issued by different third trusted parties and is to be used as a proof of evidence for those who have received the coronavirus vaccines. WISeKey will be announcing in the near future countries joining its VaccineTrusts platform. Vaccine passports, also known as vaccine certificates, have been recently and important vaccine verification solution as countries worldwide roll out their mass vaccination programs. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called for a “global standard to securely record digital proof of vaccination.”

WISeKey has been already selected by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as its technology partner to secure the ONE Record test platform.

VaccineTrusts platform gets reinforced by the ONE Record platform and becomes a priority in many tourist destinations to reopen tourisms, as the vaccine certificate will be embedded into the travel authorization apps issued by these destinations. Digital Vaccine Certificates (DVC) will facilitate the reopening of businesses and help societies return to normal operating practices, but complexities on the different standards used to issue vaccination certificates make it very difficult for users to be able to prove that they have received the vaccine.

More at link.

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La Línea now has a Wisekey satellite control and management station

This is the starting point of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Centre of Excellence agreed with Fossa Systems, a company owned by Julián Fernández from La Línea.

Fossa Systems, Spain's leading aerospace company focused on the development of picosatellites for IoT communications, and WISeKey International Holding Ltd, a Swiss cybersecurity, AI and IoT company, and La Línea de la Concepción Town Council have today completed the installation of the first Ground Station that will serve for the control and direction of satellites.

This installation concludes the first phase of the agreement signed earlier this year between the city council and WISekey for the creation of a centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in La Línea de la Concepción with an extension to Gibraltar.

It is located on the roof of the main Town Hall building and is the starting point of the new Fourth Industrial Revolution Centre of Excellence, becoming the connection point for the deployment, control and communication of IoT satellites, and the WISeSAT constellation.

The station is the basis of a large network of control centres that will be deployed with the launch of this first constellation, specialising in the control of high-performance pico and nanosatellites, according to Julián Fernández, CEO of Fossa Systems.

On a technical level, the Autonomous Ground Station has a displacement rotor that allows it to obtain a higher performance in communications and a high control over the deployed satellites. In addition, its two different frequency bands will allow high-speed communications with constellations of all kinds.

The mayor of the city, Juan Franco, who this morning held a meeting with Julián Fernández and technicians from his company, in which the deputy mayor, Juan Macías, also participated, declared himself very satisfied with the installation of this station, as it represents a very important step for the technological advancement of the municipality by one of the most internationally recognised companies in the sector, which will place La Línea de la Concepción at the forefront of satellite communications.

The location of this station is a first step "to turn the city into the Centre of Excellence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution", which will allow the control of satellites sent into space during 2022 and 2023, with next year being a reference period for this project.

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The Empire is building The Death Star
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The Empire is building the Death Star – Aka Technocratic Totalitarianism

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The first satellite constellation to be controlled from La Línea were launched this afternoon from Cape Canaveral, FL, USA.

Este jueves se lanza la primera constelación de satélites que se controlará desde La Línea

WISeKey International Holding Ltd., a cybersecurity company directed by Carlos Creus Moreira, a native of La Línea de la Concepción, announced a few days ago that tomorrow, Thursday 13 January, the WISeSat satellite will be launched, which will enable the first NFT (non-fungible token) to be generated from space.

This project, together with the City Council of La Línea de la Concepción and Gibraltar, is being developed in collaboration with Fossa Systems, a company focused on the development of picosatellites for IoT (Internet of Things) communications, headed by Julián Fernández, also from La Línea, and forms part of the actions of the LLG4ir.com Centre of Excellence.

This centre has completed the first phase with the installation of a satellite control station on the roof of the Town Hall building itself, the base for the management of the satellites, which will take a new step tomorrow.

As they explain, "through the WISeSat constellation, WISeKey will enable the direct connection of satellites to IoT devices for NFT authentication, completing the connection cycle from space to device through a secure telecommunication medium. The space-based NFT ecosystem ensures personal and secure authentication capabilities through the global WISeSat constellation developed in collaboration with Fossa Systems".

The mayor of La Línea de la Concepción, Juan Franco, highlighted "the importance of this first step in the implementation of a technology centre for the fourth industrial revolution in the municipality", specialising in industries such as blockchain, satellites or AI (artificial intelligence) in collaboration with leading companies.

In the mayor's opinion, this launch "continues to reflect the commitment of the companies Wisekey and Fossa Systems to technological development in La Línea de la Concepción."

The La Línea councillor hopes "that it will end up becoming the future of our city and a way to create jobs and wealth, which is ultimately what we all want".

The launch is scheduled for 4.30 p.m. tomorrow, 13 January, via SpaceX's Rideshare 3 transporter aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.

The launch can be viewed on the Mayor of La Línea, Juan Franco's Facebook page.

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La Línea now plans to attract more satellite-related companies.

This project, together with the City Council of La Línea de la Concepción and Gibraltar, is being developed in collaboration with Fossa Systems, a company focused on the development of small satellites for IoT (internet of things) communications, headed by Julián Fernández, also from La Línea, and forms part of the actions of the LLG4ir.com Centre of Excellence.

In an interview on Canal Sur Radio, picked up by Europa Press, the mayor pointed out that, in addition to the proximity of Gibraltar, with specific regulations, La Línea has "the competitive advantage that it is still within the EU and can generate an ecosystem that ends up transforming this area of Andalusian territory".

For his part, Carlos Creus explained that this is Spain's first entry into satellite peaks, which are small satellites used for the traceability of objects such as cars, containers in the sea, agriculture or any use of products connected to the Internet.

"The antenna that captures the message from the satellites has been installed in La Línea. It is a constellation of satellites that goes around the world several times every day and we have launched the first phase, a total of 88 satellites", Creus pointed out.

He explained that "this is then used by customers who are going to use the traceability of products that are on the ground, such as an agricultural sensor to detect if there is ice on the crop. That information is then analysed by algorithms that give it predictability.

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Carlos Moreira: The La Linea-born businessman with a plan for a cross-border tech hub

La Línea-born Carlos Moreira is the founder of the cybersecurity firm WiseKey and its wise.art subsidiary.
WiseKey is in partnership with FOSSA Systems, which itself is engaged in launching a constellation of 88 orbital satellites.
So far, 13 have been launched and plans are afoot to begin assembling them within the city of La Linea.
To this end, the partners are looking for viable sites for their facilities.
According to Mr Moreira, his company is in talks with a Gibraltarian firm with an eye to storing the data collected by these satellites in high-security storage in the Rock’s tunnels.
He hopes that both communities overcome Brexit’s stumbling blocks and that the virtual ecosystem his company is creating in the area becomes a physical reality within the next five years.
He spoke to Maria Jesus Corrales about his plans.

Q: How is your Fourth Industrial Revolution project for La Línea and Gibraltar developing?
A: This project has two phases. One that is digital, virtual, creating value within the Metaverse, and the other is physical, positioning technology and resources in La Línea, with a facet in Gibraltar.
This dual model is reflected in the memorandums [of understanding] which we signed with [Chief Minister Fabian] Picardo and the mayor of La Línea, Juan Franco.
Up to now, a lot of time, effort and money has been spent on the development of FOSSA.
When I arrived, it was just a concept.
We invested in [FOSSA], we gave them the necessary resources to finish their satellite, installed WiseKey microprocessors in the satellite to provide security and launched 13, which are in orbit and are beginning to find daily use.
We are now talking to agricultural businesses which can use [the satellites’] data.

Q: What’s the next step?
A: The objective is to launch 88 satellites.
With not many companies having satellites in orbit, and that becoming a strategic issue, these firms have increased in value and FOSSA’s valuation has redoubled.
FOSSA is now valued at 100m euros and is backed by an industrial partner; the objective is to make it grow.
Furthermore, an ecosystem is being created around it and the next step is to produce those satellites in La Línea, having an assembly plant.
We are looking at the available industrial sites.

Q: And in Gibraltar?
A: In Gibraltar, I have held talks with the company, Continent8, and we are discussing the possibility of creating a shared facility.
These satellites produce a lot of data which has to be stored in high-security locations and, instead of building the storage facilities, which would be very expensive, they already exist [in Gibraltar].
We have agreed that once the satellites begin to be assembled in La Línea and we continue launching them, the data received by the antenna in La Línea will be copied and stored in the bunker in Gibraltar.
This step will be a concrete example of the synergies we visualised from the beginning.
There are things that can be done in La Línea, and things in Gibraltar that cannot be done in La Línea,
such as the bunkers and the use of blockchain.

Q: How is WiseKey developing blockchain?
A: We have entered into partnership with various blockchain companies in Gibraltar, we cooperated with Cryptoverse Island, which is working on NFTs, and we have firms offering courses in cybersecurity, educating the youth of La Línea and Gibraltar.
The ecosystem, the enthusiasm and the infrastructures are being created for a skilled workforce in the region and the creation of new synergies.

Q: How long before we see the assembly plant in La Línea and the data-processing centre in Gibraltar?
A: The assembly plant in La Línea is contingent on having the proper permits and the purchase of the industrial sites, which already exist and have been used by other ventures.
The virtual project, the creation of the Metaverse, integrating the businesses, the databanks… something like 12-18 months and the physical project will take longer because it involves workspaces, permits.
But I have always said that five years would see everything working and things would develop from there.

Q: You have important plans for the area, are you worried about Brexit?
A: I think that, in the Metaverse, there is no Brexit, nor barriers or borders.
It is a virtual marketplace under the Metaverse’s rules, there is no Brexit there.
But expanding La Línea and Gibraltar’s economic sphere is vital for the future.
It is a dynamic very similar to the one which exists between Geneva and France.
The Swiss have increased the economic power of that border zone over 30 years.
Here it is the same. I think that Gibraltar has to help La Línea, because you cannot have the future world-leader in global finance next to a city that Netflix calls the world’s hub for narcotics.
I think that the will to take negotiations forward is there.
Now, when La Línea can develop a detailed plan where its land can be used to create these industries, it must streamline itself to be attractive to investors.

Q: What does Carlos Moreira look for in an investment prospect?
A: All things have an order and synergy between them.
Before a project produces results, you have to gather similar minds, positive thinkers, to support the enterprise. [You have to] find the right-minded people to add to your project.
I want to leave something concrete in La Línea, something that has never been done before and, coming from that city, it would be an honour to leave behind something valuable and that adds value to [the city’s] future.
I have done this in other places, such as Trust Valley in Switzerland, which now boasts 200 firms in less than three years.
That is what I want to do in La Línea and Gibraltar, create the ecosystem to attract research, 4th Industrial Revolution tracking, data storage.
These centres already exist in Singapore and Colombia and will attract investors.
We have to be competitive, but that mindset must be instilled in La Línea and the area as a foundation for the future.

Q: The area has a serious skills shortage that needs solving.
A: That is where Julián [Fernández] comes in, because he is a beacon for other 20-year-olds.In Gibraltar, I was talking to various young super-advanced cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and they all told me the same thing.
“If we had a hub here, we would have our businesses here.”
That is what needs to be boosted, so that youth don’t have to go to Madrid to form a business and succeed, so that they can do so locally.
The advantage of dynamic digital centres is the ability to reduce complexity of getting a result.

Q: The gaming giant, MGM Resorts, has announced that it will run casinos in the Metaverse. Is WiseKey looking at the gaming sector?
A: Gaming is the fastest entry point into the Metaverse, companies that want a footprint in the Metaverse will do so via gaming.
That is one of the greatest possibilities for Gibraltar, because there are so many gaming companies sited there.
It is easier to enter the Metaverse through an iGaming ecosystem than it is to move people from the analogue world to the virtual.
We can position ourselves to vouch for the people who enter those platforms, those who have a verifiable ID.

Q: Why are you so interested in the NFT art market?
A: It is one of the aspects of the 4th Industrial Revolution that is evolving fastest because, thanks to the Metaverse, we can see all the artistic heritage that is locked away in museums, galleries and private collections.
For that, you need to ‘mint’ an NFT, a digital certificate that translates the physical object into the Metaverse and whoever buys the NFT becomes the proprietor of the digital version.

Q: A guarantee.
A: Yes, because you can only make one [NFT] of an artwork.
Furthermore, NFT buyers tend to have cryptocurrency holdings and use those ‘coins’ to buy the NFT, which adds the NFT’s value to their accounts.
It’s a huge market which is slowly growing.
But the important thing, for us, is having security systems within the technology so that nobody can copy it, and our technology allows for very detailed investigations into an NFT’s provenance.
We made an NFT, with the Casa de Alba, of Columbus’s chart of the newly-discovered America.
We made an NFT with the physical map and are promoting it in Madrid.
It is being sold in the auction houses and will be rented to museums.

Q: So, it is a new form of cultural diffusion.
A: A lot of our heritage is in the hands of private collectors, locked away.
I was in the Vatican and they have so many artworks which could be shared and turned into a type of refinancing.
That is the tendency for museums, which can refinance their historic collections and share them with the general public.

Q: There is a bubble in NFTs in the art world, I understand that these digital works need the highest security.
A: That’s certain, that is why there are developments to mirror the procedures in cybersecurity firms.
It is the same verification process as opening a bank account; you have to provide information about your funds and their provenance.
That is essential, but not everybody wants to do it that way, because there are two philosophies.
One is the American, the “Mass-market creation first, solve the problems later” approach.
Our model, on the other hand, is closer to the Swiss.
Produce less, but concentrate on high-end product and only with certification as to the individual, the artwork, the artist and the provenance of the funds.
This ‘onboarding’ process is slower and more costly, but we are doing it to prove that our technology solves that issue.
We are not an NFT company, we do cybersecurity, but this application [of our technology] allows for all the elements of an NFT company to come together.
But if wise.art keeps growing as it is doing now, it will have to branch off into its own separate identity because it is a viral company and its expansion could not be nurtured within WiseKey.

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Anyone seeing Skynet or the Deathstar being built?

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WISeKey Selected by Gibraldrone to Enable Its Drones with WISeSAT Satellite Communications and Leverage Best Practices on Security

WISeKey, in collaboration with Gibraldrone, is set to introduce its secure technologies for drones, leveraging VaultIC Secure elements and enabling with WISeSAT Satellite connectivity for all their ecosystems of connected devices.

Geneva/Malaga/Campo de Gibraltar – September 29, 2022** – WISeKey
International Holding (“WISeKey”, SIX: WIHN, NASDAQ: WKEY), a leading security Certificate Authority and provider of identity solutions, today announced at the Smart Agrifood Summit held in Málaga, Spain its partnership with Gibraldrone, a Spanish Drone & Technology company.

This collaboration will foster WISeKey’s business opportunities with Gibraldrone by combining proven expertise in IoT and Cybersecurity and providing comprehensive and efficient solutions by assuring the end-to-end security of drone flights data services and connections between sensors, drones, and secure communications.

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WISeKey to Extend its Footprint to Gibraltar to Provide Trust Services, in Collaboration with Continent 8 Technologies

The project is part of the La Linea Gibraltar 4th Industrial Revolution Center of Excellence“ LLG4IR.COM” and will serve to deliver different cyber-security services from Gibraltar to the region.

Gibraltar (UK), Geneva (Switzerland) – October 24, 2022– WISeKey International Holding (“WISeKey”, SIX: WIHN, NASDAQ: WKEY), a leading cybersecurity IoT and AI company,** today announced the signing of an agreement with Continent 8 Technologies (Continent 8), a global managed hosting, connectivity and security company, to deploy a local node of the WISeKey platform, capable of delivering Trusted Managed Services for digital identity, IoT and NFT-related projects.

In September 2021, WISeKey announced the signing of two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with Mr. Fabian Picardo, Chief Minister of Gibraltar and the Mayor of La Línea de la Concepción, Mr. Juan Franco, for the development of a joint 4th Industrial Revolution Center of Excellence (LLG 4IR Center of Excellence) spearheading innovation in the region.

This new announcement confirms the commitment of WISeKey with the project and a solid advance towards the achievement of the goals to establish a node of the WISeKey platform in the Campo de Gibraltar rgion. The 4th Industrial Revolution changes the dynamics of the technology and value creation chain, cross-border collaboration and the way companies integrate their research and technology to create value for their customers. New business and cooperation models emerge through integrating business partners and clients. The business model of the joint LLG 4IR Center of Excellence is to assist innovative start-ups in areas such as AI, Blockchain, Cloud, IoT, Satellite, IoT, Drones, Cybersecurity and Quantum to perform collective R&D activities, promote their technologies internationally, facilitate the rapid adaptation and on-boarding of 4IR-based solutions, foster stronger collaboration between the public, private and academic sectors and cooperate to ensure that the latest technological standards are made available in a safe and trusted manner. The LLG 4IR Center of Excellence node in Gibraltar is securely with the WISeKey Geneva Center of Excellence and will coordinate with other 4IR centers around the world, allowing all partners to fully benefit from shared experiences and resources. Each Center of Excellence has developed particular expertise that can be shared among all centers.

With this localized node, the platform delivered by WISeKey will facilitate access to Digital Identity leveraging the use of PKI and the OISTE Root of Trust. Based in Switzerland, WISeKey can ensure the independency of its trust services, allowing its customers to issue digital identities that are recognized worldwide. Companies and citizens will also benefit of the unique benefits of the jurisdiction of Gibraltar, particularly open to exploit new technologies such as blockchain, cryptocurrencies and NFT.

The Gibraltar Node will be connected with the WISeSat Antena installation, carried out on the roof of the La Línea de la Concepción City Hall building, that lays the foundations for the new LLG 4IR Center of Excellence, to become the connection point for the deployment, control, and communication of IoT satellites, such as the constellation WISeSat developed by WISeKey. WISeSat is a dedicated and secure IoT connectivity solution anywhere on Earth that uses picosatellites and low-power sensors, among other satellite deployments from FOSSA Systems.

Continent 8 is a global provider of managed hosting, connectivity, cloud and cybersecurity services. Its cybersecurity offering include DDoS, WAAP, EDR & MDR and SIEM & SOC solutions. The company has a private connected network spanning almost 90 locations across four continents. Connecting Gibraltar to the rest of the world, Continent 8 has established itself as the leading infrastructure provider in Gibraltar, with the most secure and well-equipped hosting site in the jurisdiction, located deep inside the Rock.

The company will be a key partner in WISeKey’s initiative, reducing notably the time needed to this new node of the WISeKey platform, which, by its own nature, requires state-of-the-art technical infrastructures, protected under the highest standards of physical and logical security countermeasures.

“This new move demonstrates our commitment with the project and the signatories of the memoranda to build this center of excellence. We are happy to have Continent 8 as key partner in this initiative,” said Carlos Moreira, Founder and CEO of WISeKey.

“We have been providing world-leading managed hosting, connectivity and cybersecurity services to businesses operating in and from Gibraltar since 2011. We are delighted to be working with WISeKey as they develop their Trusted Managed Services offering in new regions, as well as their exciting plans surrounding the development of a 4th Industrial Revolution Center of Excellence. As a company that is passionate about a local focus while providing global reach, I am confident that we are a great fit for WISeKey’s ambitious future,” said David Black, Managing Director EMEA of Continent 8 Technologies.

The deployment project has already started, with the expectation to be in full production in Q1 2023.

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WISeKey and The Port Authority of Algeciras Join Forces in Pioneering Digital Transformation Project

WISeKey, a leader in cybersecurity, digital identity, and Internet of Things (IoT), has signed an agreement with the Port of Algeciras, integrating it into the Digital Transformation Consortium of the container and port logistics sector. This step follows the success of the agreement with DP World in Dubai, extending the influence of the WISeSmartContainers Consortium to Algeciras, initially launched in Dubai.

WISeSmartContainers represents a revolutionary technological platform in the transport and logistics industry, enabling complete traceability of container movements and thus facilitating logistics in ports. With the recent integration of the city of La Línea de la Concepción and the Free Zone of Cádiz (ZFC), the Consortium strengthens its capacity to integrate local and global economy participants into a glocal model. This fosters an environment of a technological innovation laboratory, allowing the development and testing of new technologies in the province of Cádiz and its ports.