Me speaking at the CiberUGR Chair event.

As part of the Cybersecurity Course for Companies, organized by the CiberUGR Chair, I was invited to deliver a talk titled “Innovation and Security in Smart Urban Infrastructures.”

In this session, I shared insights from my work at Innovasur, where we design and operate secure AI-based systems for smart city platforms. My goal was to break down the intersection of cutting-edge urban innovation and cybersecurity, highlighting how both must evolve together.

🔐 Core topics I covered

• Why security is a foundational element in smart infrastructure—not just an add-on.
• How we design platforms with end-to-end protection, including IoT networks, AI-powered surveillance, and data aggregation systems.
• Real examples of threat mitigation and incident response in urban environments.
• Importance of complying with standards like ENS (Spanish National Security Scheme) and GDPR from the design phase.
• The growing role of AI in threat detection, and how we use ML models to monitor anomalies in real-time.

🧩 Lessons and reflections

Cities are becoming more connected, but also more exposed. Our responsibility as solution providers is to make sure that resilience and security grow hand-in-hand with technological innovation. That means:

• Building redundant, decentralized architectures.
• Training public administration teams to respond to digital incidents.
• Embedding security awareness at every level of the deployment.

This session gave me the opportunity to discuss how we’re securing the future of our cities—both through technology and policy-driven collaboration.

Presentation slide from my talk

This activity is part of the European Union-funded NextGenerationEU initiative, under Spain’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, promoting digital innovation and cybersecurity excellence in businesses.

📍 Location: Conference Room, CITIC-UGR
📅 Date: July 24, 2024 – 12:30h
🎤 Event: Innovation and Security in Smart Urban Infrastructures
🎯 Hosted by: University of Granada
🧠 Organized by: Cátedra de Ciberseguridad CiberUGR
🎥 Streaming available on YouTube: Link

📸 Image credits: ETSIIT - Universidad de Granada