Located in the former Casa del Estudiante (Student's Recreative Center), the Digital Citizen Innovation Laboratory was recently inaugurated in Las Tunas, which is one of the results of the Innovation Laboratories for the Digital Transformation of the Culture collaborative project (CoLab).

Las Tunas, Cuba.- Dayalé Torres Diéguez, vice president of the Union of Cuban Informatics (UIC) and coordinator of CoLab in the province, explains that it is an initiative "of the Union of Cuban Informatics co-financed by the European Union. Which aims to promote civic innovation and good practices to develop digital skills, according to the fourth industrial revolution through which humanity is passing and in tune with the process of digital transformation in which we are immersed as a society."

"It is carried out in five provinces of the country (Pinar del Río, Mayabeque, Cienfuegos, Camagüey, and Las Tunas), forming a network of an equal number of laboratories. Although the UIC has as one of its objectives that these methodologies that we are validating -because we are at the same time prototypes of a project of the European Union of citizen innovation-, be implemented in other territories."

The new institution has the dream of being an incubator of good endeavors in the virtual universe, attracting citizens and prototyping devices to IT solutions that respond directly to the needs of the population. To this end, several projects will be selected to be implemented there, in addition to actions that have inclusion at their core.

In an exhibition open to visitors, it is possible to appreciate some of the imported devices that are heading Colab's execution, among them, those aimed at working robotics stand out.

"This part is directly linked to the promotion of innovation, they are resources difficult to obtain for our country due to the restrictions we have, and thanks to this initiative today we have them in our territory."

Thus, we find a small piece that represents the entire composition of a computer, to which is attached a screen, a display with its keyboard, which can be programmed to function as a computer. Moreover, we see low-cost tools for the world, but they require a large sum of money for the Island, and they are free.

"This is one of the elements that the Cuban government is betting on in terms of promoting free software and these friendly technologies that are not so much at the service of the laws of the market, but that respond to the interests of the people and are accessible to all."

"Everything that can be seen here is for the work of children, adolescents, and young people from different educational centers because the specialists of the Young Computer and Electronics Clubs, Radiocuba's Automation engineers, plus other personnel, will be summoned to receive training and make the new generations fall in love to opt for systems careers."

"In doing so, a first-order mission is to eliminate the gender digital gap that exists in Cuba and the world. This a problem that according to the expert is given by the preponderance of men in the management of technologies, and the same thing happens when it comes to studying them. In her analysis, she stresses the importance of women's performance for the development of humanity, which is why "it is urgent to eliminate this enormous gap that could take up to 200 years to close if we do not act immediately."

Another of the goals is the creation of a process to recruit talent in high school to take them to Colab and teach them how to manage each team. It will be an effective way to include girls and take away their fear of touching any of these devices.

The lab will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., will be linked to the cafeteria of one of the city's new economic players, and that part of the service will use the Gastronomía2.0 application, which facilitates ordering and reservations.

A group of students from the University of Las Tunas collaborates with the promising entity, among its many actions; they will support the surveys that will serve as feedback to learn about the interests and urgencies of the people.

"In this way, we want to achieve bottom-up innovation, to know what they need, but that it is said by the people themselves so that we do not have to imagine solutions that may never be taken to any field of action", Torres Diéguez illustrates.

Colab is also interested in working on terminology such as cybercitizenship. They are also interested in making known the new computer crimes included in the renewed Penal Code, the ways to protect the data of minors and how they should handle technologies according to the Family Code … and a host of other duties that speak of a marked willingness to get closer to the Cuban reality and its people, who are no longer so detached from the digital scenario.