What impact has had in technology the belonging of Spain to the EU?

To answer this question, we have asked our team colleague Mario, who has developed an app for the metropolitan bus here in Salamanca (of course, it is also in English  ). And this is what he told to us about the evolution of technology in the EU:

It is hard to imagine how our life could be if we would have not entered in the EU that January of 1986. The presence of Europe extends to all aspects of life, and of course technology doesn’t escape from it.

First of all, we wouldn’t have the great communication networks we have today. Europe tracks the digital access coverage of its countries, and it funds projects to make this access even greater. Without them, we could not have Internet in many rural zones of Spain, and of course the optical fiber would be an utopia. In addition, many companies, included some so big like “Los 40 Principales”, the leader musical radio station in Spain, receive money from Europe to work. This is especially important when launching a new idea, and many entrepreneurs have benefited of this important economic support.

Capture from los40.com site in 2013, when they showed this caption on their footer, pointing up that part of their financing came from European funds.

On the other hand, they also have looked into giant companies, like Google, Apple or Microsoft, to prevent them to abuse of us reporting their possible monopolies over the market. This has achieved to change some things, for example Internet Explorer (or Edge on newer versions) on Windows, won’t be the default option any more thanks to the pressure of Europe. And they have also asked Facebook and Google for more privacy settings, getting the “right to be forgotten” (the possibility to ask the search engines to delete information related with you if you want).

Furthermore, they are forcing manufacturers to create a single phone charger, in such a way that users are able to charge their phone regardless the producer company. And also their Institutions have decided to abolish the roaming expenses that the citizens have to pay if they use their data or voice services when traveling to other european countries as from the 2017.

Eventually, we have to remark the simplicity for developers, geek people who create the software we use, to do their job in our country in the same way they do in the rest of Europe, because of the Euro and the common rules for them on the apps stores. And here in Spain we have a great new technology company, BQ, which is making a growing gap on the Spanish and European market, creating a lot of great hardware products that maybe wouldn't exist if they wouldn't have the conveniences of being in the EU.

They are huge advances that we wouldn’t have if Spain wouldn’t have entered into the EU 30 years before, and we are very glad about it! ;)