Aragon promotes DAT Alierta, a technological space with an investment of 100 million

Countdown to the launch of the César Alierta Aragonese Technology District (DAT), the DGA’s major commitment to position the region as a benchmark in the sector. An area that will cover a total of 79 hectares on the Río Ebro Campus in Zaragoza and will integrate the facilities of the University, the research centres and where 49 hectares of new buildings and spaces will be planned. To this end, the Government of Aragon is going to invest 100 million and according to the deadlines being handled, the first works will begin in September 2026 and it would be fully ready by 2030 .

The already announced Zaragoza Technology Park was presented this Monday at an event in the Sala de la Corona of the Pignatelli Building, where the President of the Government of Aragon, Jorge Azcón, has guaranteed that the objective of this technological space is to “take advantage of the ecosystem” brought by the 40,000 million investment announced in 2024, where data centers stand out, and to ensure that technology is “a fundamental driver” of the development of the community, achieving “being pioneers in Spain and Europe”.

Given the deadlines, the drafting of the Master Plan will be completed in February of this year and the first projects will be put out to tender in March . At the end of 2025, the Declaration of General Interest of the Autonomous Community (DIGA) will be approved and the drafting of the Project of General Interest of Aragon (PIGA) will begin. The first works on some buildings will begin in September 2026, while the approval of the PIGA will arrive in December of that year.

In May 2027, the urbanization and construction of the headquarters and the buildings included in the PIGA will begin, and in the second half of 2028, the works on the first buildings will be completed. In the first six months of 2029, the works included in the PIGA will be completed, and the remaining works will be carried out throughout the year. Thus, according to the schedule, the Alierta DAT would be ready by 2030.

A TOTAL OF 158,000 HECTARES FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF COMPANIES

The company IDOM has been responsible for carrying out the design and presenting the progress included in the Master Plan, which has been developed over the last eight months. The surface area will cover a total of 79 hectares, of which 30 (40% of the total) are already built and correspond to the facilities of the University of Zaragoza, research centres such as the ITA, the CSIC and the Institute of Carbochemistry (ICB) and the CEEI Aragón. Another 49 hectares will be added to these , where the new buildings and facilities will be planned .

158,000 square metres of mixed-use land will be allocated to the installation of companies , with plots that will be adapted to meet demand, as highlighted by Eduardo Aragüés, project director of IDOM, and Tono Fernández, director of Large-Scale Projects. In the survey carried out for the design, they estimated the number of companies that are already interested at between “five and ten” and highlighted a “very flexible” possibility of implementation, from buildings that the Government of Aragon will build for rent, to the transfer of plots for 75 years or their direct purchase. “Everything depends on demand and strategy,” said Aragüés.

In addition, a central building will be built that will act as headquarters with an auditorium for 500 people, a catering area, training rooms, offices , multipurpose classrooms, a nursery and a gym. On the other hand, five dynamic buildings will be built on 7,750 m2, which will have different uses such as housing a student residence , rental housing in coliving format, a hotel or more offices and will have vertical parking at height. At IDOM they are still “working and studying” with the DGA to specify the locations that will be in each building.

All of this will be accompanied by a sustainable plan. The Juslibol irrigation canal will cross the entire DAT and will act as a green heart , accompanied by a linear park as a space for coexistence. In addition, the intention is to integrate the Alierta DAT into the city, taking advantage of the “good connection” provided by public transport (tram and bus lines) and the adjacent roads (A-2, AP-68, N-320, Z-40, Z-30 and A-23) and also to compensate the existing buildings with the new ones to create a common project.

This would create a space for technology with 40,000 m2 of teaching and university research space, 26,351 m2 of institutional research, 158,000 m2 of mixed-use space for the installation of companies and 7,750 m2 for mixed corporate use (the dynamic buildings). A synergy that combines public-private collaboration between the administration, the University and the technology companies, a “key” factor, as Azcón has pointed out, that will “double the action”.

COMPLEMENTARY TO WALQA AND TECHNOPARK

This new park complements the work of Walqa in Huesca and Technopark in Alcañiz, which will form the Aragonese Technology District (DAT) . The Government of Aragon is committed to ensuring that large business investments, innovation and the creation of specialised employment radiate to the three provinces , so that Teruel, Huesca and Zaragoza contribute to the same ecosystem and benefit from it in the same way.

The one in the Aragonese capital is named after César Alierta, the businessman from Zaragoza who was one of the great protagonists of the Spanish economy at the beginning of the century as president of Telefónica. “This name anticipates the characteristics of this new enclave, a space that, like César, will stand out for being innovative, with the capacity for understanding and technological transformation,” said the Aragonese president.