19 Feb Prof Calzada delivered an Invited Keynote at the Statutory/Chartered Parliament of Navarre on the Impact of Emerging (GenAI) and Decentralized (Blockchain) Techs for Citizenship, Society, and Industry in the Frame of LORAFNA Organic Law’s Renewal Process

Navarra, Reyno Foral, Territory in the Age of Algorithms: A Keynote at the Parliament of Navarra

On Friday, 21st February 2025, Prof Calzada had the honor of delivering a keynote at the Parliament of Navarra as part of the study committee for the revision of the LORAFNA (Ley Orgánica de Reintegración y Amejoramiento del Régimen Foral de Navarra). This session represents a crucial moment to discuss how emerging and decentralized technologies—such as Generative AI and Blockchain—are reshaping citizenship, society, and industry within Navarra’s foral framework.

📢 The session was livestreamed and accessible to the public, marking an important step in bringing together policymakers, researchers, and industry leaders to shape Navarra’s digital foral future.

Here the link to the official video of the Parliament of Navarre:

https://grabaciones.parlamentodenavarra.es/watch?id=Yjg2ZWE1YjgtNjA3Ny00ODRjLThhZWYtNDZiZWJhYWQ2NzYw&start=4345

From a Historic Foral Legacy to a Digital Sovereignty Future

The LORAFNA, established over four decades ago, has played a key role in solidifying Navarra’s self-government. However, in today’s algorithmic era, the legal and governance structures must evolve to address the challenges posed by automation, data sovereignty, and digital governance. AI localism is already a notion that has been developing worldwide by acknowledging a massive role that regions with a long trajectory in benefitting from data devolution could play.

With this in mind, my presentation, titled “Navarra, Reyno Foral, Territorio Algorítmico”, will outline a strategic vision for Navarra as a digitally self-governed and inclusive territory in line with the EU digital policy and regulations, highlighting the five key trends that will shape the region in the coming years:

5 Key Trends for Navarra’s Algorithmic Future

1️⃣ Data Sovereignty & Digital Self-Government

• Navarra must take control of its data, ensuring that critical information about healthcare, mobility, and education is not solely managed by Big Tech corporations.
• The region should explore recent initiatives like Euro-Stack overcoming drawbacks caused by Gaia-X in Europe to create a Foral Data Cloud.

2️⃣ AI in Public Governance: Transparent Algorithmic Systems

• The rise of AI-driven decision-making in public administration, healthcare, and education requires strict governance and ethical oversight.
• Navarra could follow Canada’s Responsible AI Framework, ensuring algorithmic transparency and fairness in automated decisions.

3️⃣ Workforce Digitalization & Labor Rights Protection

• AI and automation are reshaping employment, particularly in strategic industries like automotive, logistics, and agroindustry.
• The region should promote digital inclusion and data literacy programmes as well as AI-driven accelerators and native start-ups.

4️⃣ Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) & Blockchain for Territorial Cohesion

• Navarra must ensure that smart cities and rural areas benefit equally from technological progress.
• Investment in 5G rural networks and blockchain-based administrative services can foster digital equity across the territory.

5️⃣ Algorithmic Education & Digital Citizenship

• Future generations in Navarra need algorithmic literacy to navigate an increasingly AI-driven world.
• In addition, AI-driven advancements shows a increasing opportunity to create multilingüistic ecosystems where languages could organically coexist by benefitting from being a pluralistic society.
• Open-source AI has proven that societal challenges such as gender gap and wellbeing could be tackled with the right set of skills and data ecosystems.
• AI ethics and coding education should be integrated into school curricula, similar to Denmark’s digital education model.

Why This Matters for Navarra’s Future

This session was not just about technology—it was about ensuring that Navarra’s digital transformation aligns with democratic values, transparency, and regional sovereignty. The foral tradition has long safeguarded Navarra’s autonomy, and in the digital age, this autonomy must extend to data governance, AI regulation, and technological progress.

Global Insights for Navarra’s Digital Strategy

As part of my presentation, Prof Calzada also introduced international best practices, including:

• Euro-Stack Report – A roadmap for Europe’s technological sovereignty.
• India’s National AI Stack – A model for a state-managed digital infrastructure.
• Finland’s 5G Rural Program – Bridging the urban-rural digital divide.

This article was published in 2018 by the journal Regional Studies, Regional Science:

Calzada, I. (2018), Algorithmic Nations: Seeing Like a City-Regional and Techno-Political Conceptual Assemblage. Regional Studies, Regional Science 5(1): 267-289. DOI: 10.1080/21681376.2018.1507754.

Actually, this article was written inspired by the Benjamin Bratton concept of the stack, and regional studies contributions on assemblages. Euro-Stack report seems to have enhanced this scientific intuition. This article is valid for techno-political and city-regional realities in permanent construction as multi-layered configurations. Prof Calzada acknowledges preliminary conversations with Ramon Sangüesa on this topic back in 2016-2017.

#Navarra #AI #Blockchain #DigitalSovereignty #LORAFNA #ForalGovernance #AlgorithmicTerritory