David Curtiales: “My daughter doesn't want to learn Excel in tech class” | Technology

In a T-shirt, with an unruly beard, with a very unconventional speech … Mobile World Congress, perhaps the exhibition with the largest number of executives in the world, does not seem like a place where someone does. Look for David Curtiels (Zaragosa, 1974) , but he was there. He is a professor at Mälmo University. A generation of youth. Now the company is attacking the world of conventional industry with a transgressive look.

listen Are you going to leave the kids?

Answer No, no, we're going to continue, but we want to link research with industry more clearly. We built Arduino for university students, but we realized that we had created a language that could be easily transferred to earlier stages of education, and that's what happened naturally. We originally wanted to create an engineering discourse in the world of design and art, but it worked well and expanded to other areas.

B. Aren't you afraid of losing your origin?

R. Obvious! But when you start a company you have to hire people and they have to pay mortgages. You have to make sacrifices because it's more important that the people you truly value can grow with you than it is for them to leave because they can't earn what they deserve. But I don't feel particularly bad about anything we've decided so far.

B. They have always been dedicated to open technology, which has not had much penetration in traditional enterprise.

R. One of the tricks of industrial technology is to always have a closed door to keep your customers captive. Our philosophy is to grab people with the possibility of taking one of our plates and changing it from top to bottom.

B. Does mainstream industry understand this?

R. There are customers who are starting to understand that. Yes.

B. He defends free technology because he defends another way of doing things, I understand.

R. Our philosophy is that you can use tools within the scope of your knowledge. When Apple created its first iPhone, it made a bet that an application could not be developed on a computer without a Mac and that it could not be developed outside of Apple's system, Xcode. I and others were interested in others Software, but Apple did everything it could to prevent that from happening. They wanted to control the whole experience.

B. With that look outsider, Are you comfortable with mobile and does the industry have a hostile view of you?

R. I know I don't think like half the people who work here, but I don't think I'm doing it wrong. We've got investment, so we've shown we can succeed.

B. Already have a generation native Arduino?

R. It's amazing. Now when we hire engineers we only want people who have studied Arduino; We couldn't do that when we started. We have been in the market for a long time to hire people who have learned from us.

When we hire engineers we only want people who have studied Arduino.

B. Was that the goal?

R. My only goal is that when my daughter comes to school and takes a technology class, she won't learn Word or Excel. Two years ago he came and taught Arduino to other kids. If the company closes tomorrow I will leave quietly. My goal was accomplished.

Regulation is essential. “Innovate with your head”

B. They hope to grow with the Internet of Things. Do you think this leap is entirely positive for society?

R. The department I work in is called Internet of Things and People. It can be a very useful thing when used properly, but what is missing in some areas is a critical view of the technology and who is using it appropriately. Europe is taking the best initiative in how to work with privacy-related technology to limit the ways in which technology is used. You have to do a complicated trick in your head to say how can I build a product that improves people's lives but doesn't steal people's data.

B. Many companies and entrepreneurs say there is too much regulation in Europe, which slows down innovation.

R. Regulation is essential and as an academic I must say, regulation helps make things safer, it makes innocent inventions more difficult. There are things to consider. Europe has developed a legal framework which is complex but safe for people. Discipline helps you get it right, the tricky part is learning everything you need to learn to get it right. You have to innovate with your head.

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