The R&D Center main goal is to gather, within the context of a research center, several settled research groups from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), as well as any other individual researchers having common research interests. Their unification through this center strengthens not only the work of the individual groups, but will also allow to create the right synergies so that, globally, mutually benefiting from their respective capabilities, they could afford common challenges and projects to a greater extent and make a qualitative and quantitative step forward in the scientific, technological and social prospects of their work.

The common subject and link among the activities of the groups belonging to this center are new image technologies in the broadest sense, organized in the next 3 lines of research:

1. Mathematical Image Analysis
2. Graphic Information Systems
3. Medical Technologies

The center implies the creation of a core of researchers of reference at a regional, national and international level within the context of image technologies, in which the various groups have an extensive experience.

There is currently complete unanimity among social and economic agents over the fact that a knowledge and new technologies driven economy is of utmost importance in an increasingly competitive international economic environment. In particular, in this context, new information and communication technologies (ICT) play a very important role. In addition, in a society such as the Canarian one, due to its ultraperipheric region status, the development of ICT’s is even more important. From an economic point of view, the activities that the Center will carry out fall within this new economy of knowledge and ICT’s. Medical technologies are strongly linked to the current economic reality. Cooperation agreements and contracts that the center shall sign with companies and institutions in these sector will promote new industrial applications as well as new job opportunities.

From a social and cultural point of view, the Center activities have a significant impact on the application of new technologies on fields such as medical diagnosis support, satellite image analysis or terrain visualization.

The unification of these activities within the context of a center allows offering society and companies in general a wide range of services that the groups could not afford to offer on their own.

In addition, its creation implies a value-added differentiation and a boost on these previously stated activities. Through the creation of the center, a whole set of activities and services clearly arise that the university could supply society with, making them known to people in a differentiated manner that will hugely strengthen its contribution to society.