- The CEO of EDUCA EDTECH Group participated in El Mirador de Andalucía, He spoke about his arrival at the group, the development of proprietary artificial intelligence tools such as PHIA and EducaLLM, and the role of Andalusia in attracting and retaining technological talent.
EDUCA EDTECH Group has played a leading role in El Mirador de Andalucía, the current affairs programme of Canal Sur Radio directed by Natalia Barnés, with the participation of its new CEO, Santiago Ruiz de Velasco. During the interview, Barnés referred to the group as a “Granada's giant in education”, an expression that framed a conversation centred around the educational innovationthe artificial intelligence and the Andalusian talent.
You can listen to the full interview at El Mirador de Andalucía on Canal Sur Radio below:
Ruiz de Velasco explained what led him to join EDUCA EDTECH Group, highlighting the human, technological and international nature of the project:
“What attracted me is that I saw a company totally committed to education and with a huge desire to transform and help at this time, which is extremely changing in terms of new technologies and new ways of learning and teaching,” he said during the interview.
The CEO added that his arrival to the group also responds to the opportunity to contribute his experience in a “Spanish, Andalusian and international” company, at a time when online education is undergoing a profound transformation marked by the technologythe personalisation of learning and the new needs of the labour market.
Grenada as a starting point for innovation
One of the focal points of the conversation was the role of Granada and Andalusia as areas capable of generating innovation, attracting talent and developing technological projects with international scope.
“Ideas have less and less localisation, it is based on following talent. Granada is one of the cradles of universities and knowledge. There is no more appropriate place to continue revolutionising and being innovative,” said Ruiz de Velasco.
In this sense, he argued that innovation should no longer be understood as a reality exclusive to large capitals.
“The tendency we always have towards big cities and thinking that all innovation has to go to these two big centres is a bit outdated,” he said.
This vision connects with the evolution of EDUCA EDTECH Group, which has consolidated its headquarters and one of its main areas of technological development applied to online education in Granada.
PHIA, an AI designed to learn
The interview also touched on the development of proprietary artificial intelligence tools, among them PHIA, EDUCA EDTECH Group's digital mentor, designed to accompany students in their training process.
Asked about the difference between PHIA and other generalist models such as ChatGPT or Gemini, Ruiz de Velasco stressed that its value lies precisely in its educational specialisation.
“PHIA works with specific information. It does not work with information that is not focused on improving learning, pedagogy or instruction for students,” he explained.
The CEO insisted that the aim of this tool is not to replace the intellectual effort of the learner, but to accompany him or her in a useful and contextualised way. “We don't want it to be a ChatGPT or a Gemini, we want it to be an assistant, a help,” he said.
In the interview he also highlighted a key idea for the development of educational technology: the critical thinking. For Ruiz de Velasco, the real challenge is not only to incorporate artificial intelligence into learning, but to do so in a responsible way, measuring its impact and adjusting its use to improve the real experience of the learner.
EducaLLLM and the technology born from Granada
Another point raised was EducaLLLM, the proprietary language model developed by EDUCA EDTECH Group. Ruiz de Velasco explained that this project was born from the technological vision of the group and the drive of a team working from Granada to bring new solutions to the education sector.
During his speech, he also referred to Aurica's role as a strategic partner in the development of this vision. According to him, Aurica acts as a catalyst for driving ideas, attracting intellectual capital and finding the right partners to further advance educational innovation.
“The ideas generated by the Grenada team are the ones that think about where we can contribute and improve the education we offer to our students,” he said.
Retaining talent is also about creating opportunities
The conversation closed with a reflection on the EdTech talent in Andalusia and the role of companies, institutions and public administrations in generating professional opportunities without forcing people to leave.
“We work hard to give a vision that in order to succeed and progress you don't have to leave. We try to attract talent and make sure that talent stays,” Ruiz de Velasco emphasised.
The CEO also acknowledged the work done in Andalusia in recent years and encouraged the administrations to continue in this direction: “In my experience in international companies, I see that people look to Andalusia to come to work and look for innovation”.
You can listen to the complete programme of El Mirador de Andalucía in the following link link.
With his intervention on Canal Sur Radio, Santiago Ruiz de Velasco reinforces one of the main lines of positioning of EDUCA EDTECH GroupThe project aims to demonstrate that online education, artificial intelligence and talent can advance from Andalusia with an international vocation, without losing sight of the purpose that underpins the whole project: to improve the way in which people learn, specialise and access new opportunities.
