Málaga challenges its University Students with a Digital challenge: 4 will go to Madrid

UMA has held today in Málaga the local phase of University Digital Leaders 2026, a challenge that combines technology, leadership, and communication. The four top-ranked students will receive accreditation as University Digital Leaders and will represent the university in the national final in Madrid. The underlying question is no less important: can a city remain competitive without artificial intelligence?

UMA turns the Digital debate into a practical test

What has been tested in Málaga?

For undergraduate and master’s students at the University of Málaga, the day was not limited to answering theoretical questions about technology. The local phase proposed different challenges to check how they apply their knowledge when they must work with others, explain their ideas, and solve problems under a common challenge.

The initiative corresponds to the second edition of University Digital Leaders 2026, promoted by the Telefónica Chairs Network. Its approach brings together several skills that usually appear separately in university training: digital competencies, leadership, communication, and teamwork.

The Rayo Verde building was the venue for this event in Málaga. There, participants faced exercises related to digital development, programming, and the practical application of artificial intelligence tools, along with public communication dynamics and collaborative problem-solving.

• Digital development and programming to evaluate technical abilities.
• Practical application of artificial intelligence tools to address specific challenges.
• Public communication and leadership to measure how proposals are defended.
• Teamwork and problem-solving as part of the joint assessment.

A competition that measures more than just programming skills

The local reading of this initiative is clear: for a UMA student, mastering a tool is not enough if they cannot later explain what they have done, coordinate with their team, or defend a decision. The day put those skills in the same evaluation space. And that is the nuance.

The format also allows observing how technical skills relate to so-called soft skills, although in this case the label falls short. Communication, leadership, and collaboration do not appear as decorative add-ons but as part of the challenges proposed during the Málaga phase.

The organization itself has presented the call as a way to test university students’ competencies vis-à-vis the challenges of digital society. For the Málaga reader, the interest lies in that the university does not only participate as an institution: its students must demonstrate what they can do when technology ceases to be a subject and becomes a working tool.

The guiding question of the edition: a Smart City without AI

What debate have they raised for the University students?

This edition’s debate asks if a Smart City without artificial intelligence will remain competitive in the coming years. The question invites students to examine the impact of AI on the competitiveness of urban environments and serves as a focus to think about what role this technology will have in cities.

It is not just about talking about digital applications. The question forces linking artificial intelligence with a city’s capacity to respond to its challenges and maintain its competitive position. The approach also connects with a discussion that especially affects university and technological territories like Málaga.

The answer was not posed as an isolated opinion but as a starting point for the day’s challenges. The technical exercises and communication dynamics have taken that debate to a practical ground: programming, applying AI tools, explaining decisions, and working with other participants.

This approach adds value to the event because it prevents the debate from remaining a catchy phrase. The question about Smart Cities works as a framework; the tests are what make it possible to verify how students tackle a technological issue with urban, social, and competitive implications.

Why does this debate matter for Málaga?

It matters because the local phase is held at the University of Málaga and because its students are the ones who must turn a general question about smart cities into concrete proposals, arguments, and answers. The debate ceases to be abstract when worked on from a university located in a city with a strong technological presence.

The initiative also offers a snapshot of the profile sought: young people capable of combining digital knowledge and criteria to communicate it. It is not enough to use artificial intelligence; they must know how to integrate it into an answer, explain its usefulness, and collaborate in solving the problem posed.

From an editorial perspective, this intersection between technology and communication is the most interesting aspect of the day. Digital society does not only need specialists capable of developing tools. It also needs people who understand their effects, know how to work with other profiles, and can clearly explain what they are doing.

The question proposed by the organization thus has a dual function. It serves to discuss the future of cities and, at the same time, to observe how university students think and express themselves when facing an issue that still admits different answers. There is no magic button.

Four spots to represent UMA in Madrid

What will the top-ranked students receive?

The four best-ranked students in the local phase will obtain accreditation as University Digital Leaders and will represent UMA in the national final. This is the concrete result at stake for those who participated in the day held at the Rayo Verde building.

The accreditation recognizes the performance achieved in the local tests and opens the way to the next stage of the initiative. The fact is simple but marks a difference: not all participants will advance, only the four who achieve the best ranking.

For the University of Málaga, this selection concentrates the competitive value of the day. The institution does not go to Madrid with an open or symbolic representation but with four students chosen based on the technical, communicative, and collaborative challenges posed in the local phase.

When and where will the national final be?

The national final is scheduled in Madrid on October 29 and 30, alongside students from other participating universities. There, the four UMA representatives who obtain the best ranking in the Málaga phase will compete.

The schedule leaves little margin between the two stages. The local phase was held today, October 13, and the national event is set for October 29 and 30. That period concentrates the university’s focus on identifying its four representatives and preparing their participation in the national meeting.

The inauguration and technical session have counted on the UMA rector, Teodomiro López; Telefónica South regional deputy director, Cristina Lirio; and the director of the Telefónica Chair at the university, Nuria Rodríguez Ortega.

Also attending were UMA Vice-Rector for Transfer, Entrepreneurship and Business, Juan Carlos Rubio; Director of the Higher Technical School of Telecommunications Engineering, Rafael Godoy; Alejandro Chinchilla from the Telefónica Chairs Network; and Leopoldo Sánchez, head of Public Administration for Eastern Andalusia and Melilla.

The presence of these officials situates the day at the intersection of university, business, technological training, and public administration. But the result is decided in the tests: four students will obtain the national pass and carry UMA’s name to Madrid. That is where the next stage begins.

The local phase of University Digital Leaders 2026 has posed a concrete challenge to UMA: measuring how its students combine technology, leadership, communication, and teamwork. The debate on Smart Cities and artificial intelligence has served as a framework, while the tests have defined the ranking. Four representatives from Málaga will compete in Madrid on October 29 and 30.