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Newsdesk THE Balearic Government and the Spanish Ministry for Education and Science (MEC) are to jointly create a Tourist Centre of Research and Development (Cidtur) during this term of office.

It will be dedicated to research and technology applied to the principal economic sector of the islands and is the star project of the Balearic Government, according to the head of the research and development department, Pere Antoni Oliver.

This is the most important initiative in the new Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation, which was developed by the Balearic Government. It will be a continuation of the one started by the Balearic Government of eight years ago, which was continued by the last Balearic Government led by Jaume Matas. During the last Balearic Government's term they started to prepare Cidtur, which “is now on the point of being started”, said Oliver.

The director general of Research, Technological Development and Innovation said that this will “reinforce the Balearic Islands tourist industry”, although two new elements are being incorporated, which are “destination and suppliers”, linked to the activity of the Balearic University (UIB).

In Oliver's opinion, the new plan will be a line of work “open to all fields”, regional, state and European, which “will try to coordinate all efforts to generate and capture knowledge, as well as discovering better technology to be introduced to the production process, in order to improve competitivity, economic returns and, especially, quality of life” he said.

At the same time as starting Cidtur, the Balearic Government is also proposing to start a “Marine technological platform” which will consist of a system of observation of sea life, and which will mainly study aspects such as climate change and the environmental impact on tourist activity, to try to reduce this.