The Collado Villalba City Council will host the first edition of the Cybersecurity in Local Administration Conferences on Wednesday, September 2nd, named VillalbIA 2026. This national event will take place at the Peñalba Cultural Center from 1:30 PM to 6:00 PM. Attendance is free and open to all residents of Collado Villalba and the Sierra de Guadarrama interested in understanding the impact of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity on municipal public services.
Promoted by the Councilor for Digitalization and New Technologies, Miguel Aisa, the conference aims to become an annual meeting point for discussing digital transformation in Spanish municipalities. Aisa highlighted the concern over the rise in cyberattacks on city councils and how AI is changing threat profiles, stating that 'VillalbIA is our response: bringing the best to Collado Villalba to learn and commit together'.
The event addresses the growing concern among public managers regarding the significant increase in cyberattacks on local administrations. Many city councils lack the necessary technical and budgetary resources to confront sophisticated threats, amplified by the use of generative artificial intelligence. The mayor, Mariola Vargas, will preside over the opening and closing ceremonies, noting that 'artificial intelligence is already in our city councils, whether we like it or not. The question is not if it will arrive, but if we will know how to use it well and protect ourselves from those who use it against us'.
VillalbIA 2026 will be structured around four debate panels and the screening of a self-produced documentary on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. The program includes a panel on 'AI in city councils' with representatives from municipalities implementing digital transformation projects, a networking break with demonstrations, a technical panel discussing the real challenges of implementing AI with limited resources, another on the ecosystem of cybersecurity solutions for the public sector, the screening of the documentary 'Mythos — The AI that raised cybersecurity alarms', and a final panel on 'the future of AI in local administration'.
The conference will feature participation from political representatives and executives from Spanish city councils, local IT technicians, companies specializing in public sector cybersecurity, and coordination bodies for Spanish municipalism. Mayor Mariola Vargas will preside over the opening and closing events.
One of the highlights will be the screening of 'Mythos', a ten-minute documentary addressing a relevant 2026 case at the intersection of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, serving as a transition to the closing panel with municipal representatives.
