José María Cecilia, President of Sensing Tools: "Our technology converts dispersed data into useful intelligence for companies and administrations, thanks to the support of CDTI Innovation"

Every day, companies and administrations generate huge volumes of information from very diverse sources. However, much of that data remains scattered and wasted when it comes to managing resources and planning actions. To bring years of research in artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things to market, Sensing Tools was born in 2023, a spin-off of the Universitat Politècnica de València. Its technology turns that scattered information into useful knowledge to facilitate decision-making.

"Sensing Tools was born to solve a very specific problem that our potential customers experience on a daily basis: tourist destinations, natural spaces, municipalities, administrations and companies with great public exposure make critical decisions with fragmented data, reports that arrive late and indicators that do not reflect what people really think and feel," explains José María Cecilia, president of the company.

SENSING TOOLS 2.0: AI to understand the environment

After consolidating its first solutions, the company faces a new stage with the development of the SENSING TOOLS 2.0 platform, funded by the NEOTEC program of the CDTI Innovation. This tool, based on artificial intelligence, transforms scattered information into useful knowledge to anticipate risks, detect opportunities and support decision-making in areas such as tourism, urban management, the environment or security.

Members of the Sensing Tools team

The project integrates data from IoT sensors, social networks, digital media, open sources and other information bases to provide a complete and updated view of each situation and facilitate a more agile and informed response.

To achieve this, the system combines AI technologies, natural language processing and generative models capable of automatically analyzing millions of records, detecting patterns of behavior and presenting information through dashboards, automatic reports or alert systems. “The important thing is what the customer receives: answers, not raw data. What is going on, where, what worries people and what signals deserve immediate attention, served in clear visualizations, alerts and executive reports ready to use on a day-to-day basis,” explains the president of the company.

Anticipate before you react

The true value of the platform lies not only in analyzing information, but in helping to act before a problem occurs. Thanks to continuous data analysis, the tool can identify behavioral changes, detect emerging incidents or alert you to situations that require early intervention.

This approach is particularly useful in sectors where rapid decision-making is crucial, such as tourism management, urban planning, environmental protection or emergency response, reducing the time professionals spend on manual data analysis.

"The main goal is for our customers to stop reacting and start anticipating: every problem detected in time is saved money, protected reputation and better service for citizens and visitors," summarizes José María Cecilia.

Interpret to decide

The development of this type of platforms poses important technological challenges. The first is to interpret human language correctly, taking into account aspects such as irony, context or cultural differences. Added to this is the need to adapt artificial intelligence models to each sector to offer really useful analysis and not generic results.

Another big challenge is to transform huge volumes of information into applicable knowledge, while ensuring the reliability of the results. In addition, the company works so that the entire process complies from its design with criteria of privacy, transparency and human control, especially relevant to public administrations and large organizations. “An organization doesn’t need to read thousands of messages, it needs to know what’s going on, why, where the problem is concentrated, and what signals deserve attention,” he says.

Real cases to improve the management of the territories

The technology developed by Sensing Tools has already begun to be applied in real projects. The most recent example is Oliva Sensing, an initiative promoted together with the City of Oliva to improve the management of the tourist destination through the analysis of the digital conversation in social networks, review platforms, specialized media and other sources. "It is the best proof that what we offer responds to a real need that the administrations are already betting on," says José María Cecilia.

Based on this data, the platform identifies trends, detects incidents and helps to act before small problems can affect the visitors’ experience. Thus, municipal officials can know which resources generate the most interest, how the perception of the destination evolves or which aspects require rapid intervention to protect their reputation.

 Interface of the Oliva Sensing platform

This same approach also applies to environmental management and intelligent natural spaces. Combining data from sensors with information provided by citizens, the platform offers a more complete view of each situation to facilitate decision-making. It also incorporates indicators on mobility, cleanliness, noise or coexistence and generates early alerts that complement the traditional channels of citizen participation. "The citizen wins because his perception comes before the person who decides, and the administration wins because it acts with evidence and not based on improvisation," he adds.

The impulse of the CDTI Innovation

Transforming research into a commercial product requires significant investments, especially in the early stages of a technology company. In this context, the support of CDTI Innovation, through the NEOTEC program, has allowed the Valencian company to accelerate the development of its platform and strengthen its R&D capabilities. "For a deep tech company like Sensing Tools, the support of the CDTI means much more than funding: it is an external validation that the technological challenge we address has ambition, difficulty and potential impact," says José María Cecilia.

This support has been especially important for a university spin-off that faces the challenge of transforming scientific knowledge into solutions with real application in the market. In addition, he highlights that "in terms of business, NEOTEC means reaching the market sooner and better", since the support of the CDTI strengthens the confidence of public administrations, customers and investors in a solution developed from the scientific field.

Innovating to anticipate the future

The next evolution of artificial intelligence will not be about generating more data, but about helping to interpret it and turn it into an increasingly effective tool to manage complex environments. “Smart devices are going to go from measuring to understanding. For years, sensorization has focused on physical variables, but data alone has become a commodity, and what the market demands is to understand what they mean for people and for the business," says José María Cecilia.

With this vision, Sensing Tools aspires to consolidate itself as a layer of social intelligence capable of integrating into smart cities, tourist destinations, critical infrastructures or environmental management platforms. Its objective is to help companies and administrations transform large volumes of information into recommendations, early alerts and decision support tools. “We do not want to replace human decision, but to elevate it; to automate the complex reading of the environment so that people decide better, faster and with more responsibility,” he concludes.

CDTI Innovation

The Center for Technological Development and Innovation, CDTI E.P.E. It is the innovation agency of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, whose objective is the promotion of technological innovation in the business environment. The mission of the CDTI is to ensure that the Spanish business fabric generates and transforms scientific and technical knowledge into globally competitive, sustainable and inclusive growth. In 2025, within the framework of the Strategic Plan 2024-2027, the CDTI provided 2,423 million euros of support to Spanish companies and startups.

 
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