Iveda enters European market with Iveda Spain

MESA, Ariz. — Iveda on Feb. 10 announced its entry into the European market with the launch of Iveda Spain, a move the company says is backed by clear and growing demand for its video surveillance and smart city technologies. 

In a recent interview, Founder and CEO David Ly described why Europe – particularly Spain – represents the right next step for the company and how Iveda is positioning itself to meet the region’s technical, regulatory and economic challenges. He discussed the timing of the new hub, early market signals from integrators, and the unique pressures driving municipalities to adopt AI-driven tools. 

SSN: Why was now the right time for Iveda to establish its first European hub in Madrid, and what market signals gave you confidence to expand into the EU? 

David Ly: Expanding into the EU and opening operations in Spain wasn’t a sudden “wake up and make a plan” moment, to be very transparent. What makes the timing right now is that it’s driven by market demand. 

Two years ago, we began receiving outreach through our reseller channel from a large European systems integrator. It was one of those professional inquiries about AI video and AI vision implementation, the market landscape, and what end users were seeing at trade shows. The questions became very practical: “We have a customer with this specific problem. We believe your technology may be a solution. Can you tell us more? Can you spend time with us?” 

So, to answer your question in a long-winded way: now is the right time because we were called to do so. We saw immediate traction and real opportunities.  

SSN: I want to dig into that a bit more. With European cities accelerating smart city investments, what specific challenges are driving demand for AI-powered solutions in that region? 

David Ly: It comes down to cost. I don’t think it’s cost – I know it’s cost. 

When you work with municipalities, whether in the United States, Europe, or Asia, there’s already a lot of existing infrastructure. That infrastructure could include cameras deployed two, five or even seven years ago. They’re still functional. There are already sensors, access control systems, gates and automation in place. 

The challenge is that municipalities want to extract more value from what they already have. The market believes, and rightly so, that AI can leverage existing infrastructure and make it more valuable, if implemented properly. 

Today, you don’t necessarily need to rip and replace systems. Vendors and contractors can now augment existing deployments with artificial intelligence. That’s what’s driving demand.  

SSN: Europe has some of the world’s strictest data protection and surveillance regulations. How is Iveda adapting its AI and cloud strategy to meet those compliance requirements? 

David Ly: I actually laugh a bit at this question, because here in the U.S., we’ve been certified by the Department of Homeland Security as an anti-terrorism technology provider since 2009. 

Because of the government work we’ve done, we’ve long operated under strict privacy and data protection standards. The way we protect customer data, especially government data, has already required high-level compliance measures. So, when discussions arise about GDPR compliance in Europe and privacy protections in public spaces, we’re very well prepared. 

One of the advantages of Iveda AI is that we built compliance and privacy measures directly into the platform. When operating in a country with specific legal requirements we can configure the system accordingly, activating the necessary compliance settings within the platform.