Dunnia Rodríguez, head of the Service of Employment of the Canary Islands: “Startups are linked to the diversification within the economic transformation that we are facing”

Dunnia Rodríguez is the head of the Service of Employment of the Canary Islands (SCE) since August 2019, and she received Impulsa Startups to talk about the regional policies linked to the digital transformation of the economy and the new business models included in the startup framework. Rodríguez knows the SCE well, since she had previously been assistant director of Training and assistant director of Promotion of Social Economy, and has three years of experience at the public Enterprise of Tax Collection of the Canary Islands PLC (Grecasa). For nine years she was the technician for the General Direction of Educative Infrastructure of the Government of the Canary Islands, which undoubtedly leads me to highlight throughout the interview the importance of training in employment policies.

Q. Up to what degree do you think that the regional employment services or the Service of Employment of the Canary Islands is going to bet on self-employment and on innovative entrepreneurship?

D.R. The change in paradigm is clear. The pandemic has accelerated digitalization in an exponential manner, and the public employment services need to adapt. There is no other way. It is true that last year, in 2021 and this year, years through which we have been developing various calls, the implementation of digital training, and also a linked ecological transformation are almost implicit in almost very active employment policy. Actually, for example, all the fundinf of the Mechanism of Recovery and Resilience [the key tool in NextGenerationEU] are aimed mainly at entrepreneurship, in many cases at rural entrepreneurship and at the entrepreneurship of women in the urban and rural áreas. Then, all of that training needs to be aimed at digital training and ecological transformation-a quota of at least 35% is mandatory-. Thus, it is not something we can think about. There is no other way.

We are creating a Centre of Orientation, Innovation and Entrepreneurship with funding coming from mechanisms of Recovery and Resilience. We have funding for three years, but it has vocation of permanence. The main headquarters will be located in Tenerife, in Ofra, right beside our central services, but it is going to provide services for the whole Autonomous Community. It is meant for orientation, innovation in orientation and innovation in entrepreneurship, and it will be the means to provide all types of services to all companies and entrepreneurs that wish to enjoy them, especially startups.

Q. In that sense, how is the SCE going to promote startups and innovative entrepreneurship in the upcoming years?

D.R. It is a path that we obviously need to keep on managing and promoting. The Spain Strategy Entrepreneur Nation itself establishes to fight gender, generational, socioeconomic and territorial gaps. Then, on that line it is clear that startups are linked to diversification within the economic transformation that we are facing. Therefore, from the point of view of the Service of Employment of the Canary Islands, what we are doing-in the calls that we are making-is prioritise all that diversifies economy.

For that purpose, we start on training. We’ve released an educational offer that was published in May in which all training aimed at energy, water, sciences, technology, IT, communications and the audiovisual is exponentially augmented. If we look at the previous educational offer and this one, they actually do not have much to do with each other, and this one aligns pretty well with the current situation. We find ourselves in a world of technification, which means we have to adapt the active employment policies to that technification.

In the Canary Islands we have a problema with unemployed people registered in the Service of Employment of the Canary Islands, and it is that 90% of them have no degree that qualifies them for the labour market, to have an occupation. In that sense, training and orientation is key. Thus, these policies that are allowed to us by means of extraordinary funding coming from Europe, the mechanism of cooperation and resilience or the REACT-EU funds are mainly aimed at all of those people who have low qualification, mainly low digital qualification, so that they can get qualified so they can access the market at different levels, and this needs to be progressive.

But it is a path that has no way back, which means that we have to digitalise in all ways and there is a wide-ranged offer right now at the Service of Employment of the Canary Islands. In all the policies that we have developed there are specific policies meant for vulnerable groups, which are always the most complicated ones for the purpose of digitalisation or ecological tranformation. In terms of active employment policy aimed at entrepreneurship, the one meant for digital entrepreneurship and entrepreneuship in ecological transformation and climate change fighting is more relevant.

Q. The digital nomads phenomenon-also in outlying islands-opens a great space of opportunities to a knowledge flow in digital transformation and emerging business models, which are scalable, digital and global. What do you think?

D.R. Yes, you are right. We have for this what we call integrated business services. We have collaboration agreements with the four Chambers of Commerce, with the two business confederations, with the two university foundations… So all of these agents that collaborate with the Service of Employment of the Canary Islands will help the business investment, the integration of enterprises, the realisation of market studies and will contribute to the new entrepreneur’s positioning within the market, with orientation and difusión from all the subsidies of the Service of Employment of the Canary Islands, and with companionship, which is fundamental.

In any case, in relation to startups, since 2019 the digital talent ecosystem in the Canary Islands has grown a lot and I believe that we have been the autonomous community that has grown the most in the country. And here comes a turning point that is essential: the tax incentives in the Special Zone of the Canary Islands (ZEC), which are key when it comes to attracting startups to the Islands. What is more, we have a very good connectivity, great infrastructures and spectacular weather, so there is a great quality in work and daily experience.

I said that the tax incentives of the ZEC are a turning point, and they have become more flexible, no longer asking for a minimum investment for startups. I think it is fundamental. Now you can establish a startup with six people in the capital islands, four in the outlying islands, and without an investment requirement, with which I think comes a very important aspecto to attract startups to the Canary Islands, to attract talent so that it will stay in the islands.

Q. What do you think about the Intergenerational Meeting Points mentioned in the Spain Entrepreneur Nation?

D.R. We were talking about the generational gap. People aged 65 are very young and have tremendous qualification and experience. Maybe we need to promote that part so that they can help, so that the senior talent can help the new generations.

Q. How does the SCE cover the challenge of Dual Professional Training (FP) and the Rooms of Entrepreneurship in FP?

D.R. We are leading in that aspecto because we have been doing dual training for several years. We have what we call Sandwich Training Projects, and they are certificates of professionalism, which are courses equivalent to the training cycles of the Regional Ministry of Education. They have room for recognition because the qualification system is unique and there is only one FP for emplyment. There is no longer an employment FP and an education FP, but they’re joined after the new law that was published this year. We have the advantage that we have funding from the Ministry of Work that allows us to hire the person as they are studying and the hiring lasts 11 months, so you end up having one or two qualifications, because these projects usually are based on two different qualifications, two certificates of professionalism that can be recognised by the educational system and for 11 months you are hired with a “training and learning contract”. Therefore, this type of project has been carried out for several years with success. In this moment, the project is carried out with local entities, local corporations, foundations, associations and nonprofit entities for the realisation of works of general interest, for example.

Then we have another type of practical example. We are refurbishing public housing in a project with the Regional Ministry of Public Works; the Institute of Housing of the Canary Islands; the Service of Employment of the Canary Islands, which provides the funding for training and hiring; and with the Labour Foundation of Construction, which is the one carrying out the project, because it is the one with certified facilities for training in this field. Then, by means of a public-private collaboration, we establish this dual training type of project. We have that advantage of our funds coming from the Ministry of Employment and we have been carrying out dual training for years.

Now we need to take a step further and aim at the private part. We started at the end of 2021 two pilot experiences, one in Tenerife and one in Gran Canaria, in Blue Economy. So there were people who received a training and who got hired in a private company, and we gave those companies an incentive for the hiring, so that having someone learn in their Enterprise was not as expensive. Those two pilot experiences, once they are evaluated, we want to scale them up. But in this matter it is true that the Service of Employment of the Canary Islands does have an advantage, because we have been working on this line for years.

Now we have projects with FP. We are going to place employment consultants in the Professional Training centres so that they can spread entrepreneurship in the centres. And we are going to launch this year, as a new thing, a specific project with the two universities in the islands so that they can also spread entrepreneurship in the nursery, primary and secondary schools.

It is the moment for profesional training. Since the implementation of dual training has no way back, it is just the moment to promote entrepreneurship and technification as much as it is needed. We are sure that the employments that we have today have nothing to do with what we will have in 10 years. That’s why we need to get ready, and we’re getting ready through professional training. The seed needs to be planted now, because, otherwise, the situation will abruptly arrive, just like the pandemic did, and we will need to rapidly adapt to the new systems.

 Translated by Andrea Expósito Santana