Madrid will host on November 10 and 11 the First National Congress of Entrepreneurship and Disability, an event organized by the ONCE Foundation, the Spanish Committee of Representatives of Disabled People (CERMI), and the Association of Entrepreneurship and Disability (ASEMDIS) in order to let people know about this type of entrepreneur and to establish a connection between them and potential investors.

The meeting will serve as a framework of presentation for the White Paper of the Entrepreneur with Disability, which aims to approach the reality of disabled people who pick self-employment and to offer them useful help to promote and manage their businesses.

From this perspective, the congress seeks to identify the main challenges, barriers and needs that the disabled entrepreneurs to later suggest and develop useful support programmes for them. Additionally, the congress is expected to shed light on data and statistics of this segment of entrepreneurs, as well as on the legal frame and the positive action-oriented policies that protect them.

There will be time to know the most relevant academic research that approaches entrepreneurship with disability, thus creating a meeting point that favours the business cooperation among entrepreneurs with disabilities, as well as with potential investors and other agents of the entrepreneur ecosystem.

Taking all of this into account, the congress is aimed at businessmen, entrepreneurs and people with disabilities interested in starting a business; professionals of entities that support citizens with disabilities in their work journey, as well as employment technicians; coaches, consultants, investors and other professionals that join the entrepreneur through all their way, and entrepreneurs with no disability who seek to form alliances.

Profitable and positive

Just like the representatives of the three entities that promote this congress stated after the signing of an agreement to encourage entrepreneurship among the people with disabilities, to grant visibility of the entrepreneur talent of these citizens is a need, and it has already been proven to be economically and socially profitable and positive.

In this sense, José Luis Martínez Donoso, general director of the ONCE Foundation, claimed that this entity has already helped over 1,900 people with disabilities interested in starting a business, and that he has checked that their work and perseverance makes their results better than those of the entrepreneurs without disabilities. He assures that 85% of the businesses started by people with disabilities are maintained long-term, while only 60% of those with no disabilities do. Moreover, 40% of the entrepreneurs that count with the ONCE Foundation’s support have created jobs, he concluded, which proves that investing on this employment branch is profitable and positive.

On the other hand, Luis Cayo Pérez Bueno, president of the Spanish Committee of Representatives of Disabled People (CERMI), spoke about the importance to work with the ONCE Foundation and ASEMDIS in the promotion of entrepreneurship among the disabled: “Contributing with operators of this relevance to promote entrepreneurship is almost the perfect equation within our strategy”, he stated. In this regard, he asserts that entrepreneurship “is a dimension of economic empowering, essential for vital and personal growth”.

Finally, Lidia Parra, president of ASEMDIS, brought to light the importance to grant visibility to her association, which aims to function as a link of union among disabled entrepreneurs and businesses and entities related in one way or another to entrepreneurship. She also pointed at the fact that they especially seek to help disabled women who are willing to start a business, many of those are, in many occasions, victims of gender-based violence.

 Translated by Andrea Expósito Santana

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism has given green light to the criterion that will regulate the first pack of aids meant for the agri-food sector in the framework of the Plan of Recovery, Transformation and Resilience (agri-food Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation, i.e., PERTE). More specifically, the Official State Gazette (BOE) published on August 1 the terms that will regulate the set of measures of specific support to actions of industrial reinforcement of the agri-food chain, bestowed with 500 million euro for the 2022-2023 period.

In the field of promotion of sector modernization and of the administration of the New Generation Funds coming from the European Union, the Government has approved the agri-food Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE) to support the sustainable economic growth and its digitalization and to promote territorial cohesion.

Bestowed with a total budget of 1.8 million euro, the agri-food PERTE is based on three priority axes that cover actions that transform the industrial value chain, measures to support the digitalization of the agri-food sector and scientific investigation.

These lines come along complementary measures or facilitators that will function in an integrated manner to increase the impact of the actions and, thus, promote the transformation towards a more sustainable and digital agri-food system.

Along with the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the Plan of Recovery, Transformation and Resilience and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF), the agri-food sector is going to get a financial injection of around 55,000 million euro until 2027.

The Spanish strategic plan has as main objectives to enhance the profitability of the agricultural and livestock operations; to encourage the necessary generational relay and the incorporation of the woman; to seek a more sustainable food production that consumes less natural resources and preserves biodiversity; and to boost innovation and digitalization at agricultural activity.

Industry publishes the terms that will regulate the PERTE aids for the agri-food sector

The regulatory bases establish the requirements for the concession of aids with a budget of 500 million euro for the 2022-2023 period.

Members of the mercantile companies society aggrupation, cooperative societies and agricultural societies of transformation (SAT) with their own legal personality, legally formed in Spain and duly registered in the corresponding register, regardless of their legal form and their size will be eligible as recipients.

The entities interested in presenting a request will have to be constituted as a group of companies, formed by a minimum of 6 enterprises, one of them at least being a big company, and also with a minimum of four SMEs. Alternatively, also groups of formed only by SMEs, with at least two medium companies will be accepted. Finally, they will need to have implementation in a geographical area that involves at least two autonomous communities.

The aids, which will be presented as subsidies, loans or a combination of both, will be meant for tractor projects and the minimum eligible budget will be 15 million euro for every project.

The aid granting will be awarded on a competitive concurrence basis, and it is a requirement that it is proven accredited that the projects cause no significant harm to the environment.

The Agri PERTE, which is expected to generate an impact in the economy of 3,000 million euro and a net creation of 16,000 jobs, is bestowed with an aiding line of 1,100 million euro and is structured in three axes for which three calls will be established.

The first one, which corresponds to the regulation approved very recently, is a pack of specific aids for the sector (bestowed with 500 million and executed by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism). The second one is a pack of specific measures to support the process of digital adaptation of the whole value chain (bestowed with 454,35 million which correspond to the Ministry of Agriculture). The third one is a set of specific actions of support towards innovation and research, the endowment of which reaches the amount of 148,56 million euro and the execution of which also corresponds to the Ministry of Agriculture.

On February, the cabinet approved the agri-food PERTE, the objectives of which are to increase competitiveness and sustainability in the sector before the challenges that are about to come, such as climate change, the conservation of the environment, soil, water, air and biodiversity, as well as topics, such as traceability and food security in a country that already has the highest food security standards in the world. 

Translated by Andrea Expósito Santana

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

The president of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, chaired the signing of the Agreement for Science and Innovation, a document that “make those who subscribe it to commit themselves to actively work to promote research and innovation in the islands for their transference to the productive and social fabric and for the progress and the improvement of the competitiveness”. In the signing act was present, among other authorities, the minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, as well as representatives of the different political parties, of the public administrations and of the civil society, who adhere to this initiative.

The Agreement for Science and Innovation in the Canary Islands has been promoted from the regional ministry of Economy, Knowledge, and Employment with the objective to join the best political, economic, technical and social agents to make it real. After months of work and of proposal and perspective exchange, they arrived at the current agreement, which makes the signing sides commit to work to improve funding and the resources with the purpose of reaching the European rations in investment; of promoting governance and the participation with the R&D&I ecosystem; of betting on talent, thus promoting the scientific race; and of nurturing vocation at a young age, entrepreneurship, the elimination of gender gap, etc.

In the press conference after the signing, Torres highlighted that, regarding key points for the future of the islands, “there shall not be schisms between parties and civil society groups, just like we did in the pandemic, the volcano, or the recent fire in Los Realejos. This is an agreement that commits us for the future, and it is highly important”. The president claimed that the islands have reasons to host the National Centre of Vulcanology and to aspire to be the headquarters for the Spanish Space Agency, for which the nomination of the Canary Islands was announced in both cases. “We want to win; we know it’s not going to be easy, but we need to chase the opportunity”, he stated.

“The pandemic, the volcano and the fires have proven the need for science”

The head of the Executive considers that this signing act, with the support emerged from the agreement, means that “words are not enough, because it is not easy to reach such an agreement. We are facing difficult times that prove the importance of science. The very same year that the pandemic appeared there appeared the vaccine, something that had never happened before in the world. The same goes for the volcano in La Palma, since it would not have been possible without science to know where the eruption would start, and the scientists almost apologized for a 300 metres inaccuracy even though it saved lives. And with the fire these days in the North of Tenerife, where drones have allowed to learn what the hot spots are. All of this is science, and it is proven that the greatest investment possible is necessary in this field. We’ve increased an 85% the budget in science, but it is not enough yet, since we should learn from the present”.

In this regard, Torres reminded that in the Jameos del Agua (Lanzarote) was signed the Agenda Canaria 2030 last 2 December, an agenda “in which there’s a bet on a law for science and for other developments, including the budgetary part, something that is also in today’s agreement.” Moreover, he insisted on the need to take advantage of the European funding.

On the other hand, the minister of Science and Innovation claimed that it is a very special day, and she aimed her first words to the families affected by the forest fire spread in the North of Tenerife last Thursday, 21 July. Morant congratulated the administrations for reducing the severity of the flames (the emergency level has gone back to 1, so the management lays upon the Cabildo), and highlighted the key role of science for that achievement.

According to her opinion, the signing is “an exercise of maturity and political and social tallness. We have not signed any random thing whatsoever, but a commitment for the future, for hope. When we have had to face the volcano crisis or the pandemic, when our citizens were in mortal danger, when we all looked at the scientists and expected an answer from them. And they have met the expectations, and today politics and the Canarian society gives it all back to them by committing to science and innovation as a leverage for the generation of progress. For all of that, I give all my recognition to this agreement that has been signed”, and that linked with the national agreement signed, as well, with the parties and the civil society.

“Making an improvement in Spain is promoted everywhere in Spain, and that’s why we have to invest in all territories, since all of them have potentials that we need to learn to take advantage of, and we bet on the decentralisation of the research centres like the Spain Space Agency or the National Centre of Vulcanology”.

Morant agreed on Torres’ proposal for the Canary Islands to host the Space Agency. What is more, she claimed that, between 2018 and 2021, the Ministry of Science and Innovation has dedicated 81 million euros to (university and business) investigation projects in the islands, “22% more than the yearly average prior to the Government of Pedro Sánchez”. The Canarian Institute of Astrophysics (IAC) contributed extraordinarily with 9 million in 2021, and with 13 million in 2022. Furthermore, Morant added that the greatest employment public offer will kick off in the science field “with 20 more positions for civil servants in the IAC, 40% more than the current personnel”.

The minister highlights that the Canary Islands have almost duplicated their investment in science

The minister praised that the Canary Islands have almost duplicated their investment in science with the Government of Ángel Víctor Torres (an 85% more) “because that’s the most substantial role, the budgetary, something that is proven with figures and facts”. She also highlighted the singular science infrastructure projects in the islands “with centres of excellence that not only make research of an international reference, but also take us to the world podium, as it happens with the Great Canarian Telescopemm the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands, the Teide and Roque de los Muchachos Observatories, the RedIris (high capacity for 30 years dark fiber network) or the supercomputing node of the IAC in La Palma.

Also, she spoke about the lines of investigation for marine sciences, biodiversity and renewable energies in the islands. She insisted that “we can these islands to be seen as totally sustainable, with clean energies, protecting biodiversity through the marine environment, using cutting-edge technologies to reach that control. Therefore, Canarias is taken back to the top-notch employment and future niches”.

The Agreement for Science will be available on the Research, Innovation, and Information Society Agency of the Canary Islands website so that it can be read and signed by whoever wishes to. Today it was subscribed by Ángel Víctor Torres Pérez, president of the Canary Islands; Nira Fierro Díaz (PSOE); José Miguel Barragán Cabrera (CC), Poli Suárez Nuez (PP); Luis Alberto Campos Jiménez (NC); María del Río Sánchez (Sí Podemos); Jesús Ramón Ramos Chinea (ASG); Ricardo Fernández de la Puente Armas (Cs); Ernesto Pereda de Pablo, vice-rector of Investigation and Transference of the University of La Laguna; Lluís Serra Majem, rector of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria; Pedro Alfonso Martín, president of CEOE-Tenerife; José Cristóbal García García, vice-president of the Confederation of Businessmen of the Canary Islands, Manuel Navrro Ramos, general secretary of UGT-Canarias, and Inocencio González Toscón, general secretary of Workers Comissions in the Canary Islands. The Canarian Federation of Municipalities and the Canarian Federation of Islands also adhere to the project, with the signature of the Fecam president, Mari Brito, and the president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martín.

The Canary Islands aspire to be the headquarters for the National Centre of Vulcanology

Moreover, the ministry of Science and the autonomic president spoke about the state of the creation of a consortium of both governments with the purpose that the Canary Islands host the future National Centre of Vulcanology. The consortium has set as an objective to manage scientific, technical, innovative, economic and administrative collaboration with the entities that constitute it for the construction, equipment and exploitation of this centre of reference.

The National Centre of Vulcanology will be an infrastructure dedicated to the integral management of the volcanic phenomenon in regions that are highly actively volcanic areas ,promoting the interchange of knowledge between groups of research and the cooperation empowerment with the aim of increasing its international visibility and of contributing to the sustainable development of the volcanic regions.

 Translated by Andrea Expósito Santana

Marta Arocha, Director-General of Dependence and Disability of the Government of the Canary Islands, welcomes us in mid-June, stack of documents full of data in hand (“lately it seems that everyone knows dependence, and everybody provides data”) with the intention to lay the foundations of our interview on facts and not on opinions. And this marks an interview with two well-differentiated parts. First, we dig deep into Marta Arocha’s desire to set a clear starting point: “the progression of Dependence in the Canary Islands in 2022 is very positive, with statistical data taken from the Imserso [Institute for the Elderly and Social Services], it’s not because I say so.” Secondly, we approach aspects like digital transformation and startups that revolutionize the teleservice sector or the active ageing.

“In order to see the evolution of Dependence in the Canary Islands in 2022, we come from having a total of 1,752 Individual Attention Programmes (PIA) requests in 2019. In 2020, since I think everything must be said, there were 1,680. In 2021, there were 1,717 requests. Now we’re getting to 2022 and in 5 months we’ve exceeded the PIA requests that we received any of the previous years throughout the whole year”, highlights the Director-General of Dependence and Disability of the Government of the Canary Islands.

“I think that in the Dependence system’s evolution through 2022 we can identify a positive evolution, though there’s still a long way to go. However, we’re starting to take off and to see the light at the end of the tunnel. To manage to cater for 1,000 people through 6, 7, 8 months, is definitely an actually large number of people. I think that by June we will have managed to cater for as many people in the Canary Islands as the sum of the two previous years in total, and I think that’s a very important thing to say. We need to start creating a positive dynamic in Dependence”, states Marta Arocha.

“We need to join all of our political forces and really speak about the importance that dependence has. For various reasons—the first being, obviously, the fact that we take care of people who deserve it. But also because we’re using social benefits in this moment in the Canary Islands, which are job generators and which create jobs in a real, significant manner. We’re focusing a lot on economic benefits, not only to take care of the family environment, but also to offer the benefit linked to the service. This aid involves a quantity of up to 750 euros, which we will have to improve—of course-, but which generates employment, and that is very important”, claims Arocha.

“I’m talking about the importance of the law of dependence. Everyone calls it that way, but it actually has a name and a surname: Law of Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Attention to the Dependent People. The law’s philosophy is to keep people in the best conditions for as long as possible and in their usual environment. How do we achieve that? With active policies, with active ageing policies. The one that we know as law of dependence has marked my professional life and I transmitted that even at the [Santa Cruz de Tenerife] town hall when I carried social policies because they allowed me to promote that first part of the law, the promotion of personal autonomy”, said the Director-General of regional Dependence and Disability.

For Marta Arocha, “in the Canary Islands we are in a situation so complicated that the dependent, when they’re serviced, they’re normally in situations of major dependency, so we can’t approach the first part of the law, the promotion of personal autonomy. Catering to people before reaching that type of ageing is so great. That thing that we used to do at the town hall, active ageing policies. Of course, all of this has to do with whether we manage to work with those people in a first moment, with day-care centres, with services for the promotion of personal autonomy… We could reach a population that ages later and in a better way. We are working for that first part of the law and that philosophy. It is true that a law that delivers services in which we read about socio-sanitary centres, but that is not the actual philosophy of the law. Its philosophy is to reach that previous step of taking care of people within their environment in the best conditions possible; not taking them out of their home, but to keep them at their home, in their environment, in good conditions, and that is what gives us that first part of the law”.

“Lay the foundations with a future vision, a vision of new concepts” 

In this part of the interview, we are already turning to the side of digital transformation and the innovation that startups bring. Marta Arocha highlights: “in the Canary Islands we find ourselves in a disadvantaged situation, and we’re so far behind in comparison to other autonomous communities that when we speak about digital innovation, when we speak about policies that are more evolved, I feel vertigo, since we need to lay the foundations. But it is true that we need to lay the foundations with more of a future vision, a vision of new concepts”.

“During the meetings that I have with the CERMI (Spanish Committee of Representatives for the Disabled) we end up having the conclusion that we need to be brave, that we had to start including in the catalogue the future that we want for the Canary Islands, without forgetting the fact that we lack a lot of foundation. In dependence, in disability, it is very hard for us to go a little further”.

“I go to meetings with other autonomous communities, and they are talking about advanced teleservice, and I’m crossing my fingers so that the technical specifications of my basic teleservice arrive and that I can reach as many Canarians as possible. But I don’t want to forget the possibility to carry out advanced teleservice projects like the ones we are about to carry out, for example, in Lanzarote. It is true that we are starting at a complicated situation, but we need to try to get further. We can’t stick to that ‘The Canary Islands are the autonomous community with the worst backwardness in Spain’ thing. We need to try to serve the largest amount of people possible, and meanwhile try to progress into innovative policies”.

For Marta Arocha, “right now it is a highly important moment for us in terms of disability. We are making a diagnosis of what is the dependence situation. Once we have that diagnosis, it is going to help us determine possible solutions in terms of disability. It is a moment in which the approach to disability is open to innovate, to take a step further in the Canary Islands”.

“Not all disabled people need the same things. There are disabled people who need quite the opposite to what we’re giving them, not those assisting or aiding policies. I will give you an example: we are ready for a project for the International Disability Day in December, and the title is going to be ‘Women with great abilities’, since I think, in the end, disabled people are people with great abilities, people who develop other abilities to help with the handicap that they have”, concludes the Director-General of Regional Dependence and Disability.

 Translated by Andrea Expósito Santana

The transports industry is one of the 10 tractor axles of the Spain’s Strategy Entrepreneur Nation of the Spanish Government: “The transports industry affects directly or indirectly the vast majority of the citizenship. From the personal vehicle to the urban and interurban transports, the freight transport and delivery, logistics and infrastructures, the field is facing great changes in economic, social, environmental and public health matters—areas covered in the Secure Mobility, Sustainable and Connected Strategy-. It is a field with a wide range of posible enhancement in the technical and normative fields, and citizen and consumer habits, and its impact does not stick to these spheres, but it makes a direct impact in urbanism and territory framing”.

In the Spain’s Strategy Entrepreneur Nation of the Spanish Government, the transports industry is an entrepeneur field with many opportunities for innovation. “In regards to logistics and freight transport and delivery, there are great opportunities for innovation in fronts, such as the use of autonomous and electric vehicles, the automatization of processes through robotics, and through the analysis and use of great data volumes to enhance the load management and promote the efficiency in the use of fuel and in the amount of trips and their routes; the use of blockchain to increase the freight traceability, the use of drones for certain light-weight deliveries, and the seeking of delivery efficiency through intelligence applied to the routes and the delivery schedules, as well as the increasingly popular use of automated terminals for package shipping and collection”.

Some lines of innovation in this industry—some of them already developing-are the popularization of the electric engines and the technologies related to smart cities, such as the implementation of the internet of things, artificial intelligence, big data and the aforementioned 5G to the urban transports field, as well as new infrastructures, such as the supersonic railroad or vacuum interrupter trains.

Regarding the actors, some of the ones called for action in the transformation of this industry in Spain are the platforms that transform the mobility within the cities. Among the many examples, we find platforms to share a car ride with otherpeople, the renting of cars with driver (or VTC), the renting of cars for minutes, the renting of motorcycles, or even platforms to rent light electric vehicles, such as bicycles, scooters, and others“.  

Mobility as a service (MaaS)

 The solutions that are actually on top of the mobility market have presented global challenges. More specifically, the mass car owning has led to the traffic congestión, the lack of parking spaces and of sustainability.          

There have been presented mobility solutions powered by technological progress to cover these problems through a more efficient and sustainable use of resources. However, the broad range of offers has led to a disperse mobility market, and the oversight is hard to understand for the travellers.

The platforms that offer mobility as a service (MaaS) have as an objective to cover this problem by integrating all mobility services within a single platform. Nevertheless, MaaS providers (operators) struggle to find sustainable commercial models. What is more, the research on vehicle sharing and mobility commercial models is limited, and there is lack of monitoring in the commercial model disperse picture.

Bike-sharing: the current bike-sharing solutions are considered 4^th generation, and are characterised by the integration of advanced information systems and by the integration within other transport forms. There can be identified four main means of functioning of the modern shared bicycles: two-way station based (2WSB), one-way station based (1WSB), point-to-point (P2P) or free floating (FF). Each mode has its own key features, and the preferred operating mode is different depending on the place in the world. For example, the 2WSB system is mainly operated by public transports providers, and serves as a last-mile solution for their public transport network.

Alternatively, private companies operate mainly within the 1WSB system in Europe, while the nonprofit organizations operate mainly in the North-american equivalents. Despite the P2P bike sharing market is relatively small and is focused on market niches, the popularity of FF bike sharing systems has significantly increased in the last few years. The big companies with meaningful investments and with the objective of capitalizing in the market are characterised by the FF shared bike system. This system is growing fast, particularly in less-regulated áreas, such as South-east Asia. Taking into account all of the rapid expansión strategies, the significant investments and the low prices, the shared bike providers are supposed to be trying to get the largest market participation that is possible, and they will focus on monetizing the business further on. The ultimate goal of bike sharing is to expand and integrate cycling in the transports system, so that it can become a daily means of transport.

Scooter-sharing: scooter sharing is a means of shared mobility already introduced in 2012. The market studies indicate that the number of shared scooters reached the number of 104,000 in 2020 with more tan 8.7 million users. Moreover, the amount of operators is increasing rapidly, and it is expected that this evolution will keep on growing. Almost all operators are embracing the FF (free-floating) model for scooter-sharing. In spite of the fact that the operators offer a similar or identical service, we can spot certain tendencias in the market. For instance, the operators are testing innovative income models and are covering security problems with new measures. Furthermore, the operators are becoming more and more multimodal.

This tendency supports the scooter-sharing operators’ strategy to expand rapidly and get a large market participation. Because of this strategy, major investments are required to fund the growth, while the scooter-sharing operators currrently operate at a loss. The market is growing, and thus the government agencies recently started to pay more attention to shared-scooter service regulation to promote the advantages and avoid scams.

Car-sharing: just like the shared use of bicycles, car-sharing has advanced since the mid-twentieth century, driven mainly by the technological progress ever since. Nowadays, the operating systems can be classified into three main categories: station-based (SB), free-floating (FF), and peer-to-peer (P2P). The SB system is a more advanced version of traditional car-renting: the cars are located around urban áreas in designated parking spaces where the customers can pick and leave the vehicle. The FF system basically works the same way, with the sole difference that the vehicles do not have a designated parking space, but they can be parked anywhere in a service area. Differently to other car-sharing methods, the P2P works as a two-side platform where the car owners are the providers and the travellers are the customers.

The shared vehicles market is growing and several actors, such as car manufacturers and traditional car hirers are entering the market. The studies that have researched on the potential benefits of car-sharing highlight the environmental and social benefits that derive from this type of initiative. Just like bike-sharing and scooter-sharing, car-sharing is not meant to be a profitable business yet. The car-sharing operators struggle to acquire a customer base large enough to reach the shared vehicle use rate required to operate with benefits. Additionally, it is a highly capital intensive business and the operations are complex. To reduce operation costs, the operators are participating in different strategic associations. The examples include associations with car manufacturers, local governments and the travellers themselves.

E-hailing: E-hailing is a taxi service that connects drivers and customers through a mobile app. The introduction of e-hailing in 2009 has radically revolutionized the taxi market. Its business model based on a platform allowed a rapid expansion through the world, which caused conventional taxi server operatos and regulatory bodies’ responses. As problems get solved, e-hailing is expected to become the dominant system in the taxi industry. In comparison with traditional taxi services, the main competitive advantage of platform-based taxi services is that they are 1) better adapted to the fluctuating demand due to flexible Manpower, 2) cheaper teams, 3) faster and more economical service, and 4) the service optimization with algorythms is more efficient than the handmade. Moreover, two new types of e-hailing platform were found: private platforms that only offer their services (for instance, Uber), and integrating platforms that include several taxi service providers within a single platform (e.g. Cabify).

MaaS Providers: the role of MaaS in the mobility market has been identified using five different MaaS stages with different levels of integrated services. These stages go from Stage 0, where MaaS does not exist and the mobility operators provide their service in separate groups, until Stage 4, which integrates multiple arrangements, complementary services, service offers and social objectives. The main advantage for travellers is that MaaS can provide a smooth travel experience that inherits social benefits like reduced transport costs, less car ownership, less congestión and a more efficient use of resources. MaaS has two main advantages for mobility operators: 1) additional exposure to customers, and 2) greatest attraction in comparison to operating as a single service. Moreover, in the more advanced MaaS stages, mobility operators potentially benefit from a minor operating complexity and a major economic viability.

Despite the potential of MaaS, there are still many challenges to overcome. One of the main difficulties that MaaS is facing is to find a viable business model. At present, two main comercial models for MaaS can be distinguished: the re-selling and the integrating models. The re-sellers (Stage 1 and 2) operate as mobility markets, since they add information and re-sell services, while the integrating ones (Stage 3 and 4) group services of different providers and offer the trip as a single product for the customer. The main sources of income are the brokerage and traveller membership taxes for re-seller and integrating operators. The ultimate goal of the MaaS development is to reach Stage 4, offering mobility as social objectives are met. 

 Translated by Andrea Expósito Santana

In the Spanish Government’s Spain’s Strategy Entrepreneur Nation, the construction and materials industry is an entrepreneur field with a wide range of possibilities at innovation. “The construction industry needs to integrate processes of innovation applied to a faster, more secure, and with less environmental impact way of constructing, leaning on technologies like BIM, the use of drones or modular or prefabricated elements. By means of energetic efficiency, fields like refurbishment, renovation or new buildings seek sustainability, as well as an enhancement in their profitability as estate businesses”.

 The innovation of the materials is part of the answer to the challenges that the transformation of this field is facing as a whole. The possibilities widen with the materials integrated computational engineering, 3D or 4D characterisation, additive manufacturing, etc. The development of new materials or the discovery of new properties of the traditional materials leads to a more efficient use of natural resources and provides new options for constructing.

For example, the advanced materials with multifunctional appliances allow to group different properties in one material; the composed materials allow to obtain better capacities—thermal, electrical and fire resistance capacities—through techniques, such as injection, infusion, pultrusion or the consolidation of the pre-impregnated; and metal alloys, light, or high-resistance ones.

The integration of technology creates opportunities in fields like the intelligent automatization (in the case of home automation), and allows the use of systems to manage energy or the use of other services, e.g., services for security against access, activity tracking, etc.

To facilitate access to housing, whether it is for rent or sale, or to reach the balance in estate supply and demand, are challenges that the nowadays’ society is facing. People’s lifestyle or work style and the new family models condition the already existing business models or property models. At present, there can be found initiatives adapted to single-parent families, joint custody or single people.

The co-living and co-housing tendencies for adults, families or young people who bet on collaborative housing, either for rent or for sale, join the already existing idea of timesharing.

Public entrepreneur function and work tendering

In the Spanish Government’s Spain’s Strategy Entrepreneur Nation, they fix the function of a public entrepreneur Function “with the creation of innovation programmes within a public Administration”. Its objective will be to foster the innovative mindset and the entrepreneurship within the public employees, the pursuit of opportunities for collaboration with innovative companies and the leadership of changes within the Administration itself“.

Among their lines of action, there will be promotion of continuous training for public employees, dissemination of good practices, fostering of proactivity, guidance to citizens and service vocation. Innovative public employees will be identified, so that they can act as agents of change, and there will be activities and idea contests, knowledge exchange and stays in other fields of the Administration organized.

The Government of the Canary Islands itself counts with the Quality and Technology Lab of Public Works and Edification. “This service leads actions that, maybe, we could describe as institutional entrepreneurship based on harnessing of, for instance, volcano ashes, to generate, for example, building blocks. There is a lawful command that in those buildings where the waste materials weigh more than 50 tons, they need to be recycled. Some of the projects that we’re implementing use those construction waste materials: rubbles, concrete, tiles…” recently claimed Gustavo Santana, Vice-Counsellor of Infrastructures and Transport of the Government of the Canary Islands in an interview with Impulsa Startups.

Another regional initiative allows startups in the field of 3D impression in health, water or agri to use the new resources of the Institute of Technology of the Canary Islands (ITC). With over 5,381 square metres in surface and an investment close to a million euros in cutting-edge equipment, this industrial machining and advanced electromechanics centre, which is specialized since 1999 in the additive manufacturing of porous titanium implants for bone reconstruction and which currently counts with more than 350 interventions in humans (personalized 3D design) and more than 20,0000 devices implemented in veterinary medicine (mass production), broadens their mechanical precision manufacturing capacities to functional pieces of high added value and prototype, bigger size and made with new materials (aluminium, steel, Inconel…). The ITC reinforces their capacity in terms of additive manufacturing and electromechanics in relation to the local industry.

According to the last report published by Seopan, Association of Constructing and Infrastructure Concessionary Businesses, the public work tendering in Spain reached through 2021 the 23,648.352 million euros, a 68% more than in 2020 and a 29,6% more than in 2019, being the last pre-pandemic year.

Construction Tech Startup Forum and Rebuild

From April 26 to April 28 in Ifema, Madrid, there took place a new edition of the Construction Tech Startup Forum, a scenario that hosted a unique competition at a national level with the startups that are emerging in the construction industry to carry the transformation that it needs, and which was presented at the Contech Startup Map.

Rebuild 2022, the major Technology Summit for the professionals of the construction field in Spain, celebrated its fifth edition, in which all records have been broken: 17,344 attendants, 372 exhibitor companies, 581 international experts in the National Congress of Architecture 4.0. “This appointment has become the most important yearly meeting for the professionals of the whole construction value chain, which this year was presented as more crucial than ever for the geopolitical and economic context in which it has taken place”, claimed the organisers. 

 Translated by Andrea Expósito Santana

The Regional Minister of Economics, Knowledge and Employment, Elena Máñez, and the Director of the Canarian Agency of Research, Innovation and Information Society (ACIISI), Carlos Navarro, visited this Wednesday the new facilities of the Biomedical Engineering Department of the Institute of Technology of the Canary Islands (ITC), recently moved to the Pozo Izquierdo headquarters, in Gran Canaria, where Máñez could know first-hand the technological support that this field of medical components manufacturing engineering offers to the productive market in the islands along with the centre’s manager, Gabriel Megías; with the R+D+i coordinator, Gonzalo Piernavieja; and by the area manager, Donato Monopoli.

With over 5,381 square metres in surface and an investment close to a million euros in cutting-edge equipment, this industrial machining and advanced electromechanics centre, which is specialized since 1999 in the additive manufacturing of porous titanium implants for bone reconstruction and which currently counts with more than 350 interventions in humans (personalized 3D design) and more than 20,0000 devices implemented in veterinary medicine (mass production), broadens their mechanical precision manufacturing capacities to functional pieces of high added value and prototype, bigger size and made with new materials (aluminium, steel, Inconel…).

The Regional Ministre and also president of the ITC, Elena Máñez, highlights “the competitive advantage that means for the Canary Islands the fact of having a centre that is specialized in advanced manufacture engineering from which the islands can benefit in the private sector, and which will nourish other areas of investigation in the islands, thus allowing the consolidation of a competitive ecosystem of science and technology with a positive return”. The reinforcement of the technological capacities of this public centre is not limited to the biomedical field and will result in the strengthening and growth of the local industries and the development of high-tech sectors (aeronautics, biotechnology, hydraulics, agri-food) and therefore in the generation of high-skilled employment.

The Biomedical Engineering area of the ITC, which is well-known nationally and internationally, and which counts with 6 international patents so far, is already working in the handoff of knowledge regarding design techniques and manufacturing of metal pieces to other technological sectors. This is the case of the AQUASOST project (Reinforcement of the R+D+i capacities in terms of governance and hydraulic and energetic efficiency of the transport technologies and water treatment), subsidised with the amount of €963,214.90 by the Canarian Agency of Research, Innovation and Information Society (ACIISI) of the Government of the Canary Islands by means of the Operational Programme FEDER Canarias 2014-2020 with the purpose of producing locally the components necessary for the functioning of hydraulic networks, water treatment plants, etc.

Along with the AQUASOST subsidy, the Regional Ministry of Economics, Knowledge and Employment of the Government of the Canary Islands promotes the ITC’s activities in this field through investment in “Equipment to activate remarkable/strategic services for the improvement of the competitiveness and quality of the businesses in the agri-food and biomechanics sectors” and through a subsidy of €69,883.33 granted to the DINAMICA project (Research and development of a dynamic implantable system for the surgical reconstruction of critical bone and cartilage defects along the thoracic wall that allows to restore the post-surgical physiological breathing).

These initiatives involve the creation of two new job positions in this area, along with three new personnel incorporations covered by the INVESTIGO Programme from the Employment Service of the Canary Islands, the purpose of which is to facilitate the recruitment of young people seeking for a job in scientific and technological entities to develop research and innovation projects. Additionally, there is an increase in personnel covered by OSTEOBIONIX (and its commercial trademark Biosurgex for verterinary), a spin-off of ITC itself which has recruited seven people and a freelance worker to face this expansion. 

Translated by Andrea Expósito Santana

The Regional Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Craftsmanship of the Council of Gran Canaria promotes an educational programme about sustainability, entrepreneurship and circular economy through Gran Canaria Moda Cálida. This meeting, which will kick-start on July 18 at the Casa Condal de San Fernando, is designed by the Spanish Fashion Creators Association (ACME), an association that joins the insular corporation once again to develop an educational initiative for fashion professionals and future professionals of the island.

Designers and experts in circular economy will help the attendants to deepen in the key points in regards to the future of the fashion business. Regulatory framework, action agendas, collaborative strategies, cases of success or funding measures for the development of circular fashion projects will be some of the topics that will be discussed during the two sessions.

The Regional Minister of Industry, Commerce and Craftsmanship of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Minerva Alonso, will be in charge of the kick-starting of a programme that is bound to bring first-rate professionals of the field during July 18 and 19 to the Maspalomas Summer University, in the south of Gran Canaria.

The designer Moisés Nieto and the designer and researcher Isabel Berz will be the main rapporteurs in the first session. Nieto, the creator from Jaén, who is one of our country’s sustainable fashion designer of reference, will be speaking about his trajectory to the attendants, within which stands out his original upcycing projects, the usage of fabric made of recycled materials, and his work for the recovery and transformation of the traditional craftmanship.

On the other hand, Isabel Berz, a fashion designer and researcher, will show the keys for understanding the innovation and growth business opportunities by means of the offshore collaboration telling the attendants about different initiatives of the European Union in which they can take part in.

The second session will start off with the participation of Albert Guerrero, Quality and Sustainability Director of Lola Casademunt. His work at sustainability strategies as a manager of this well-known Catalonian brand will help as a practical example to take the attendants through the new regulatory framework through which, from now onwards, the European fashion industry and their businesses will be moving, regardless of their size.

The session will continue with the participation of the specialist in digital content and circular economy, María Giraldo. Servitization, awareness, upcycling or re-sewing will be concepts key to her speech, in which she’ll speak about the magnificent business opportunities that emerge for the fashion industry within this new context.

The educational sessions will come to an end on July 19 with a panel discussion moderated by the ACME Executive Director, Pepa Bueno, and will count with the participation of the Gran Canaria Moda Cálida Director, Araceli Díaz Santana; and of the designers Jorge Toledo de Chela Cló, Elena Morales and Aurelia Gil—references of innovation, sustainability and craftsmanship projects in the island.

 Translated by Andrea Expósito Santana

The Government’s First Vice-President and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, chaired yesterday the Sectorial Conference for Digital Transformation. The Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence State Secretary, Carme Artigas; and the Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures Secretary, Roberto Sánchez, also attended the meeting. Moreover, several representatives of all autonomous communities, the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla and of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) took part online.

During the meeting they have agreed that the following meeting of the Sectorial Conference for Digital Transformation will be a face-to-face one and the Region of Murcia has presented itself as host. They also plan to hold a meeting in December in the Canary Islands, coinciding with the OECD Digital Economy Ministerial Conference, which will take place between December 13 and 16 in Gran Canaria.

Letter anniversary of Digital Rights

The Spanish Government is promoting purposefully the process of digital transformation taking advantage of the opportunity that means the funding of Next Generation EU regarding the Recovery Plan with a clear humanistic approach. As a matter of fact, today marks the anniversary of the Letter of Digital Rights, which places Spain at the forefront in the development of a regulatory framework that guarantees the protection of the rights and democratic values of the citizens in the digital field.

New investment in the Next Tech Fund

Likewise, the Vice-President has spoken about the signing of the Next Tech Fund’s third operation, an initiative in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, by means of the State Secretary of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence and the Institute of Official Credit (ICO) through AXIS, which will count with 100 million euros in Cathay Innovation Fund III, a venture capital fund with a size of 1,000 million euros and managed by Cathay Innovation, which is dedicated to investing in projects related to the sustainable transformation of the industry and society.

It is the third operation of the Next Tech Fund since its creation in 2021, with which they reach a public investment of 270 million euros so far. Previously, the Fund had invested 70 million euros in the Leadwind Fund together with Telefónica, BBVA and KFund, and 100 million euros to the Andromeda Fund together with Iberdrola, Seaya and Nortia Capital.

As they complete the third investment, as for now, the Next Tech Fund will mobilize investment in public-private collaboration in Spain with the purpose of reaching a total of 900 million euros in businesses and digital projects.

Translated by Andrea Expósito Santana

The Senate has approved the reform of Law 14/2011, of June 1, on Science, Technology and Innovation, which will continue its parliamentary process in the Congress of Deputies for final approval, due to the incorporation of a amendment in the Senate.

The Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, has stated that this regulation represents a great advance in the Spanish science and innovation system since it grants more resources, rights, opportunities and stability to the personnel of the public science and innovation system of our country. , especially young people.

Likewise, the regulation guarantees stable and growing public funding for R&D with the aim of reaching 1.25% of GDP in 2030 -and 3% together with private investment-, in accordance with the Pact of the Science and Innovation.

After the vote, Morant has described the amendment defended by the PP (main opposition party) as an error and asks the parties that have supported it to reflect on its validation or not in Congress. This amendment allows the temporality of research contracts linked to competitive European funds.

“We are facing two different models: the temporary contracts of the past, which the PP defends, as opposed to stability and the indefinite contracts that standardize us with Europe, which the Government of Spain and the PSOE defend,” she said.

In addition, he has added that there would be two types of contract in the same laboratory depending on the origin of the financing. “We will have researchers hired with a stable and indefinite model and other researchers with precarious, temporary contracts from the past. Our scientists do not deserve it and neither does this Law, he has concluded.

Improvement of the scientific and technical career in the field of R+D+I

Among the measures to improve scientific and technical careers in the field of R&D&I, the text includes a new type of indefinite contract linked to the development of scientific-technical activities for all types of research personnel within the framework of lines defined research projects and R&D&I contracts.

This indefinite contract, whose application was brought forward through a Royal Decree Law, includes the singularities of the R&D&I system and is not subject to the limits of the public employment offer or to the replacement rates.

Likewise, the text establishes a new postdoctoral itinerary that seeks to reduce the age of entry into the system and facilitate stable incorporation into it.

Specifically, the standard designs a new contract of up to six years, with an intermediate evaluation that entails promotion and a final evaluation, which allows obtaining the new R3 certificate.

This certificate will make it easier to consolidate a permanent place because part of the entrance exams are exempted and because a minimum of 25% of places in public research organizations and 15% in universities are reserved.

The bill also guarantees new labor rights to young researchers in our country as compensation for termination of predoctoral and postdoctoral contracts.

Measures to stimulate the attraction of talent and professional mobility

The regulation also includes measures to stimulate the attraction of talent to Spain and the mobility of research personnel, with facilities for the hiring of foreign personnel and the possibility of double assignment in our country and abroad.

In addition, the five-year terms of the research staff of the Public Research Organizations (OPIS) will evaluate and recognize for the first time all the research merits previously carried out in the public sector and in any university, both in Spain and abroad. Until now, the quinquenniums only recognized the experience in the OPIS of our country.

Likewise, the regulation redefines the distinguished researcher's contract to attract prestigious scientific personnel to Spain.

More recognition for research staff

The technical staff of Public Research Organizations acquire new rights, such as the possibility of professional mobility, temporary training stays or collaboration in technology companies.

For their part, the autonomous communities are mandated to include specific categories of health researcher in their statutory staff and develop their professional career in similar terms to other research staff.

Reduction of administrative burden and promotion of knowledge transfer

Another of the axes of the bill is aimed at reducing the administrative burdens of the R&D&I sector. For example, in terms of public subsidies, the regulation introduces measures to facilitate both the procedure for granting aid and that of justification by the beneficiaries.

The standard is also aimed at reinforcing the transfer of knowledge, one of the shortcomings of the Spanish R&D&I system, through new mechanisms. One of them is the recognition of the six-year transfer period to encourage the direct transfer of knowledge and innovation generated in the public sector to companies and society.

Other mechanisms included in the text are the development of public procurement of innovation and permission for public administrations to invest and co-invest in commercial companies, as the most advanced countries do, where the public sector is an enterprising agent that invests and stimulates private investment in R&D.

The reform of the law also contemplates the creation of the Spanish Space Agency, with a component dedicated to National Security, to direct the effort in space matters, efficiently coordinate the different national organizations with responsibilities in the space sector and unify collaboration and international coordination.

The Spanish Space Agency will be in charge of drawing up a Spanish Space Strategy and the law establishes that its location will be promoted based, among others, on principles of social and territorial cohesion, improvement in the functioning of public services and the fight against depopulation.

Gender equality

The standard also seeks to resolve the main gender inequalities that persist in the field of R&D&I. To this end, it will for the first time give legal certainty to gender equality in the Science, Technology and Innovation System, ensuring a dual approach, where the gender perspective is the crosscutting axis of the planning instruments of public agents in science, technology and innovation while implementing specific actions.

Thus, public agents must have and annually evaluate a gender equality plan and also have protocols against sexual harassment and for reasons of gender or sexual orientation.

The creation of a gender equality badge in R&D is also planned for centers that certify that they meet criteria of excellence in this field, in addition to the obligation to implement measures to eliminate gender bias and integrate the gender dimension in R&D projects.

In this sense, equality will also be guaranteed in the selection and evaluation processes for those who reconcile and the promotion of positive action measures will be encouraged. In addition, the fundamental role of scientific dissemination and education to promote sociocultural change and promote co-responsibility is recognized.

Yesterday, the Council of Ministers approved, and will send to the General Courts, the Draft Law on Digital Efficiency Measures of the Public Service of Justice, which establishes a cutting-edge framework to facilitate its digital transformation. The norm regulates the digital services accessible to the citizen, reinforces legal certainty in the digital sphere and guides the justice systems towards the rational use of data.

The Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop, has framed the project in the Justice 2030 Plan and, together with the two laws on procedural and organizational efficiency that are already in the parliamentary process, has considered it “a crucial, fundamental step to build the strong and solid foundations for the building of the justice of the future, a kind of justice 5.0”.

Thanks to the measures contained in the future standard, the accessibility of citizens to the public service of justice, the efficiency of the work of all professionals and the optimization of resources will be improved.

On the one hand, the holding of telematic trials and hearings will be encouraged. During the pandemic, more than a million have already been held, with an estimated saving of more than 19 million euros in travel and 9,000 tons of CO2, “the equivalent of 1,382 trips around the world”, the minister detailed.

There will also be a Justice Folder, which will be similar to and connected to the Citizen Folder, to facilitate secure digital identification so that anyone can carry out procedures from their computer or mobile phone. To eliminate generational, territorial or economic gaps, this service will be accessible from any municipality in Spain through the municipal judicial offices.

The third axis will be the interoperability of all systems and their automation, as well as data processing. Llop gave as an example the achievement, already achieved after many pending years, that the seven different procedural management systems that exist in the territory are completely interoperable with the Supreme Court. Regarding automation, the minister has referred to the eviction trials as an example: the notification that has to be made to social services will be done automatically “so that there is no room for forgetfulness and the most vulnerable people are protected.” vulnerable“.

Pilar Llop thanked the contributions of all the professional groups involved and the public-private collaboration with innovation and artificial intelligence companies to be able to carry out this important technological challenge.

The minister has also emphasized that the bill takes into account legal certainty, the ethical and human rights framework, the improvement of cybersecurity and respect for the content of the Charter of Digital Rights approved last year.

During the 2022-2023 school year, 1,327 entrepreneurship classrooms for Professional Training will be funded in Spain: 374 brand-new ones, which will join the 496 ones created with 2020 funding and the 457 ones with 2021 funding. They mean an organizational, technical and infrastructural support through these crucial starting phases to craft a framework of encouragement and development of startups.

These classrooms seek to channel the students’ entrepreneurship initiatives at school, including those from the graduates, by means of a system of coaching, guidance and tutoring of the entrepreneurial ideas that they contribute with themselves, as well as through their participation in projects with other entities and organizations. That is what the General Secretariat for Professional Training’s July 11, 2022 resolution marks, by means of which the June 23, 2022 Agreement of the Sectorial Conference of Education is published, which results in the approving of the proposal for territorial distribution and of the criteria for the distribution of the credit managed by the autonomous communities in the budgetary year of 2022.

This measure falls within the context of the Modernization Plan of Professional Training with funding coming from the Ministry of Education and Professional Training’s budget and understood within the frame of the Component 20 “Strategic Plan for the Promotion of Professional Training”, part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. 

Translated by Andrea Expósito Santana

The Minister of Education and Professional Training has taken part today in the international seminar ‘Education for the 21^st Century in Latin America and the Caribbean: to flourish, race and innovate in the digital era’, organized by the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).

During her statement, the Minister has upheld the need to learn from the pandemic to take advantage from the digitalization of the educational system the best we can.

“Because of the pandemic, we’ve had to accelerate the digital transformation in the field of education. That abrupt immersion has revealed significant gaps that need to be filled in a calm, peaceful manner. Among other issues, we’ve found great [socioeconomic] breaches”, has claimed the Minister in her speech. “We’ve learnt that digital transformation demands the best training”, she added.

“This new technological paradigm is not a purpose on its own, but we need to use it as an extraordinary tool to reach priorities that we already meant for our educational system, such as achieving schooling for the entire population during the mandatory stages, reducing early school dropout, increasing the quality and the depth of the knowledge that the young boys and girls are acquiring through motivation and the digital competencies of our teachers”, she concluded.

In this matter, the Ministry of Education and Professional Training has released an educational reform that includes the digital competency among the 8 key competencies that students must acquire. Moreover, starting next 2022-2023 school year, the new Code School 4.0 Plan will make sure that students at Nursery, Primary and Secondary school learn IT programming. The digitalization is also core to the new Professional Training fostered by the Ministry—not only in methodology, but also through the teaching resources and the crafting of new studying plans. They are also working on the improvement of the lecturers’ digital competencies and promoting changes in the pedagogical methodologies.

 Translated by Andrea Expósito Santana

Next Monday, July 25th, starting at 12 o’clock at the Aula de Piedra at the Rectorado building (Juan de Quesada Street, 30, Vegueta), is the day that the opening ceremony is going to take place by the hands of the members of the teams participating in the projects developed by the Technovation Girls Programme during the 2021-2022 edition. This programme is developed by AIVERSE/Technovation Girls Canarias in collaboration with the Vice-rectorate for Students, Alumni and Employability, the Social Council and the Telefónica Chair of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Technovation Girls is an international programme for technological entrepreneurship and vocational encouragement for girls between the ages of 8 and 18 with a coach or tutor’s mentorship. The girls develop a mobile application intended to solve a certain problem of their community, thus acquiring skills at technology, entrepreneurship, communication and teamwork, among others.

The act will be hosted by David Sánchez Rodríguez, Vice-Rector for Students, Alumni and Employability of the ULPGC; Jamila Diallo Ba Dieng, Ambasadress of Technovation Girls Canarias, and María José Monferrer, President of the Alverse Association.

During the act, three teams from the Canary Islands will exhibit their ideas, developed between the months of January and April, which will be assessed by a panel of experts formed by María José Monferrer, President of the Alverse Association; Nira Santana Rodríguez, professor, researcher and consultant with expertise in art, gender and videogames; and Moisés Santana Quintana, head and manager of Emerge Canarias.

The three apps developed in this edition by the three canarian teams have been:

1.   Team M2IA. App: Maxbot.

An IA that checks if the person trying to access the app is authorized. Then, a sound will signal that an engine is opening the house door.

2.   Team Trillionaire. App: Salvanario

An app that provides direct access to emergency calls in case you face an aggression or accident.

3.   Team ART GIRLS. App: Coe.

An app that promotes recycling, since climate change is affecting the environment.

At the end of the act, the panel will award the winners.

In order to keep track of the room capacity, which is limited, the relatives of the team members who wish to have a seat in the act need to enrol through this form.

 Translated by Andrea Expósito Santana

Among the important advances made in recent months in terms of digitalisation, the deployment of the Digital Kit plan has been addressed, the first call for which has been requested to date by more than 65,000 SMEs with between 10 and 49 workers, approximately one in two companies of this group. Some 18,000 digital vouchers have already been granted.

Before the end of the month it is expected to launch the second phase of the plan for companies with between 3 and 9 workers, with an investment of 500 million euros. Specifically, with regard to the digitization of small businesses, micro-businesses and self-employed people, the Recovery Plan plans to allocate a volume of public investment of 3,067 million euros in the 2021-2023 period for the deployment of a set of digital solutions already available on the market (“Digital Kit”) in the productive fabric of small businesses, micro-businesses and self-employed people in the Spanish economy.

The Digital Kit Program aims to grant aid to small businesses, micro-businesses and self-employed people for the adoption of digitization solutions available on the market. Beneficiaries will receive aid based on their size, measuring it according to their number of employees.

The collection right that arises from the concession resolution is called a “digital bond”. This “digital bonus” cannot be made effective until the Digitizing Agent, on behalf of the beneficiary and being the beneficiary ultimately responsible, presents the corresponding account justifying the performance of the activity for which the subsidy is granted and the granting body considers it justified. the grant.

For the management of the program, the participation of three types of agents is foreseen: (1) the beneficiary companies, which will receive help to incorporate the digital solutions, (2) the digitizing agents, who will provide the corresponding services or install the corresponding solutions and (3) the collaborating entities, which in the name and on behalf of the awarding body will collaborate in the management of the aid.

The beneficiary must use the aid granted, whose collection right is called “digital bonus”, in contracting one or several digitization solutions from those available in a Catalog of Digitization Solutions of the Program collected on the Acelera pyme platform, formalizing for this Agreements for the Provision of Digitization Solutions with the Affiliated Digitizing Agents.

To this end, the Program's Digitization Solutions Catalog will offer mechanisms to process requests from entities that want to play the role of Adhered Digitization Agent and so that they can transparently publish the reference to their offer of digitization solutions so that are accessible to beneficiaries.

The First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, has chaired the Sectorial Conference for Digital Transformation, where she has announced the next call for aid to strengthen the infrastructure of the audiovisual digital ecosystem in local entities.

It is a call with a budget of 25 million euros aimed at projects of local entities with more than 100,000 inhabitants that wish to equip themselves with spaces and infrastructures for the creation of audiovisual content in order to make them available to SMEs in the audiovisual sector.

These new grants will be added to the call for grants published last Saturday in the Official State Gazette (BOE) for experimental and innovative projects in the audiovisual and video game field using technologies associated with the metaverse and Web 3.

Another issue addressed at the Digital Conference was co-governance, as it is essential for the digital skills of citizens. Almost 1,500 million euros have already been transferred to the autonomous communities between 2021 and 2022 for the digitization of the education system. In autumn, the main national programs for digital inclusion of the entire population throughout the territory will be launched.

At the meeting, the vice president reported on the progress in the deployment of the Spain Digital 2026 agenda, updated two years after its launch to identify strategic projects and priorities on which to work closely with autonomous communities, city councils, the public sector and the private sector.

Spain leads the deployment of the Recovery Plan in Europe and the Digital Spain agenda constitutes the digital pillar, with a planned investment of some 20,000 million euros. All the representatives of the autonomous communities have valued the advance in investments and programs in digitization, as well as the collaboration for this process of digital transformation.

Enrique Arriaga, First Vice President and Island Councilor for the Roads, Mobility, Innovation and Culture Areas of the Council of Tenerife, reflects in an interview for Impulsa Startups on different aspects related to digital transformation and innovation in the Council, the areas it manages and the economy of Tenerife, assuring that “we need to look for complementary alternatives to the tourism sector. We have suffered during this pandemic: our great dependence on tourism has made us practically have an economic zero. However, if we had had a base of another type of company, globalized, with a technological base, we would not have stopped producing”.

According to the first vice president of the Council of Tenerife, “from the beginning of the legislature we have launched an Innovation Master Plan that seeks to set out the priority lines of the Council of Tenerife to generate that economy in different areas that are the audiovisual area -which has already been working on the entire subject of productions, but we want it to go much further-, the 3D animation area, also associated with the video game sector, the Renewable Energies area and the research area R&D also in all its fields”.

This ambitious project to restructure the economy, for the Minister of Innovation, “is mainly supported by two technical offices and a public company”. On the one hand, “the public company of the Council is the Tenerife Science and Technology Park, which has the mission of helping all those people who want to set up a startup, helping them throughout the process with all the advice, the analysis phases of the business model, business angels to obtain financing for these companies”.

“Then there is locating the companies, the location in this ecosystem, which are the different enclaves of the Technological Science Park. Right now we have four enclaves on the island of Tenerife: Cuevas Blancas, Hogar Gomero, La Laguna and the INfactory space, which is the Dársena Pesquera. And that is a bit of the function of what the Science Park is, accommodation in that ecosystem where all the startups are, ”says Arriaga.

“Training -which was previously only given through the Science Park- we have raised it to a higher level and we have created a program called Talentum, Talento en Tenerife, with the aim of creating talent with our people, and not having to import talent from abroad” affirms Enrique Arriaga.

This search for talent is carried out from a very early age. According to Arriaga, “we start with the creation of innovative scientific vocations in the little ones, for 6 years with different programs that we do with Secondary, Baccalaureate and FP students, and then we also continue with specific training with masters on blockchain, Big Data, 3D animation …. We even got to master programs with the School of Industrial Organization (EOI) as well and we got to specific training programs with the University of La Laguna through what is called Talentum I+D, which is really the promotion of research, in We are doing this case with the Higher Council for Scientific Research, the University of La Laguna, the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands and the Institute of Tropical Diseases as well, these are the four lines of pure research that we have”.

“Then we have a part of specific training, tailored to large technology companies that normally look for qualified personnel, but none of the regulated training gives the answer to what they need. So what we do is we meet with them, we develop a training program in such a way that it goes specifically with their needs. The program is taught by the company itself and what the Council does is finance that training program”.

The latter being something “totally profitable, both for the company and for the island, since in recent years we have had a contracting rate of 98%. Talentum encompasses all phases of talent generation on our island and it is working very well. And I believe that it is the basis for being able to generate trained people to be able to create startups”.

As described by the first vice president of the Tenerife Council, “through this Innovation Master Plan, we have two technical offices that are contracted with an external company. The first office is in charge of taking the companies that we have here and helping them in their internationalization process, helping them to get out, taking them by the hand and helping them in that international market that is sometimes complicated for small companies. And the company that is doing all this is PwC, which is one of the four largest consulting firms in the world, with which it has offices all over the world and knows how to guide us to take our companies outside the innovative sector”.

“But they also have the other mission, which is to attract wealth and attract companies to establish themselves in Tenerife with a very clear program that we all already know: tax benefits, training, accommodation, our climate, our connectivity, legal certainty, etc… And there, the first thing that companies ask before coming here is, do you have trained personnel, do you have talent? And if there is no talent, they don't come. Note that it is no longer even taxation that really makes companies come. There, that is the key point in which we have to influence a lot. Talentum develops the training that companies and startups require”, highlights Arriaga about the importance of training for the island.

“Dual Vocational Training is a great opportunity, and -continues Arriaga- I think it is an important part that this leap has been taken, because we have always said that normally regulated training is the one that goes the slowest, and the one with the most difficulty or it is more difficult for him to adapt to reality, and the good thing about this Dual VT is that everything that may not be included in the curriculum will be learned in the company and that knowledge of real life, I think it is fundamental. That is why we all expect a lot from this dual training in all disciplines and we will see its results shortly”

According to Enrique Arriaga, “a very clear program that we have developed is that of onboarding, that is, when the company arrives, how should it be treated, because until now certain organizations have dedicated themselves to bringing companies and then releasing them here and many times companies get tired, they have problems, there is no one to help them and they leave again. And then the aftercare, which is the care of that company throughout its stage and growth. We have also had companies that had connectivity problems and that precisely because they had not been given that service - which could have been easily solved - have gone abroad and we have had to go again to try to attract them, we are talking, for example, of companies in the very important animation worldwide”.

“Then the other technical office that we have -continues Arriaga- is the one for the search for resources, subsidies and aid both for companies that are going abroad and for the companies that are here. It is an office that now, with all these Next Generation Funds, tells you what kind of aid is available for the activity you are doing, we provide the information, we help you manage it and process it. Therefore, I have just planted the entire map of how we have everything fitted together in the area of ​​innovation together with the area of ​​Socioeconomic Development, with Turismo de Tenerife through the Tenerife Film Commission and then through ITER, of everything that is reference centers of R&D”.

Enrique Arriaga concludes on the area of ​​innovation and research, “that is a bit of the map that we have drawn to make clear what the game board is, so that no piece escapes us, based, as I say, on the creation of spaces, aid, advice through the Science Park, talent training through the Talentum program and, above all, the importance of the phase we are in now, the coordination with the different entities that attract companies such as the Chamber of Commerce , Proexca, Why Tenerife, the Canary Islands Special Zone… and what we are trying to do is coordinate it”.

“We continue to grow in spaces through the new Cuevas Blancas Science Park, the main building is about to be inaugurated and there we have many thousands of square meters to start building buildings and headquarters for many companies, and right now we are in a process of selection of 400 professionals who are going to form part of the Talentum program through a large multinational to create a worldwide reference center here in Tenerife, to provide global services from Tenerife, something similar to what Atos is doing right now, which They are already going for almost 2,000 professionals, ”says the first vice president of the Tenerife Council.

“We are planning a trip to the United States to talk to people from the gaming, audiovisual, and technology sectors. In the end it's all between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It is a very elaborate commercial mission: we clearly identify what the objectives are and we go directly to that company and not cold door commercially, but hot door, that is, and to the headquarters of our consultant here in that country and in that city that probably that company are his clients, because they already talk to him about us, he prepares the meeting, and it is much more fruitful. The Master Plan has been in place for less than a year, but it is already beginning to bear fruit and now we have to continue working along these lines”.

Innovation in culture and mobility

“At the level of digital transformation in the area of ​​culture, we had to incorporate innovation into the sector during the pandemic, because we could practically not give performances, it was very limited and through different applications and companies we were able to open our museums virtually so that the people could enjoy them from home, the TEA (Tenerife Espacio de las Artes). Also using streaming broadcasts, being able to also offer the performances of the symphony, the opera...”, Arriaga points out.

“We also have a program that had to do with innovation and culture, through which a selection was made and artists were brought into a technological environment that was changing every year, and from that environment, they designed a piece or a artwork; it was called the Technarte Residence, a program that was a success” assures the counselor.

Mobility, big data and innovation

Regarding mobility, Enrique Arriaga shares with us that “we are working a lot from the mobility area with Big Data. We buy the data from the telephone company to establish origin-destination matrices and to know what the movement behavior of people on our island is. We started by dividing the island into 8 zones, then we went to 16 and right now we are in 280 zones with which we clearly have how each person moves. That, we pass it to the algorithms of the Big Data department of TITSA. And they recalculate TITSA's frequency and route in such a way that we are doing something that was not done before”.

“Before there were routes and people adapted to the routes that existed and now Titsa, even during the pandemic -which was a very complicated time- what we have done is adapt Titsa to the mobility needs of people, which have also changed. in the face of what it was before and after the pandemic. Normally in the schedules of the bus transport companies there are usually two schedules a year, summer and winter. However, during the pandemic we entered variables of percentage of occupancy and people who used all the restrictions that Health set for us at all times. Therefore, every day we had to recalculate all the routes of Titsa and there was a time when the algorithms were not enough, ”says Arriaga.

For the island's mobility manager, “there have been changes in the way of moving on the island after the pandemic, and we are constantly extracting all this data to see if now, facing winter time, starting in September, we reconfigure a lot of of TITSA's routes, adapting them to real needs. One example is the route to Santa Cruz - Playa de Las Américas, which has seen a 50% increase in the number of users. Before, many people who went to work in the tourism sector went in their car. Today, with fuel prices, it is no longer profitable and that means that the frequency has had to be increased. The same thing with the incorporation of the youth card with a single rate for young people, has meant that all the young people who used to take their car to go to Las Américas to the discos at night, now take the bus because it is free. This has made us increase the frequency also at night and guarantee the safety of our young people who are no longer risking their lives throughout that area.”

“The stops incorporate QR codes in such a way that when you read it they know which stop you are at and it automatically tells you where the buses that are going to arrive at your site are. Everything that is the technologies that the buses themselves carry, from different systems that have to do with people, with adaptation to people with different mobility or vision problems. For example, many of the new buses, when the bus arrives at a stop, there is a loudspeaker that says which route it is, this bus is 110, so a person with reduced visibility knows that it is that bus, with which they get on” .

“All the part that has to do with the sustainability of the fleet, we have already changed practically all our buses in this next contract. Hundreds of buses that are already being manufactured are hybrids and the following contracts will be for electric buses and hydrogen buses. We are also incorporating this new technology, especially hydrogen, which is also the most complicated to include in our fleet, that is, in the case of mobility”, concludes Arriaga.

Due to their relevance for the sustainability of the country, our economy and the environment, the energy and ecological transition sectors are two of the economic engines on which the Spain Entrepreneurial Nation Strategy of the Government of Spain is based. In addition, these are fronts susceptible to profound improvements and efficiencies obtainable through technological innovation and the creation of quality employment through startups. One of the 10 driving forces of the plan is Energy and ecological transition, “a sector of fundamental relevance for the sustainability of the country, our economy and the environment”.

The Emprende Canarias Foundation has launched an initiative to promote startups in the sectors known internationally as EnergyTech and CleanTech with positive consequences and effects for the creation of self-employment. According to this Foundation, recently incorporated into the PIDI Network of CDTI, caring for the environment through renewable energy models, or betting on a conscious consumption of resources, are some of the parameters that mark a turning point in the energy industry . A trend that seems to be here to stay and that has generated a new space for innovative proposals and startups that have these maxims in their modus operandi.

EnergyTech and CleanTech startups are key on the path to sustainability and decarbonization outlined by government energy transition plans. The purpose of these plans is to evolve towards models of production, business and society that are less dependent on fossil fuels. In addition, ESG (environmental, social and good governance) criteria are gaining more and more weight in companies. In fact, regardless of their size, they implement their sustainability strategies with an interest in climate change and in the development of a low-carbon economy.

Companies in the EnergyTech sector put technology at the service of energy efficiency, sustainable mobility, new sources of energy generation, its storage and new business models. On the other hand, the term CleanTeach encompasses those companies that make use of new technologies with a positive environmental impact.

The World Economic Forum estimated a year ago the economic potential of environmental sustainability for the next 10 years at 8.7 billion euros and 395 million jobs, of which the energy area could generate 3 billion euros and 87 million of jobs in the next decade.

Thus, of the European Union funds for recovery after the pandemic, known as Next Generation EU, which Spain incorporated into the General State Budget for 2021, the largest amount corresponded to the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge. This ministry has powers in the field of energy: almost 7,000 million euros, a quarter of the total received. A part of this budget materializes in grants for companies to reinforce their sustainability plans.

The EnergyTech and CleanTech startups are key to the creation of renewable energy models and to the commitment to a conscious consumption of resources. In fact, these are the parameters that mark the turning point towards the energy transition.

Startups: two major legislative changes in decades in the way self-employment is created

Spain is about to register two of the most far-reaching legislative changes in the way in which self-employment is created after decades. Indeed, the Council of Ministers approved last December 2021 the referral to the Courts of the Project of “Law for the promotion of the ecosystem of emerging companies”, better known as the Startups Law.

Startups Law finally opens the legal and tax framework to a type of company, startups, which differ from SMEs in the way of financing and attracting or retaining talent, which required a differentiated treatment, non-existent in Spain until now .

In that same Council of Ministers, the Create and Grow Law was also approved, which establishes the possibility of setting up a Limited Liability Company with a share capital of 1 euro, eliminating the legal minimum of 3,000 euros established up to now. The telematic constitution of companies is promoted through the single window of the Information Center and Business Creation Network (CIRCE), which guarantees a reduction in the terms for its creation and in notarial and registry costs. This Law was already approved on June 30 in Congress and is currently being processed in the Senate, its definitive approval being imminent.

The standard incorporates measures to improve business growth financing instruments that are alternatives to bank financing, such as micro-financing or participatory financing, collective investment and venture capital.

The “Spain Entrepreneurial Nation Strategy” marks the path towards the ecological transition and clean energy

Spain has set itself the challenge of becoming an attractive country for emerging companies through the Spain Entrepreneurial Nation Strategy. Its objective is to facilitate and promote its creation and development through four goals: investment, talent, scalability and public sector support for entrepreneurship.

The 'Spain Entrepreneurial Nation Strategy' aims for the Spain of 2030 to be an innovative nation and a focus of attraction for investment and for this it sets four goals. Regarding investment, he wants to speed up the process of maturing investment in Spain to strengthen the economy; In relation to talent, the strategy is designed to develop, attract and retain it with the aim of turning Spain into a talent paradise.

The scalability of companies is another of the goals, which is why initiatives are going to be promoted so that there is an increasing number of companies in Spain that can scale and grow exponentially to consolidate thriving sectors and generate more employment; The fourth goal of the strategy is to achieve an entrepreneurial public sector, to make the public sector an agile administration that generates favorable regulatory frameworks, promotes venture capital investment and boosts the lever of innovation.

To achieve all the goals, the High Commissioner for Spain Entrepreneurial Nation implements 50 measures that are included in the 'Spain Entrepreneurial Nation Strategy'. Among these measures is the aforementioned Law on Startups and others that have an impact on the fact that Spain needs an ecological transition. Now, that demand is even more imperative for clean energies, and from the changes derived from them, an extraordinary economic boost will come that we need more than ever.

Quality employment can only be associated with a search for sustainable wealth. Our country already has companies that work to curb the consumption of plastics and waste, that use only recycled materials, or that provide their customers with 100% green energy. A company can use its data to drive marketing campaigns, but it can also use the data to improve the environment.

The Second Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, chaired last Friday, July 8, the presentation of the Digital Spain 2026 agenda, which takes stock and updates the digitization roadmap approved two years ago by the Government and which has meant the launch of projects in the field of connectivity, 5G, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, digital skills, digitization of the administration and SMEs and the deployment of Spain as an audiovisual hub in Europe.

The Spain Digital Agenda update for the 2026 horizon has been presented at an event at the Ministry of Economic Affairs that has had the participation of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, the Executive Vice President of the European Commission and the Commissioner for Competition and Digital , Margrethe Vestager, and the Ministers of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, and of Universities, Joan Subirats, together with representatives of the public and private sectors and beneficiaries of the Recovery Plan programs.

In addition to incorporating the 11 PERTE Strategic Projects for Economic Recovery and Transformation launched with European Next Generation EU funds, this update incorporates the innovative RETECH program, to invest 530 million euros from the Recovery Plan in 2022 and 2023 to deploy networks of technological and transformative projects in the digital area based on the proposals of the autonomous communities.

The first vice-president announced that the Government is going to initiate dialogue and negotiation with the Community of Madrid for the establishment of the National Center for Neurotechnology (Spain Neurotech), so that Spain has a reference center in Europe and at the international level. world, attracting professionals of global reference in this field, based on the project presented by the Autonomous, Carlos III and Polytechnic universities of Madrid, in collaboration with the North American universities of Columbia, Berkeley and Harvard.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, underlined at the closing of the event that the digital transformation of the Spanish economy is an absolute priority for the Government and highlighted the allocation of 20,000 million euros so that Spain is “the most promising place for many leading digital companies.

The Chief Executive also highlighted the creation of the Global Observatory of Spanish in La Rioja, as our languages ​​are one of the main assets, also in the world of technology and artificial intelligence, as well as the promotion of the Kit Digital program to digitize a million SMEs.

In fact, thanks to the Recovery Plan and the Digital Spain agenda, the State's investment in digitization in the 2021-2022 period has multiplied by 9 that of 2019-2020, promoting this leap in its triple dimension of infrastructures and technologies, economy and people.

New axes: PERTE and RETECH project

The Agenda España Digital 2026 includes as novelties two new transversal axes referring to the digitization processes included in the 11 Strategic Projects for the Recovery and Transformation of the Economy (PERTE), already approved and launched, and the RETECH program to promote the Territorial Networks of Technological Specialization and articulate the projects proposed by the autonomous communities that do not fit into the PERTEs.

The Government will initially provide 530 million euros of investment for this innovative initiative for the 2022-2023 period, which will have additional financing from the autonomous communities and, depending on success, could be reinforced with the funds from the addendum to the Recovery Plan .

In coordination with the autonomous communities and taking into account their interests, demands and potentialities, RETECH will identify and launch networks of projects with high territorial and economic impact, both at the regional and state levels, based on the priorities established in the Recovery Plan.

The strategic projects that will integrate RETECH respond to different areas of action such as Artificial Intelligence, Digital Twins such as technological solutions for virtual simulation of objects and systems; “green by design” technologies (GreenTech), Cybersecurity, Digital Entrepreneurship Networks, digitization in rural and depopulated environments (RuralTech), the fashion and textile industry (FashionTech) and Digital Health.

These projects will be financed by the General State Administration and will have additional financing from the territorial administrations, which will take advantage of the existing investment instruments in the Recovery Plan and in its future addendum.

Reindustrialization of Spain through the PERTE

Throughout the event, several videos were shown with examples of centers and companies benefiting from the European resources of the Recovery Plan and three high-level round tables were held with the participation of public and private representatives, as well as benefits from these programs.

The Secretary General for Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises, Raül Blanco, has underlined the opportunity to give a significant boost to industrial policy with resources and large value chain projects like never before thanks to the Recovery Plan.

In this sense, Jaime Martorell, from the Special Commissioner for the Microelectronics and Semiconductors Project (PERTE Chip), celebrated that the Next Generation EU European funds will allow Spain to place itself at the level of any European country to establish the technology and manufacture of chips. The goal for Europe is to double the percentage of semiconductor manufacturing to reach 20% by 2030.

Cristina Gallach, Special Commissioner of the PERTE New Economy of the Language, has indicated that this strategic project is “very collaborative, throughout the territory and very cohesive, with a view to Latin America, and with inter-ministerial and inter-institutional collaboration”. For his part, Juan Romo, rector of the Carlos III University and president of CRUE, stated that Spain has a “good university” to advance in the modernization process as it is the third country in the world in universities within 5% of the best in the world.

This process, pointed out the general director of Rural Development, Isabel Bombal, is essential in the field of the demographic challenge and the common agricultural policy and has urged that all European resources and aid for rural development contribute to achieving a transformed sector , digital and innovative.

Digitization: driving technological change

In the second round table, dedicated to digitization, the Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence, Carme Artigas, emphasized the emblematic project of the Digital Kit, endowed with more than 3,000 million euros from the Recovery Plan to digitize a million SMEs. With the launch of the first tranche of 500 million for companies with between 10 and 49 workers, more than 68,000 subsidies have already been managed, 12,000 digitization bonuses and thousands of agreements have been granted.

The general director of AMETIC, Francisco Hortigüela, has highlighted the relevance of this program to achieve the fundamental digitization of companies, SMEs and micro-SMEs in all sectors.

Another highlight has been the positioning of Spanish public universities in all European 5G projects, as reported by the professor at the University of Malaga, Pedro Merino, who has advanced the intention of also going to the 6G-PPP program with a year in advance thanks to the program financed by the Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence.

Bet on R&D

The last round table, focused on the firm commitment to R&D, was moderated by the General Secretary for Innovation, Teresa Risk, who celebrated the boost given to R&D with the Recovery Plan by placing herself at the center of the same.

The important quantitative and qualitative leap in terms of R&D has been reflected in the different interventions. The general director of the CDTI, Javier Ponce, has announced that this year the organization is going to try to break a milestone by uniting two aids in the same project, one based on commercial law and the other on public law to address the problem of technology transfer in Spain.

Mónica Martínez Walter, president of GMV Soluciones Globales Internet, has highlighted that the grants from the Science and Innovation Missions program are giving a boost to leading digital transformation projects, such as sustainable automotive and autonomous driving, the agricultural sector to predict harvests or detect pests with Artificial Intelligence or health to detect diseases such as Alzheimer's or prostate cancer early.

Another example of the usefulness of the advances achieved with CDTI aid has been explained by Meritxell Teixido Tura, president of Gate2Brain, a startup recipient of Neotec aid, which has made it possible to attract talent and promote a new technology project for transport of drugs to the brain.

Javier Perea Sáenz de Buruaga, president of Empresarios Agrupados Internacional, has detailed the usefulness for this company of 1,200 employees of the CDTI subsidies for the development of technologies and processes and materials to work with the production of energy through nuclear fusion. He also works at IFMIF-DONES, a new European-wide scientific infrastructure that is going to be installed in Granada.

Lastly, Vicente Blanes, director of the Textile Industry Research Association (Aitex), has indicated that in the last three years he has participated in 130 projects with 170 companies involved with CDTI, an organization from which he has highlighted that “it works very well in economic endowments and efficiency”. “It is an example of a public body. If it did not exist, it would have to be invented because it is the lung and the number one driver and catalyst of applied R&D in Spanish companies”, he emphasized.