With the new financial year already underway, organisations are starting to look for new sources of funding for their projects. Now that the first calls for proposals of the year have been published, beyond the recurrent ones aimed at investment such as IVF’s Reactiva Feder and GVA’s INPYME in Valencia or Acciò’s Productive Investment Projects in Catalonia, we can affirm that there is a generalised tendency on the part of institutions when it comes to directing resources: The ecological transition and the digital transition are set to be crucial in the coming years.
Proof of this is that the Recovery and Resilience Plans, designed to channel the arrival of NextGenerationEU funds, must allocate at least 37% of expenditure to climate objectives and 20% to digitalisation objectives. In the case of Spain, these will be 40% and 28%, respectively.
Thus, this year is shaping up to be a year of great opportunities for those companies that are willing to join research and development, in whatever field they specialise in. This, at least, is being reflected in the famous PERTES (Strategic Projects for Economic Recovery and Transformation). Currently, 12 PERTES have been approved, most of them with measures aimed at boosting the digital and ecological transformation of the Spanish economy in the sectors they target.
t is considered that it will only be possible to reach the climate targets set for 2030 if a powerful digital transformation is carried out in parallel.
In this regard, and beyond the Digital Kit Programme aimed at providing 1 million SMEs with support to improve or expand their level of digitisation, there are currently numerous programmes aimed at boosting research and innovation, both at national and regional level. For example, at regional level, the Basque Regional Ministry of Economic Development and Infrastructures has launched a call to promote the creation and development of technology-based or innovative SMEs, the Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha has launched the Adelante Digitalización aid and the Generalitat Valenciana a call for subsidies for SME digitalisation projects, while at national level the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation has launched the UNICO Sectorial Programme, for experimental development projects within the framework of 5G technology to achieve digital transformation in various economic sectors.
The ecological transition is positioned as the roadmap to be followed in the coming years. So much so that all the actions reflected in the National Plan for Recovery, Transformation and Resilience must comply with the DNSH principle, i.e. not cause significant damage to the environment. This is where the so-called Green Taxonomy Regulation comes into play, which establishes the technical criteria by which a company can be considered environmentally sustainable based on six environmental objectives:
1. Climate change mitigation.
2. Adaptation to climate change
3. Sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources.
4. Transition to a circular economy
5. Pollution prevention and control
6. Protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems.
In addition to all this, the war in Ukraine and Europe’s need to get rid of its energy dependence on Russia, a situation that has led to a significant boost in investments in this area, especially those aimed at decarbonisation, energy efficiency and innovation focused on renewable energies. In this sense, the PERTE for Industrial Decarbonisation is an ambitious plan endowed with 3.1 billion euros, promoted by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, which aims to mobilise up to 11.8 billion euros of total investment in the electro- and gas-intensive manufacturing industries.
Likewise, the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge opened the first call for aid from the PERTE for the Circular Economy worth 192 million euros to promote the implementation of circular economy projects in companies in multiple sectors, with a second call for aid of 300 million euros planned for this type of project specifically in the plastics, textile and equipment goods for renewable energies sectors.
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