Industry launches the “Activa Startups” program that offers SMEs 40,000 euro grants to improve their innovation

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism has published in the BOE the order of bases that regulate the granting of aid from the “Activa Startups” program for an amount of up to 40,000 euro aimed at promoting innovation in SMEs.

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The objective of this program is the development of collaboration projects between SMEs and startups, which serve to boost their business growth. The aid, in the form of a subsidy, will allow companies to meet the costs derived from the innovation process.

The Foundation of the School of Industrial Organisation (EOI), attached to the General Secretariat of Industry and SMEs, will be in charge of managing the investment planned for the calls “Activa Startups”, which amounts to 44 million euro from the fund of the mechanism Recovery and Resilience and have a goal of supporting 11,100 SMEs by the end of 2023.

The actions eligible for financing will be innovation projects in the field of digital transformation, development and incorporation of emerging technologies, transformation towards a low-carbon economy or incorporation of the circular economy into the business model of SMEs.

The types of action may be any of the following:

• Projects for the generation of innovation through the resolution of technological challenges of companies, sectors, cities and / or missions that serve to bridge social, generational, and territorial gaps.
• Advisory actions on innovation in the technological field, with the aim of responding to challenges posed by companies seeking open innovation through solutions based on disruptive technologies.
• Actions aimed at acquiring new knowledge and skills that may be useful to develop new products, processes or services, or significantly improve existing ones.
• Demonstration, adaptation and customization of various technologies, tests and experimentation with digital technologies, knowledge and technology transfer, validation tests, concept tests, prototype production, etc.

This call for aid is contemplated within the Program of Capacities for the Growth of the SME of Component 13 of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan , which has a global endowment of 101 million euros until December 2023.

Each call will regulate the geographical scope of specific application of these aids in which the participation of the autonomous communities is foreseen in order to promote implementation in the different regions.