80 million euros to promote R&D&I of digital technologies and the information society

The acting Government opens a call that combines aid in the form of a loan and a subsidy. Support for innovative initiatives is framed within two different subprograms: Technological Impulse and Large Projects.

The Council of Ministers last Friday authorized the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, through the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and the Information Society, to call in 2016 the aid corresponding to the Strategic Action for Digital Economy and Society within the Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation Plan 2013-2016 for an amount of 80 million euros. The objective is to promote the adoption of digital technologies and the development of the information society.

This measure is part of the Digital Agenda for Spain, approved in 2013, which includes among its objectives the strengthening of the Spanish ICT sector as a source of wealth and employment generation, as well as the promotion of R&D&i in the industry and the incorporation of ICT in SMEs.

The call combines aid in the form of a loan and a subsidy. In the first case, it is the applicant who determines the amount while for the amount of the subsidy the degree of technological innovation of the projects will be evaluated.

Support for two subprograms

Support for innovative initiatives is framed within two different subprograms:

• The Technological Impulse subprogram, which encourages the implementation of projects based on technologies with a low level of maturity and high potential for transformation of the ICT sector and is endowed with 15 million euros in subsidies and 45 million euros in loans.
• The Large Projects subprogram that encourages the implementation of large projects with great technological value and high potential for traction and socioeconomic impact and is endowed with a 5 million euro subsidy and a 15 million euro loan.

The advance payment of the aid will occur in two phases (first 75% and then the remaining 25%). The loans are made at a one-year Euribor interest rate, corresponding to the month prior to the call or granting, with a repayment period of 5 years and a grace period of 2.

Among the thematic priorities of the call are massive data processing, internet of the future, cloud computing, smart cities, cybersecurity and digital trust, health and social well-being applications, the evolution of electronic administration, digital content, among others.