The Diplomat
ICEX Invest in Spain has launched Innova Invest, a program aimed at attracting foreign investment in research and development activities in Spain.
The program is part of the Government’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan to contribute to improving the competitiveness and productivity of the Spanish economy. The objective, as reported by ICEX Invest in Spain – an Executive Directorate of ICEX Spain Export and Investment in charge of attracting foreign investment – is to promote R&D activities in Spain by companies with at least 50% foreign capital, so that they are integrated into the national productive and research fabric.
Innova Invest provides for a line of aid in the form of a grant, of up to 800,000 euros per beneficiary, for projects to be carried out during 2022 and the first half of 2023 anywhere in Spain. This first call is endowed with five million euros for 2022.
The aid will be granted to the eligible expenses specified in the call for the Innova Invest Program in the BOE. The percentage of support in each case will be determined according to the size of the company and the type of project. In this sense, industrial research will be prioritized over experimental development, especially in the case of small companies. In addition, priority will be given to projects that involve the opening of new R&D centers in Spain, not only the financing of R&D activities that are already programmed.
