The Councilor for University, Research, and Innovation, José Carlos Gómez Villamandos, along with the Secretary General of Research and Innovation, Antonio Posadas, presented in Almería the initiative ‘InnovAndalucía’, which was activated last February with the approval and publication in BOJA of its regulatory bases, bringing together six incentive programs endowed with 59 million euros to promote business and technological innovation in strategic sectors for Andalusia. The calls for these grant lines will be published simultaneously before the summer, opening the application period in July 2025 for three of them and, after the summer period, for the remaining three, a schedule that, according to the councilor, «demonstrates that this proposal has a clear direction and a strong commitment to Andalusia.»
These grants, funded by the Andalusia FEDER 2021-2027 Program, will inject resources to promote innovation and technological development activities in companies, innovation clusters, and technology centers in Andalusia, as well as to implement innovative technological solutions in the aeronautical sector in favor of sustainable aviation. Thus, the incentives will be aimed at companies, innovation clusters, technology centers, and other knowledge-generating agents, including universities, which can apply individually or in collaboration.
These grants range, in the case of companies, from 50% to 80% of the eligible budget, depending, among other factors, on the size of the entities. They can also reach up to 100% in the case of knowledge-generating agents that do not engage in economic activity. The programs, which will be called under a competitive concurrence regime, have been designed to promote collaboration between companies and the different agents of the Andalusian knowledge system, including universities, technology centers, or innovation clusters.
Additionally, apart from that allocation, the University Council will allocate another 15 million aimed at research support technicians in non-university structures.
«We want Andalusia to consolidate itself as a reference in innovation, creating opportunities, attracting talent, and contributing to economic and environmental sustainability,» emphasized Gómez Villamandos, who stressed that «the community faces a transcendental challenge, such as improving its position in the European innovation landscape,» for which «we have enormous potential.» Therefore, the regional government’s objective is to turn «Andalusia into an environment conducive to the growth and development of ideas, becoming engines of employment and growth in our own land,» because innovation «is the pillar on which we must build a more competitive, sustainable, and inclusive economy.»
Thus, he pointed out that with the InnovAndalucía initiative, «we want to address primarily SMEs, small and medium-sized enterprises, but that walk alongside knowledge-generating agents such as universities, research centers, our technology centers, and our innovation clusters.» «We have these intermediaries of research and innovation, which fortunately in Andalusia have great strength,» but incentives need to be put in place so that «they can develop all those strengths,» stated the University Councilor.
In this sense, he emphasized that this order aligns with key strategies such as the Smart Specialization Strategy for the Sustainability of Andalusia (S4 Andalusia), the R&D&I Strategy of Andalusia (EIDIA), and the Aerospace Strategy of Andalusia, while highlighting that for the first time, the community has a policy and roadmap for innovation clusters registered in the Andalusian Knowledge System Agents registry, designs incentives exclusively aimed at the aeronautical sector to boost sustainable aviation, in line with the European Clean Aviation initiative, and supports the consolidation of technology centers by incentivizing the actions identified in their strategic plans.
Six grant lines
Two of these six programs, totaling ten million euros, will aim to finance the actions of innovation clusters, funding both growth and consolidation activities (two million) and industrial research or experimental development projects (eight million), with the ultimate goal of promoting the competitiveness of SMEs and the regional economy. These specific incentives for these strategic business groupings are part of the Andalusian cluster policy that the regional government has been implementing to provide them with an adequate framework of action that promotes their capacity to generate innovation. This deployment also includes considering innovation clusters as agents of the Andalusian knowledge system.
The InnovAndalucía initiative also includes the allocation of 22.68 million to boost the activity of technology centers through support for industrial research or experimental development projects (16.18 million) and the acquisition of equipment to improve their infrastructures (6.5 million). Technology centers are agents that seek to contribute to improving the competitiveness of companies, especially in the case of SMEs, by participating in the generation and development of technology, its dissemination and transfer, and the implementation of innovative actions. Additionally, these entities maintain close ties with universities, the main knowledge generators.
Likewise, the University Council has set aside 26.4 million to call two lines of incentives aimed at companies. Of that amount, 11.4 million will fund the implementation of industrial research or experimental development projects aimed at offering innovative technological solutions to administrations, companies, and the general public, through technology transfer and cooperation between these entities and Andalusian knowledge agents. Companies can apply individually or in cooperation. In any case, the participation of a knowledge-generating agent and the presence of SMEs will be required.
15 million in favor of sustainable aviation
On the other hand, the second line in this chapter of business incentives includes 15 million to support industrial research and experimental development projects that favor the implementation of a more sustainable aviation with fewer emissions and noise, in line with the principles advocated by the European program ‘Clean Aviation’. This grant line is aimed at companies, which can apply individually or in cooperation with other firms and with Andalusian knowledge agents.
In this way, Gómez Villamandos emphasized the direct impact that this order will have on the Andalusian economy, «contributing to increasing business competitiveness, promoting quality employment, attracting talent and investment, contributing to sustainability, and gaining technological sovereignty.» «We want this initiative to be a lever that drives our companies, universities, technology centers, and clusters towards a more innovative, competitive, and sustainable economic model,» he emphasized.
