In January 2021, the Clúster Gallego de la Industria del Deporte y el Bienestar (Galician Sport and Welfare Industry Cluster) was created. What was the reason behind it?

For many years, the Galician sports industry had the idea of creating an organisation like the Cluster, but the project could not be completed. With the pandemic, which meant that activities ceased and sports facilities were closed, the need to have a united sector became obvious and it was the reason why we came up with the idea of joining forces around a central point like the Cluster.

In global terms, we can say that the main goal was to bring the sports sector together, to create an organisation that could defend the needs and demands of each subsector in our industry, and to place the sector in a position of competitive leadership.

According to your figures, the sports and welfare industry accounts for 2.5% of Galicia’s GDP and there are more than 2,000 companies generating over 12,000 jobs. What are the challenges for the sports and welfare industry?

Above all, we have set the goal of making our contribution to increasing the number of people in Galicia who regularly practise sports; in fact, we are ambitious and we intend to reach, in the not too distant future, 2 million people in Galicia who frequently engage in physical activity.

In the sports industry, we are proud to say that, apart from generating wealth for our region, our sector improves people’s lives and takes care of their physical and mental health. That is why our main objective is, definitely, to build a healthier society in which physical activity plays a major role.

At the end of 2021, you presented the Cluster’s Strategic Plan and defined it as an ambitious plan, the goal of which was to take the sector to a new level in the Galician economy. What are the pillars of this strategic plan?

Our strategic plan has 4 main axes: public-private collaboration; information for and training of our partners; sustainability, gender and innovation; and the promotion of sports and welfare.

Regarding public-private collaboration, we understand that establishing communication and collaboration channels with public administrations is a priority for achieving growth.

In relation to the need to inform and train our partners, we have worked from the very beginning to provide the technical and technological support they need to adapt to the new times.

The third axis that I mentioned is really an issue that cuts across the entire Strategic Plan, as we understand that there is no room to grow if our partners do not base their growth on respect for the environment, innovation and the gender perspective. Regarding the last of these, we are concerned about the low rate of compliance with the WHO minimum recommendations as well as about the low percentage of women in leadership positions in sports companies.

Lastly, the fourth axis is the promotion of sports and welfare. We intend to promote sports and physical activity as a way to improve people’s health, to encourage the necessary policies to improve the industry, and to share healthy lifestyle habits with society. Physical inactivity is responsible for 13.4% of deaths every year in Spain, which places a great financial burden on the country of over €1.56 billion per year. If we improve people’s quality of life, we will contribute to saving costs in public healthcare.

You have expressed the need to establish communication and collaboration channels with public administrations in order to improve investment in the sector. How do you think the Law on Administrative Simplification, which aims at speeding up procedures for private enterprises, will affect this collaboration?

We strongly advocate public-private collaboration. Taking into account the main challenges that we will face in the coming years, and not only in our sector, having public administrations and companies work hand in hand towards the same goal is fundamental. We need to define common plans and make a decided commitment to their implementation.

In terms of the Law on Administrative Simplification, I think that all measures to update and make procedures easier, always keeping in mind the guarantees for smooth functioning that are taken for granted in public institutions, are very good news. We need to adapt to the changing times and to each other because, as I was saying, the greater the harmony between the private and the public, the easier it will be to generate wealth in our region.

Finally, why do you think that the sports and welfare sector is a good candidate for Next Generation European funds?

On the one hand, and I hope I am not repetitive, in the sports industry, we are lucky to have a direct impact on people's health. Only that is reason enough to invest in this sector, I think. The UN has pointed out that sport is an essential element supporting the Sustainable Development Goals, so it would be hard to understand if the sport industry were left out from any investment aimed at building the world of the future.

Furthermore, in Galicia, we have proven for several decades that we are a benchmark in Spain and, in many cases, in Europe. This sector is very talented and, since I have been working as the director of the Cluster, I can assure you that, particularly in Galicia, we are not short of professionals who are looking forward to the financing needed to develop projects that will bring enormous social and financial profitability to the region.

Lastly, I would like to point out that in Galicia we are privileged to have a wonderful geography of which we can take advantage in a host of outdoor sports and sports tourism initiatives.