The Xunta de Galicia, through the Galician Innovation Agency (Gain), has provided continuity to the line of support for the best Galician technology-based entrepreneurship projects submitted to the state programme Neotec in its 2021 call for proposals, which were favourably evaluated but did not obtain funding due to credit exhaustion.

Thus, the regulatory conditions and call for 2022 have just been published for the granting of this support on a competitive basis.

In recent years, the Neotec Programme has proven to be a benchmark for identifying and supporting the growth of start-ups and technology companies. In the 2021 call, it received 575 applications and the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) only financed 22% (125 companies) due to the high level of excellence of the applications. Among these applications, there are 15 Galician companies that will be eligible for this call, as well as other projects that will be able to move to Galicia to form part of the innovative ecosystem.

This measure is part of the Xunta de Galicia's commitment to innovative entrepreneurship which, in 2021, made it possible to support 13 projects by Galician technology companies with a total investment of 2.9 million euros. The objective, as the director of the Galician Innovation Agency, Patricia Argerey, points out, is "that no competitive business project is left without support".

The rescue line for technology-based entrepreneurship projects comes in addition to other actions that the Xunta de Galicia has available to support innovative entrepreneurship, such as incubation and acceleration programmes, including the Business Factories, or the Ignicia programme, which supports the arrival on the market of the research results carried out in the Galician knowledge centres. This commitment will be reinforced in the framework of the new RIS3 Smart Specialisation Strategy of Galicia, which will guide Galician innovation until 2027.

One month to apply for grants

The resolution was approved by the Council of the Xunta at the end of July and published in the DOG on august 31th, thus the Xunta calls for public aid to support business projects of innovative companies that exceeded the thresholds of the Neotec call for 2021 and were not beneficiaries due to insufficient credit.
The aid will be aimed at business projects in any technological and/or sectoral field but, in any case, these are companies that base their business strategy on technology or knowledge developed from research activity.

The rules set out the requirements that must be met by companies, which include not being listed on the stock exchange and having been set up no more than five years prior to the deadline for submitting applications for aid to the call for applications.

It should be noted that this call will support both Galician companies and those that move their registered office, tax office and work centre to Galicia, with the aim of promoting the region as the best ecosystem for technological entrepreneurship.

The grants will be requested for annual or long-term actions while still maintaining the total budget submitted to Neotec, and may be financed for up to 70% of the eligible budget of the action, with a maximum grant amount of 250,000 euros per beneficiary. Proposals that include the employment of at least one doctor may be financed up to 85% of the budget of the action, with a maximum eligible amount of 325,000 euros per beneficiary.

Applications must be submitted through the Xunta de Galicia's virtual branch and must include, among other things, accreditation as an innovative company and the expected impact of the initiative in Galicia, using the application form. Applications must be submitted within one month of publication in the DOG.