- A total of 15 funding lines will be published in the Official Journal of Galicia (DOG) on 13 and 14 January
- The aim is to help businesses plan their financing needs in advance and be aware of the public support available to them
- Among the support to be announced are loans to encourage business consolidation, technological development, a new line for the implementation of Artificial Intelligence in SMEs, aid for startups, and the business attraction programme
Santiago de Compostela, 10 January 2025
The Minister for Economy and Industry, María Jesús Lorenzana, announced today that, “for the first time in history”, the Galician Government will launch most of the Galician Institute for Economic Promotion (Igape) grants for SMEs and self-employed in the first fortnight of January, aiming to help them plan their financing needs in advance and be aware of the public support available to them.
She indicated that a total of 15 aid lines amounting to €172.6M will be published in the Official Journals of Galicia (DOG) on 13 and 14 January, which will be primarily economic in nature. Thousands of Galician companies will benefit from these and will be able to apply for them this month. “We want to give SMEs and self-employed a greater planning margin by concentrating all these aids in two consecutive journals, which facilitates their consultation and knowledge, and even the location of the regulatory framework for each aid”, Lorenzana explained.
Specifically, the lines to be published soon are divided into three blocks. Firstly, those related to financing, totalling €110M. These include access to credit (€19M); direct loans (€50M); loans for large companies (€37M); and novations of Igape debts (€4M). Lorenzana highlighted the flexibility in loans, both in repayment and grace periods and in the reduction of interest rates, which can reach zero percent. And, by type, she pointed out two important new features: loans for business consolidation and those for technological development and innovation projects in SMEs.
Competitiveness and innovation
In the competitiveness block, which amounts to €47.3M, the aid for business attraction (€12M) stands out in terms of amount; the second edition of support for startups (€1.5M) will also be announced; multidisciplinary workshops for SMEs (€1M); for equipment and general investments (€10M); digital transformation (€3M); support for clusters (€3M); the ReAcciona programme (€2.8M); and the line for automotive suppliers (€14M).
Regarding innovation, which totals €15.2M, the new Ticket Innova (€1M), the line for the implementation of Artificial Intelligence AI360 in SMEs (€10.2M), which is being announced for the first time as a novelty, and Igape Innova (€4M) will be published in the coming days. At this point, Lorenzana highlighted the launch, for the first time, of a specific area for business innovation at Igape.
Of this total of €172.6M, €83.5M comes from own funds (almost 50%) and the rest are ERDF Funds, from the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (RRM) and the Just Transition Fund. To this must be added the aid for internationalisation, which will be announced in the first quarter of the year.
Lorenzana assured that this way of proceeding is in line with the objective of administrative simplification, debureaucratisation and acceleration of procedures because the Administration, she said, “can never be a hindrance”. “Therefore, streamlining, in the first week of January and simplification in two specific DOGs”, she stressed.
