- The director of Igape, Covadonga Toca, participates in the inauguration of the meeting “Innovation with roots: entrepreneurship that transforms the rural” where she claims this commitment as a formula to generate employment, stabilize population and project Galicia to the world
- She values the role of the Economic Office of Galicia, which in its first year attended more than 28,000 inquiries, held 1,350 advisory meetings and supported 370 projects of special relevance
- She highlights programs such as Conecta Lugo and Conecta Ourense that provide SMEs and freelancers with information, advice, and access to aid, and points out that BFAero has allowed “Lugo and Galicia to be at the European forefront in the field of drones and advanced air mobility.”
- She recalls that the Capacita Directivos program, within which today’s session was developed, has been running for almost a decade, with more than 100 activities and 20,000 participants
Monforte de Lemos (Lugo), 1 October 2025
The director of Igape, Covadonga Toca, participated today in Monforte in the inauguration of the meeting Innovation with roots: entrepreneurship that transforms the rural, where she defended the strategic role of rural entrepreneurship as a driver of innovation, territorial cohesion and external projection. In this regard, she noted that rural Galicia “is talent, creativity and future” and that, thanks to innovation, it is transforming Galician regions into spaces capable of generating employment, stabilising population and opening Galicia to the world.
During her speech, the director of Igape highlighted initiatives such as the Airas Moniz cheese dairy, in Chantada, or the A Túa Xanela project, which exemplify “innovation with roots” and demonstrate that “rural Galicia is, nowadays, a real innovation laboratory, capable of providing solutions to major global challenges such as sustainability, ecological transition or digitalisation.”
Toca Carús emphasised that Igape’s work goes beyond policies or programmes, as it represents a new way of understanding its mission: being close to the business fabric, anticipating its needs, reducing barriers and offering agile responses. In this regard, she highlighted the activity of the Economic Office of Galicia, which in its first year attended more than 28,000 enquiries, held 1,350 advisory meetings and supported 370 projects of special relevance.
She also valued initiatives such as Conecta Lugo and Conecta Ourense, which provide information, advice and access to aid in innovation, digitalisation, internationalisation or sustainability. She recalled that all Igape’s activity aims at the same objective: to ensure that investment and innovation reach every corner of Galicia, generating quality employment and strengthening territorial cohesion. She exemplified this commitment with BFAero, which has placed Lugo and Galicia at the forefront of Europe in drones and advanced air mobility, as well as with sectorial Business Factories, which connect talent, industry and future.
Finally, she highlighted the importance of business training through the Capacita Directivos programme, which has been running for almost a decade with more than 100 activities and 20,000 participants. She emphasised that its purpose is to provide managers with strategic vision and leadership capacity in an environment of constant change, driven by tools such as artificial intelligence, big data, cybersecurity, process automation or digital twins.
