Monday, December 29, 2025 - 19:00
- The investment represents an increase of nearly 60% compared to the previous scenario in order to equip high-tech companies, attract talent and flagship projects, and create experimentation spaces
- “If we want a modern and competitive productive fabric, innovation must be an inseparable part of its day-to-day activity,” he states
- He stresses that the aim is “to increase by 25% the number of companies that innovate in the region” and for private investment in this area “to reach 1,500 million euros”
- The Regional Minister for Economy and Industry highlights that innovating will make it possible to move towards “sustainable competitiveness and to create quality employment”
- As part of the strategy, the Regional Government will allocate 40 million euros in January in aid through the Industria Innova and IA 360 schemes
- Business innovation expenditure in Galicia in 2024 exceeded the national average by 17 points, reaching a total of 1,073 million euros, which represents a 30% increase in one year
- Santiago de Compostela, 29 December 2025
- The President of the Regional Government, Alfonso Rueda, announced that the Council agreed today to initiate the procedures for the launch of the first Business Innovation Strategy of Galicia 2026-2028, with which more than 400 million euros are expected to be mobilised. The aim is to provide greater competitiveness to the productive fabric and to place innovation at the centre of the economic development of the region.
- As the President explained, this measure is part of the Regional Government’s commitment to fostering innovation among Galician companies. “If we want a modern and competitive productive fabric, innovation must be an inseparable part of its day-to-day activity,” he stressed.
- Rueda indicated that the aim is to approve the strategy “in the first half of 2026” and, beforehand, as explained by the Regional Minister for Economy and Industry, María Jesús Lorenzana, meetings will be held with social agents and sector entities to gather their contributions in order to consolidate Galicia as an innovation factory capable of transforming talent and knowledge into solutions with a real impact on the economy and society.
- In short, this is about turning innovation into a day-to-day practice of the Galician business fabric and not a fashion or an exception. To achieve this, the Regional Government will seek the involvement of companies, knowledge centres, clusters and the various administrations. “We want more innovation, better innovation and for this to translate into sustainable competitiveness and quality employment,” the Regional Minister indicated.
- Strengthening public-private cooperation by incorporating SMEs into transformation processes in an increasingly competitive and globalised world is one of the purposes of the initiative, which will be very much focused on SMEs, since, in such a globalised, technological and competitive scenario as the current one, the majority of those that do not innovate are doomed to disappear.
- Thus, the 2026-2028 roadmap will mobilise “more than 400 million euros of its own funds, with an increase of nearly 60% compared to the previous scenario,” as indicated by Lorenzana. This investment will make it possible to attract talent and flagship projects, create experimentation spaces, activate innovation and equip companies with high technology based on AI.
- Rueda explained that the strategy expects “to increase by 25% the number of companies that innovate in Galicia”, numbered at more than 1,750 according to the latest data, “and to ensure that private spending in this area grows to 1,500 million euros”. It also aims to attract, retain and mobilise qualified talent, and to promote support networks to accompany companies.
- Background: the Innovation Area
- The launch of the Business Innovation Strategy of Galicia follows the creation, in 2024, of the Business Innovation Area within the Ministry of Economy and Industry, through Igape, with the aim of promoting innovation as an essential lever for business competitiveness.
- The Galician Government considers that innovation in companies is only consolidated when it translates into greater productivity, sustainability, export capacity and employment. For this reason, providing more financing facilities to companies that bet on innovation, fostering technological autonomy, making public instruments and support networks available to accompany companies or attracting and mobilising talent are some of the lines of action of the strategy, the draft of which must be ready in the first quarter of 2026.
- Four Pillars: Challenges, Structuring, Financing and Transversality
- The Strategy will be developed through four major pillars: Challenges for the innovative company, Structuring, Financing and Transversality, which are expected to incorporate different types of support. The first of these highlights the activation of two programmes: Industria Innova and IA360. Rueda stressed that the Council agreed today to allocate “40 million euros” to these two aid lines to “boost industrial research projects or implement artificial intelligence tools”.
- Industria Innova, with an endowment of 30 million euros, is intended to support industrial research projects, experimental development and innovation in processes and organisation in Galician companies, while IA360 (10 million euros) will focus on industry with priority given to projects linked to Galicia’s strategic sectors and will have two types of aid. The first, for the development of AI-based technologies; the second, for projects to implement and apply commercial services and solutions based on this technology.
- In 2024, business innovation spending in the Galician region reached 1,073.6 million euros, recording an annual rate of 30.4%, which exceeds the national average (13%) by 17 points. As the Regional Minister explained, Galicia “is the fourth region where investment has increased the most”. These figures provide clear evidence of the effort Galicia is making to incorporate innovation as a lever for growth in all areas and production processes.
- Following the approval of the initiation of the processing of the Business Innovation Strategy of Galicia 2026-2028 at today’s Council meeting, a calendar of meetings is planned, including sessions with the Social Dialogue and the establishment of an Innovative Business Roundtable, as well as the collection of contributions from entities and agents in the field of innovation.
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