Spain launches "Entrepreneurial Nation Strategy', with 50 measures to support talent and innovative entrepreneurship

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, presented yesterday (11 February 2021) the ‘Spain: Entrepreneurial Nation Strategy’.

It is a set of 50 key measures to enhance the economic and social recovery of Spain that modernises the productive system and fosters the creation of quality jobs.

The ‘Spain: Entrepreneurial Nation Strategy’ was drawn up by the High Commissioner for Spain: Entrepreneurial Nation and is designed as a country mission due to its transforming potential.

The Strategy lays the foundations to free up and stimulate talent through three levers: education, R&D+i and innovative entrepreneurship.

As Pedro Sánchez explained, “we want to see Spain as a beacon for entrepreneurs and start-ups from around the world.

This Strategy seeks to attract investment and make our country a place where start-ups can be born, receive financing and reach a global scale”.

Towards a Startups Act in Spain

Within the framework of the launch of the ‘Spain: Entrepreneurial Nation Strategy’, Pedro Sánchez announced that in the coming weeks the Council of Ministers will address an historical demand – the approval of the draft bill of the Promotion of the Ecosystem of Emerging Companies Act, better known as the Start-ups Act.

This is a law that will recognise the specific nature of emerging companies with a high potential for growth, job creation, wealth and innovation.

A law that, according to Pedro Sánchez, “will facilitate administrative formalities, help retain and attract the necessary talent, help bring together vocational training, university studies and emerging companies, and include tax breaks and investment incentives”.

Innovation

The ‘Spain: Entrepreneurial Nation Strategy’ aspires for Spain to be an innovative nation by 2030 and a beacon to attract investment, to which end it includes four goals.

In terms of investment, it seeks to speed up the maturity process of investments in Spain by strengthening the economy, in terms of talent, the Strategy is designed to develop it, attract it and retain it with the aim of making Spain a haven for talent; the scalability of companies is another of the goals, to which end initiatives will be pushed through to ensure that there is an increasingly larger number of companies in Spain that can ascend and grow exponentially to consolidate thriving sectors and create more jobs.

The fourth goal of the Strategy is to forge an entrepreneurial public sector, ensure the public sector offers speedy administration that generates favourable regulatory frameworks, boosts venture capital investment and acts as a lever for innovation.

Key measures

To achieve these goals, the High Commissioner for Spain: Entrepreneurial Nation recommends 50 measures that are included in the ‘Spain: Entrepreneurial Nation Strategy’. These measures include the Start-ups Act, together with such other initiatives such as:

The creation of the Spain: Entrepreneurial Nation Brand, which protects initiatives related to innovative entrepreneurship and the creation of RENACE [Reborn] – the National Network of Entrepreneurship Centres, a network of incubators and accelerators and ‘venture builders’, with the capacity to develop talent.

• The launch of the National Entrepreneurship Office to coordinate and organise support services for entrepreneurship in collaboration with public and private agents.
• The international programme to attract talented women to position Spain as a benchmark country for professional women.
• The visa programme, to improve access to work visas for foreign professionals who, for example, wish to set up or transfer their company to Spain.