Pedro Sánchez announces the first call for 500 million euros of the plan for the digital transformation of SMEs and the self-employed.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has advanced the implementation of the Digital Kit plan, a program of aid for the digital transformation of SMEs and the self-employed.
Madrid – Ehab Soltan
During his speech at the inauguration of the 8th Annual Congress of Multinationals by Marca España, Sánchez explained that “soon” the first call for the Digital Kit will open, endowed with 500 million euros and aimed at companies with between 10 and 49 workers.
The program, which has a global endowment of 3,000 million euros financed with funds from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, aims to improve the digital transformation of one million SMEs and freelancers, through a bonus “that allows them to finance a set of services available in the market from a digital point of view “, has detailed the chief executive.
In addition, Pedro Sánchez has indicated that it is expected that new calls for the Digital Kit program will continue to be opened, aimed at businesses of other dimensions.
Before executives of the main multinationals, the President of the Government has valued the challenge and opportunity that the Recovery Plan represents for Spain, while defending the importance of involving companies in the transformations that the country needs. In particular, he has stated that “on this path it is evident that we cannot leave SMEs behind, because they represent the bulk of employment and also of the business fabric.”
Spain, a preferred destination for foreign investment
“We have no time to lose,” Pedro Sánchez insisted, noting that more than 200 calls for funds have already been published at the state level, so that at the end of October the General State Administration had authorized two thirds of the more than 24,000 million euros of the Recovery Plan included in the General Budgets for 2021. Of these, he indicated, practically half are already committed.
In an event that was attended by the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, Sánchez reported that in Spain there are more than 10,600 subsidiaries of multinationals that employ 1.7 million people and contribute 38.4 million % of business spending on R&D in Spain. In this sense, the President of the Government has highlighted that foreign direct investment in our country grew by 52% in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, compared to the 71% that fell in the European Union as a whole, which proves the confidence in the Spanish economy.
The chief executive has also taken the opportunity to ensure that Spain is a preferred investment destination due to “differential values” such as the solid and fair economic recovery, experienced thanks to the vaccination process and the public policies deployed in the face of the pandemic; the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, and the commitment to talent and human capital in the country.
Unprecedented modernization
During his speech, Sánchez stated that, in the next three years, the economy will experience “an unprecedented modernization.” “From the evidence that we are a privileged destination for foreign investment, I want to reiterate the willingness of my Executive to count on the large multinational companies in this historical process, both for Spain and for Europe,” he concluded.
