Catalan companies have captured 766 million euros from the Next Generation funds that have been granted in Spain in the last two years, 21% of all resources distributed throughout the country. According to data from Acció, a total of 618 companies have accessed the aid, almost 24% of the total, a figure that means that 1 out of every 4 Spanish companies that have benefited from European funds were Catalan.
This is according to the first balance that has been made in Catalonia on companies' access to the competitive calls activated by ministries and state bodies following the approval of European funds. Most of the aid captured has been from the Ministries of Industry, Ecological Transition, and Science. The report does not include others such as the digital kit.
"We have exceeded our objectives," remarks the Minister of Business and Labor, Roger Torrent, highlighting that results slightly above the weight of the Catalan economy (20%) and population (16%) in Spain as a whole have been achieved. "Not only are we satisfied with the quantitative figures, but, above all, because this distribution is fulfilling what we had set out to do: to take advantage of it to reindustrialize Catalonia and, at the same time, transform the productive model," he adds.
Of the more than 600 Catalan companies that have obtained Next Generation funds, 83% were SMEs and 17% were large companies. However, this proportion has not been maintained in terms of resources, where SMEs have only kept 45% of the aid and large companies have taken 55%.
At a territorial level, 46.8% of the companies are from Barcelonès; 17.8%, from Vallès Occidental, and 10.4%, from Baix Llobregat. On the other hand, by sectors, 26% of the beneficiary companies were from industrial systems; 16.5%, from health; 9.5%, from R&D, and 8.4%, from chemistry and energy.
With the approval of European funds, Acció launched the Next Generation Office to advise companies that wanted to access the aid. Since its opening at the end of 2021, more than 1,500 companies have been advised. In addition, of these, 126 companies have obtained financing.