Spain is in the process of preparing its pro-start-up legislation – this major transformation plan aims to turn the Spaniards into an ‘entrepreneurial nation’ by 2030…
This is the first piece of sector-specific legislation designed to simplify start-ups in Spain, as well as the introduction of tax concessions and incentives for foreign investment. So it’s going to be a milestone. It was revealed by Pedro Sanchez in December, who announced that the Start-up Act would soon be adopted. It will introduce a new role in the government, that of the High Commissioner for Start-ups, whose job will be to harmonise business transformation by working with all relevant government ministries
The objectives of the strategy are to increase the growth of start-up investments, attract and retain talent, promote scalability and bring innovation to the public sector in order to strengthen and support Spain’s digital development.
If this Act is passed, start-ups in Spain will be simplified and there will be some tax concessions and incentives for foreign investment. One of the immediate benefits of such an act will be finally to produce a legal “definition” of start-ups. Once this is done, it will be easier to put in place measures to assist these types of companies and, finally, to help them retain and attract talent.
Talent is an extremely important part of this whole process, so we are likely to see huge changes in the part of the regulations that affect the formation of companies, investment in Spain and highly qualified visas. A lot of red tape, a kind of trademark of the Spanish bureaucracy, is expected to be dealt with, especially in this business segment.
The Government will focus its efforts on specific industries, those that make up the majority of GDP, such as industry, tourism and culture, mobility, health, construction and materials, energy and environmental transition, banking and finance, digitalisation and telecommunications, agri-food and biotechnology.
The High Commissioner for Start-ups will only be at the top of the pyramid made up of different organisations, and it will be his or her job to bring them all together. This is not a completely new role – these structures already exist in France, the United Kingdom and Germany, and Spain simply wants to copy this concept. At the moment, investment in start-ups in those countries is four to five times higher than in Spain, and the Sanchez government wants to close this gap within the coming ten years.
Start-up legislation still needs to be submitted for approval by the Council of Ministers before going to Parliament for a wider debate, but there is little doubt that it will not be adopted. This plan has already been allocated €4.5bn, which will be spent over the next two years to start the process.
In a country like Spain, which has had so many elections in the past few years, having a ten-year plan is a very unusual thing. But the way out of the Covid crisis must be bold and original, so there needs to be a major change in the way things are done.
© Spaniards To Become An Entrepreneurial Nation Within A Decade – TheValencian
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