Last Thursday, March 14, the presentation of the Tech FabLab program was held at the Riojaforum Conference Center and Auditorium in Rioja, in which Navarre, Cantabria, Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia and the host community of Rioja participated. The event was presided over by the president of Rioja, Gonzalo Capellán, who is the community designated as the head of the project.

The aim of this program is to jointly promote business initiatives related to disruptive technologies, as well as to create new markets and unite all the actors involved in the entrepreneurial system. This program is part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan of the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Public Finance, financed with Next Generation EU European funds.

In the next two years, the European Center for Business and Innovation of Navarre, CEIN, will develop different actions to create a network of excellence to accelerate startups aimed at the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Navarre.

Actions that will be developed in Navarre

These actions include the development of specific digital methodologies and tools to improve the growth and scaling of these technological initiatives, the establishment of technological and competitive surveillance that helps to improve competitiveness in the national and international market, effective connection channels between startups and investors that sign cooperation agreements between all entrepreneurial actors. creation, and the development of training actions that improve the skills of start-up companies in technological advice, mentoring and commercial support. Regarding this last point, CEIN will develop the creation of a school of CEOs exclusively for startups, thus encouraging the recruitment of talent for their management.
Open innovation and the launch of strategic and technological challenges will also have a notable part within the Tech FabLab, with the aim of promoting the creation of technological and innovative solutions that help to diversify the activity of already established companies, as well as to enter them into their niche markets with emerging companies.

Also, the program will give startups that are part of Navarra's entrepreneurship universe the opportunity to participate and show their progress and development in different national and international events. A unique opportunity to make effective progress in your search for financing, as well as to expand and consolidate your client portfolio.

Finally, by the end of 2025, Tech FabLab is expected to have its own physical space at the Public University of Navarra. In this way, the goal is to promote, encourage and capture entrepreneurial technological activity from the initial stages of the university. The space will have a size of almost one thousand square meters and will be located in the Sario Building of the university campus.

Navarre

The general manager of Energy, Business R+D+B and Entrepreneurship, Uxue Itoiz Mariñela, was the first to present the development of the Tech FabLab in Navarre, explaining the specific actions that will be carried out. In his speech, the general manager emphasized that "Navarra has a long history of innovation, having completed three entrepreneurial plans based on SDG indicators and S4, which places Navarre as a leadership region in the regional economic transformation agenda, in Europe, in a sustainable and digital economy, committed to the people".

"Thanks to Tech FabLab", added Itoiz, "we will be able to increase the skills of the people who are part of the entrepreneurial system in Navarre by launching a specific CEO School for startups, developing tools that improve their scaling, adapting the company or NUP's own space and Navarre's digital innovation which will join the poles, as well as facilitate access to financing."

Funding awarded to Next Generation EU Tech FabLab
Navarre will make a total investment of five million euros, of which more than 1.9 million will go towards building its own space on the campus of the Public University of Navarre.

What is CEIN?

CEIN is a company committed to equal opportunities for women and men and to combining personal and professional life. It has a commitment that is expressed in the internal management and in the design and development of the services made available to the entrepreneurial team.

CEEI

Created by the Commission of the European Communities in 1984, the EICs (European Enterprise and Innovation Centers) are structures specifically designed to promote the creation of innovative small and medium-sized enterprises and thus support local economic development.

Navarra Business and Innovation European Center S.L. (CEIN, S.L.) is a non-profit public company under the Department of Economy and Business Development of the Government of Navarre, whose objective is the economic development of Navarre. It is to promote, promoting the entrepreneurial spirit and supporting the creation of new companies.

The challenges

CEIN's challenges include: Helping the creation of unique companies with growth ambitions; Promoting entrepreneurial values, especially among university and Vocational Education students.

Business ethics

Integrity, objectivity, honesty and responsibility are fundamental ethical values ​​in the operation of public companies integrated in the Public Enterprise Corporation of Navarre.

For this reason, since 2018, all public companies of the Government of Navarre have a Code of Ethics and Conduct, which represents the formal expression of their values, principles and ethical guidelines for action. It has a regulatory status within its organizations, and as such is the general framework and guide that they must apply in the execution of each of their roles to ensure ethical and responsible behavior.
All employees and officials who provide special services in the public companies of the Government of Navarre, in carrying out all their activities, must be guided by the ethical values ​​contained in this Code and seek to comply with the ethical principles by applying the guidelines established for action.