From 19 March, small and medium-sized Basque companies can apply for grants for industrial cybersecurity and digitalisation programs, technology and innovative startups can apply for these entrepreneurship programs from 31 March and young people can receive 125 BEINT grants for internationalization from 26 March. All these programs are part of the “We Are Very SME” support program of the Department of Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment (through the SPRI Group).

Following the telematics grants (1,300 companies received explanations for the 68 grants requested; more than 5,000 companies have seen them through the SPRI Group channel), companies and other organizations are also requesting and organizing conferences for the same purpose.

These include the Bizkaia Metal Federation, the Food Cluster, Elkargi, Innobasque, the Debabarrena Economic Development Association (DEBEGESA), the Debagoiena Development Agency, SEA Alava Companies, the Basque Equipment, Wood and Design Cluster (HABIC) and the Basque Health Cluster.

Following calls for applications to support Basque R&D activity in the first months of the year, through the Hazitek and Elkartek programs (131.3 million euros), the SPRI Group opened Industrial Cybersecurity (2.5 million euros) on the 19th and the Digital Industry to support the digitalization of companies. deadline for submitting applications for programs (budget of 3.6 million euros).
Similarly, people under the age of 30 who have a university degree and are fluent in English have the opportunity to receive one of 125 Beint scholarships from 26 March. Through these scholarships, they will gain international experience in the field of foreign trade by doing internships abroad and will be able to secure access to the world of work. This program has a budget of 5 million euros.

Finally, entrepreneurs can receive grants from the Entrepreneurship program (3.1 million euros) to launch new technological and innovative startups through the BIC-Business Innovation Center and support their maturation processes.

Industrial Cybersecurity

The Basque Government will provide non-refundable subsidies of up to 18,000 euros to industrial companies that apply cybersecurity measures. In addition, in this fourth edition, the Industrial Cybersecurity Program, which aims to promote protection against cyber threats and take advantage of cybersecurity as a competitive advantage, has doubled its budget to a total of 2.5 million euros.

This program, managed by the SPRI Group and the Basque Center for Cybersecurity (BCSC), supported 178 projects last year. With a budget of 1.3 million, he mobilized an investment of 3.3 million euros.
Eligible activities include: convergence and integration of systems for IT / OT environments, security of remote access to industrial plant equipment, audits, external attack simulations, staff awareness, diagnosis of the current situation of each company and projects to internalize or obtain best practices.

Requests for assistance will be processed on the SPRI Group website, and the deadline for applications is 19 March to 26 November.

From March 19th to September 24th, the deadline for applications for aid for the digital transformation of Basque SMEs and industry will be open. The 3.6 million euro Digital Industry program responds to the challenge of integrating Electronics, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in industrial companies and service products related to the industrial product process, with the aim of boosting the digitalisation of the Basque industrial sector.