• 100 Investment Plan for Europe operations mobilising around EUR 38.8bn signed in Spain
  • 21% of the plan has been directed to RDI and 31% to SMEs

How do you finance an RDI project in Spain? With the Investment Plan for Europe.

This was explained today at an event held at the representation of the EU institutions by Secretary of State for the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities Ángeles Heras Caballero, EIB Vice-President Emma Navarro, ICO Chairman José Carlos García de Quevedo, and Director of the European Commission Representation in Spain Francisco Fonseca. The event was attended by around 100 businesses and innovation leaders.

“We support innovation and SMEs,” emphasised Francisco Fonseca at the information event on the Investment Plan for Europe, where EIB Vice-President Emma Navarro explained this initiative's positive track record in Spain, one of the largest beneficiaries of the so-called Juncker Plan. The presentation also included contributions from high-ranking representatives of companies having benefited from the Investment Plan for Europe, such as Vice-President of Laboratorios Farmacéuticos ROVI Javier López Belmonte and Head of the Economics and Finance Division of Metro de Madrid Pablo Escudero Pérez, who explained the “competitive edge” the plan has provided to their innovation programmes.

The Investment Plan for Europe supports growth and aims to create more than a million jobs throughout Europe. The initiative has exceeded the initial investment objective of EUR 315bn set when it was launched in 2015. With the approval to date of 938 operations in total across the 28 Member States, it is expected to trigger some EUR 344bn worth of investment. Following this success, its financial capacity was expanded with the aim of mobilising EUR 500bn by mid-2020.

Across the EU 31% of the financing has been directed to SMEs, 21% to RDI, 21% to energy, 11% to digital projects, 8% to transport, 4% to social infrastructure, and 4% to the environment and energy efficiency.

Spain: among the biggest beneficiaries of the plan

Spain is one of the largest beneficiaries of the Investment Plan for Europe. Since the launch of the plan in July 2015, the EIB Group has approved 100 operations in Spain with a total financing volume of more than EUR 7.6bn, making it possible to mobilise around EUR 38.8bn in additional investment with the aim of supporting projects that promote innovation, job creation and sustainable growth.

The EC and EIB used this event in Madrid to launch a series of themed information meetings to be held in Spain to promote the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), and to explain to businesses how to access finance, which projects have already been financed in Spain and which financial instruments are available, among other things. The next meeting will take place on 25 October in Bilbao and will focus on energy and financing.