Organisations from all over Spain, such as the AES (Spanish Startup Association), Adigital (Spanish Digital Economy Association), Spaincap (Capital for a Sustainable Future), Endeavor, Cotec Foundation, Startup Valencia, South Summit, Tech Barcelona and AseBio (Spanish Bioindustry Association), are celebrating this important step forward for Spain’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and its economy as a whole. In this regard, we congratulate the Government and the parliamentary groups for the work that they have done to improve the bill and for submitting to the Senate a proposal that is suited to the requirements of the ecosystem. It is also worth noting that this initiative is the first of its kind in Europe, and that the measures promoted by the Spanish Startup Act are the result of collaboration and consensus within the entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Our organisations have been working for several years to highlight the importance of possessing a legal instrument – in the form of an act – that outlines and values the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem as a whole. The government has shown sensitivity in meeting the sector’s demands and has approved a bill with a structure very similar to the one proposed by the ecosystem. One of those demands was the formal definition of a startup and the recognition of the uniqueness of such companies as business models for innovation. It was also necessary to establish an agile accreditation mechanism for companies – which ENISA will eventually be in charge of – that would automatically give them access to a series of fiscal, labour, economic and social measures and advantages.
We believe that this is a statute of enormous importance not only for startups, but also to further the goal of guaranteeing a more solid business fabric in Spain in the long run, one more in line with neighbouring countries. Therefore, now that the Spanish Startup Act is in its final stretch, it is time for us – both public and private agents – to look to the future and continue working on the development of the act and the evaluation of the measures established within the Forum of Emerging Companies that it will create, in order to finish elaborating an ambitious and long-term regulatory framework that will boost the competitiveness of the Spanish entrepreneurial ecosystem.
There is still a lot of work to be done before it comes into force in 2023, but today should be a day of recognition, gratitude and celebration for all entrepreneurs, investors and associations involved in Spain’s ecosystem.
Working together
makes us stronger
