Benidorm and the Oficina Acelera Pymes encourage the self-employed and companies to apply for European aid for digitization

Benidorm City Council and FEMPA SME Accelerator Office (Metal Business Federation of the Province of Alicante) have encouraged the self-employed, SMEs and entrepreneurs of the city to apply for European aid for the digitization of the productive sector; Aid aimed at companies from one to 49 workers. To publicize this help and strengthen your request, this morning an information session was held at El Torrejó municipal centre in which the mayor, Toni Pérez, and the executive president of FEMPA, Luis Rodríguez, participated, and which was assisted by the Councilor for Innovation, Aida García Mayor.

At the information session, the director of the FEMPA Accelerating SMEs Office, Carlos Timoner, explained to those interested how to apply for these grants from the KIT DIGITAL program -endowed with 3,067 million euros-, what requirements must be met and what the solutions are the technology that can be implemented through these ERDF funds, which are managed by both the Central Government and the Generalitat.

The mayor has conveyed that "opting for these funds aimed at the productive fabric, regardless of the sector and with great flexibility regarding the size, should be practically an obligation" since they offer "very varied projects" and "many possibilities" in the field of digitization that “it is convenient to explore”. In addition, Toni Pérez has stressed that the benefits of digital transformation will also benefit the city.

“If the SME, the self-employed and the medium-sized company are not integrated into this entire process of digitization, transformation and improvement of the destination, in a certain way they will be failing. The participation and involvement of all are very necessary”, he underlined.

Toni Pérez has clarified that this DIGITAL KIT "fits into the Next Generation funds", and the entity Red.es is involved in its management, the same entity that in 2018 selected 'Benidorm, Smart and Sustainable Tourist Destination' project as one of the solutions to be subsidized and implemented at the national level. This project proposes the creation of a technological platform in which to integrate the smart tourism management system, and "finally" Red.es has launched "its tender".

For his part, the executive president of FEMPA has stressed that "we cannot miss the opportunity" to participate "in this great financial instrument with non-refundable subsidies that are the Next Generation funds", and for this reason he has reiterated to "SMEs, micro-SMEs, freelancers and entrepreneurs who request this aid” from the DIGITAL KIT.

Some aid, he has detailed, subsidizes the implementation of technological digitization solutions.

These solutions can range from "the most basic", such as the creation of a website or improvement of Internet positioning", to more complex solutions such as those related to "Big Data, electronic commerce, customer and supplier management, virtual offices or cybersecurity”.

According to Rodríguez, “three business segments” have been established, each of which will have its call for aid. The first segment includes "companies with 10 to 49 workers and provides aid of up to 12,000 euros." The second segment is that of companies with 3 to 9 workers”; and the third, "in which the majority are included", refers to companies with "up to 2 workers" who opt for a maximum of 2,000 euros. At the moment, the aid application for segment 1 has been opened.

These grants take the form of a digital bonus with which the SME, micro-SME, self-employed person or entrepreneur can choose one or more digital solutions from those offered by the digitizing agents "integrated into the Acelera PYME platform". The platform already has "more than 3,000 digitizing agents".

 Acelera PYME Offices

The Acelera PYME Offices set up throughout Spain by Red.es, a public entity attached to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation through the Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence, have a global budget of 8 million euros, of which Red.es will contribute 6.3 and the beneficiary entities the rest. The actions are co-financed with FEDER funds from the European Union, within the framework of the Multiregional Operational Program of Spain FEDER 2014-2020 (POPE) under the slogan 'A way to make Europe'.

Benidorm City Council and FEMPA have in mind to sign an agreement to "establish a more agile and direct channel" with the productive fabric, both to help companies and freelancers in the application of the DIGITAL KIT and to advise on digitization solutions.

For futher information you can consult: https://www.acelerapymefempa.es