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The Generalitat, through the Department of Business and Labor, has allocated a total of 45.7 million euros to aid for productive investment projects that improve competitiveness, the impact on the degree of environmental sustainability and digitalization of industrial companies. . This is the largest line of industrial aid in the history of the Generalitat, which will mobilize a total investment of 248.7 million euros.
This was announced by the Minister of Business and Work, Roger Torrent i Ramió, after holding a working meeting with five companies benefiting from this aid: Gráfiques Salaet, Francisco Pagès Valenti SA, Bluesun Consumer Brands SLU, Industrias Preciber and Copiral.
The head of Empresa i Treball explained that "thanks to these investments, industrial companies will gain muscle and strengthen the Catalan industrial fabric, enabling it to take advantage of new business opportunities." Torrent has also highlighted the benefits of these projects, which are "a gain for the country as a whole, since they contribute to creating quality work, strengthening the productive fabric, the green transition and territorial balance."
Initially, the new aid line had a budget of 10 million euros, but due to the high demand from companies, the Department of Business and Labor has increased it to 45.7 million euros.
This new line of aid, managed through the General Directorate of Industry (DGI), is part of the National Pact for Industry 2022-2025 and specifically in the objective set by the Government of recovering industrial weight until 25% of GDP in 2030. The Government has worked since the beginning of the legislature to ensure that the industry continues to act as an engine for the country's economy as a whole, to improve its competitiveness, resilience and added value, and to further strengthen plus its internationalization. The main derivative of this line of aid, beyond the specific projects, is an increase in the size of the beneficiary companies, also a priority of the executive to provide greater robustness to the productive fabric.
In total, 205 companies have benefited, mostly small and medium-sized, which will consolidate 19,295 jobs and create 1,424 new ones. The sectors that have received the most aid have been the food products industry, the manufacturing of metal products and the chemical industry.
For veguerías, Barcelona is the one that concentrates the largest volume of aid, with 21.7 million euros granted, followed by Girona (7.1 M€), Central Catalonia (6.9 M€), Lleida (3.8 M€ ), Penedès (€3.3 M) Tarragona (€1.7 M) Terres de l'Ebre (€916,282) and Alt Pirineu (€200,569). As for the regions, Vallès Occidental, Baix Llobregat, Vallès Oriental, Barcelonès, Osona and Bages are the ones that have concentrated the largest volume of aid.
The objective of this line is investment projects for new industrial plants or for the improvement of the production processes of existing plants that involve a minimum investment volume of 250,000 euros and a maximum of 3 million euros. An essential requirement to access aid is the maintenance of existing jobs on the date of application, while the creation of new ones has been one of the most relevant assessment criteria for scoring the projects. In this sense, the average increase in staff of the companies that have accessed the aid is 7.38%.
These investments must be driving forces in the value chain of the activity, in accordance with the objectives of the National Pact for the Industry and especially in the areas of sustainability, energy efficiency and digitalization of production processes.
Industrial and service companies related to production and with operational headquarters in Catalonia have been able to benefit from these aid, and the amount is up to 20% of the investment with a maximum of 500,000 euros per project. This aid can benefit from the temporary framework established by the EU to alleviate the effects that the invasion of Ukraine has had on the business fabric, as a result of cost increases, ruptures of supply chains or difficulties with international transport.
Among the assessment criteria, the size of the company stands out, prioritizing small and micro-businesses; the generation of employment beyond the maintenance required by order; the impact of investment in suppliers established in Catalonia; the application of renewable energies for its production process; projects that apply circular economy and sustainability criteria, and territorial impact of the project.
