In today's article, we will talk at length about ICEX, what it is and what are its available internalization aid programs; both for Spanish companies that want to internationalize abroad and for foreign companies that want to expand to the Spanish market.
What is ICEX?
ICEX Spain Export and Investments is a national public business entity. Its objective is to promote the internationalization of Spanish companies and the promotion of foreign investment.
The entity has been working for 40 years linking with the main business organizations, Chambers of Commerce and sectoral groups that encompass the business fabric. It identifies the internalization needs of Spanish SMEs and implements strategies that allow their consolidation in international markets.
It offers its services through a network of 30 Territorial and Provincial Trade Offices in Spain and more than 100 Economic and Commercial Offices abroad. It also has 30 Business Centers abroad, which offer Spanish companies temporary infrastructure as incubators for internationalization.
The services it provides are the following:
- Support programs and services
- Grants and agreements
- Funding for internationalization
- International and development agencies
- Tailor-made Services: Financial Advice
- Business training and recruitment
- Market Information
- Business opportunities
What aid programs for ICEX Internationalization exist?
ICEX offers various internationalization grants both for Spanish companies intending to expand to international markets, and for foreign companies that want to enter the Spanish market. Below, we will discuss each of them in depth.
ICEX Next Program With the internationalization program ICEX Next the intention is to increase foreign turnover, reduce business risk and increase global competitiveness. The program consists of personalized advice from experts and the support of a financial grant of up to 24,000€. This financial aid should go to:
- Expenses for external advice.
- Expenses for prospecting, promotion and development of a commercial network abroad.
- Recruiting staff for the International Department.
ICEX co-finances 60% of the expenses incurred by the company, with a maximum grant of 24,000 euros.
The specialized counseling program is provided by national and international consultants and advisors approved by ICEX and lasts 24 months. There are 50 hours of counseling available where you will work:
- Design or review of an internationalization plan and development of a business plan by market, both offline and on-line.
- Design of a digital marketing plan.
- International contracting.
By participating in the program, you will also be part of the ICEX Next Club, with many exclusive advantages related to the internationalization of your company.
ICEX Next is aimed at any Spanish SME that has its own product or service and/or its own brand and a turnover of more than 200,000 euros, with the exception of technology-based startups. It is also an opportunity for companies affected by BREXIT and SMEs that were participants in the PIPE program until 2005. The application deadlines for ICEX Next 2022 are as follows:
- Procedure 2022.1: February 10 to 28, 2022
- Procedure 2022.2: May 10 to 31, 2022
- Procedure 2022.3: September 10 to 30, 2022
- Procedure 2022.4: December 10 to 31, 2022
When the deadline is open, you can apply to the selection process through the Next link.
Connect2 to ICEX
This ICEX resource offers the possibility of establishing a first contact with experts from the network of nearly 100 Economic and Commercial Offices to answer questions about expanding into international markets. The first meeting is via video conference and free of charge.
ICEX Influencer
With the program ICEX Influencer Spanish companies in the consumer goods sector are supported to start promoting their products in a new way. They participate in an Influencer Plan with special packages for the markets of Germany, Russia, the USA, Mexico and China.
ICEX Influencer is aimed at all those Spanish brands in the fashion, cosmetics, leisure, habitat and cultural industries that have a presence in the markets selected in each annual call.
The countries included are Germany, Russia, the United States, Mexico and China. These have been selected because they have a significant presence of Spanish companies, with an extensive development of Social Networks and this form of promotion. In a special way, participation is recommended to those companies that already have a marketing plan in the countries included in this program.
The ICEX Influencer program offers:
- Preferential rates at least 30% cheaper than market rates at the best agencies in each country.
- Each agency offers a selection of packages that detail the platforms on which the content would be published, the minimum services included, the approximate reach, the recommended duration per campaign and the type of influencers.
- Companies that take advantage of the plan will be able to benefit from the rates negotiated by ICEX up to a maximum of 150,000 euros in spending.
ICEX LOCATES
ICEX LOCATES supports the long-term deployment of Spanish SMEs outside the Member States of the European Union. LOCALIZA's markets are the United Kingdom, Asia and the countries of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean. The program does not discriminate in terms of sector of activity and can be implemented as a subsidiary, branch or representative office. Companies do not need to be incorporated in the selected market at the time of submitting the application, but they must have started the process. ICEX LOCALIZA is part of the axis of action of the Spanish Strategy for the Internationalization of the Spanish Economy 2017-2027 and its objective is to become an element that favors the deployment of Spanish SMEs in other markets. The requirements of Spanish SMEs are as follows:
- Have your own brand.
- Present a viable and quality agreement in the selected market, both for the domestic and destination markets.
- Have no debt contracted with ICEX.
- Comply with Article 13 of the General Law on Subsidies, which regulates the requirements of beneficiaries and who are not in a situation of a company in crisis.
As for the criteria for selecting projects, they are:
- Feasibility of the presented project.
- Quality of the same.
- Geographic area of deployment chosen by the company.
The grant will be 50% of the expenses considered to be eligible for support, up to a maximum of €30,000. The same company can receive support for up to 3 projects.
Eligible expenses are established in the following 3 blocks:
- Prior incorporation and initial establishment expenses.
- Promotion expenses3
- Costs of legal defense of the trademark and approval
The deadline for submitting applications is 30 calendar days from the day following the publication of the corresponding call in the Official State Gazette, that is, from midnight on September 21 to 24 hours on October 20 and can only be done electronically.
ICEX IMPACT+
The program ICEX IMPACT+ supports Spanish companies in diversifying the target markets for their commercial investment activity, to open up to new markets that meet the needs of the relatively low-income population of emerging countries. In accordance with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, ICEX IMPACT+ wants to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
From the program, they offer Spanish SMEs that want to implement innovative solutions that allow them to respond to the challenges of sustainable development and social inclusion:
- Training in sustainable internalization and social innovation through courses, seminars and programs.
- Workshops to deepen how to approach these types of markets.
- Identifying specific business opportunities.
- Self-diagnostic tool to assess the company's potential.
- Dissemination of success stories of Spanish companies in sustainable businesses.
- Personalized advisory services.
- The service of a Bootcamp to accompany companies during a week of market prospecting.
To participate in the ICEX IMPACT+ program, the requirements for companies are:
- Have a product, service or own brand.
- Have qualified and committed staff.
- Have a minimum financial capacity to execute an international project.
- Require advice to develop the strategy for accessing new markets.
- Perform a self-diagnostic exercise on the potential to serve markets.
If your company meets all the requirements, contact ICEX by email: iceximpact@icex.es.
Challenge
Challenge, formerly known as STC, is an initiative created by Red.es and ICEX that makes it easier for small Spanish companies to enter the most innovative technological ecosystems in the world. It advises, accompanies and connects with key agents, through experts within each ecosystem. It is also a community of entrepreneurs, mentors and established companies. Currently, Desafía is present in two entrepreneurial cities:
ICEX grants for foreign companies that want to enter the Spanish market are as follows:
Rising UP
This program is focused on startups that want to establish themselves and grow in the Spanish market. The startups will propose technological solutions to a local business partner in Spain. Simultaneously, they will participate in a complete acceleration program to establish themselves in Spain. Local partners will welcome foreign startups and work together to develop a technological solution for their business.
Foreign startups will be selected by a group of experts according to their degree of innovation, scalability, management team and viability of the investment project in Spain. Up to 50 startups will sign an agreement with a local partner and will receive an extensive acceleration program to set up shop in Spain.
If you are interested in being a local partner of a foreign startup and working together in the development of new technological solutions, Rising UP in Spain will allow you to explore disruptive technologies for your business. The application period for local partners is April 1 to May 15, 2022. The Rising UP program offers:
- A win-win program to enter the Spanish market and offer a technological solution.
- A workspace with a local partner in Spain for at least 6 months.
- Support to apply for entrepreneur visas
- Legal support to start your startup in Spain
- Visibility for your startup project
- Access to an investor network in Spain.- Networking
INNOVA Invest
After the COVID-19 crisis, EU member states quickly adopted emergency measures. The EU agreed on a package of far-reaching measures, known as Next Generation EU, worth 750 billion euros and including the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism.
You can check all the Next Generation EU funds in the Next article.
The program INNOVA Invest It is part of the Recovery Plan, it supports foreign investment in R&D through a series of grants aimed at companies with foreign capital that carry out R&D in Spain, in order to promote their integration into the productive and research fabric of Spain.
INNOVA Invest has an economic endowment of 10 million euros, divided into two rounds of 5 million euros each, which will be allocated to investment projects of more than 500,000 euros, with a maximum amount of aid per beneficiary of 800,000 euros.
The projects will be selected on a competitive basis according to the criteria established in the call (employment, green transition, etc.). The intensity of the aid will depend on the type of project and the size of the company, ranging from 25% to 70% of the amount of the project.
Smart Technology Fund
Since 2007, ICEX has been managing the European Union's European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funds with the objective of attracting R&D activities to Spain.
The first phase was the “Promotion of the Implementation of Foreign Companies” program co-financed by the Operational Program of the Technology Fund. In this context, calls for participation were published from 2008 to 2014. The second phase was an update of the”Investment program for foreign companies in R&D“, known as the Regional Operational Program of Spain, which began with the call in 2015 as part of the Intelligent Growth Operational Program and will continue until 2022.
Do you want more information about ICEX internationalization grants? Intelectium has been advising and helping companies to apply for and obtain public funding for more than 17 years under a successful model. Contact us through our form or email: comunicacion@intelectium.com and we will make a video call or call with you to be able to advise you on the best options for your company.
