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EXPLORE THE STORIES BEHIND EU INVESTMENT

To revive investments and growth, the European Union supports people, ideas and visions across EuropeThe European Union is all about opportunities that deliver real benefits and make a difference at a local level. The promotion of growth, employment and well-being across Europe is one of its main priorities. By investing in people’s ideas and visions, the EU is removing obstacles and creating favourable conditions for development and modernisation across the continent. In support of the pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit of Europeans, the EU opens doors and empowers people to pursue their own innovative projects.

Europeans have already come up with original ideas for better education, modernised healthcare and greener transport infrastructure, to cite but a few examples, and the EU has provided the means to get tailored projects off the ground. Where valuable projects struggle to win investment due to the reluctance of investors to take risks, the EU steps in by backing loans or providing funding for projects that have the potential to succeed.

Democratise access to libraries thanks to a new digital tool: that was the idea, back in 2011, of a young Spanish entrepreneur who aimed to provide easy online access to a huge range of books and digital content. After six years, this digital library is also a reality in schools thanks to co-funding from the European Social Fund. Pupils can access the contents of their school library from electronic devices and teachers can stimulate the reading through innovative techniques.

EU funding does not only offer people financial support for their projects. Project beneficiaries can also access hands-on coaching and expertise to ensure their projects provide real added value for the people and communities around them. Results are visible thanks to knowledge-sharing and research facilities, energy efficient buildings or smart mobility solutions, which, in turn, lead to a more sustainable future for Europe’s cities and regions.

Whether it’s helping boost “clean” wind power, providing funds to create new small and medium-size enterprises, improve investments in research and development, design new programmes to help people with disability, facilitate the introduction of new technologies for “agriculture 4.0”, or co-fund the production of films and cultural projects, EU funding helps make a difference on a local level in Spain.

Only some of these stories feature in this brochure. But look around in your community and you will see that behind European investments there is a wealth of people’s stories to discover.

FATIMA

ODILO

INNOCÁMARAS

POR TALENTO

PLOCAN

SAICA

LET’S DANCE

EDIFICIO FONDO

MELILLA I+D+I

VIVIENDAS USO SOCIAL

EXOVITE

Removing barriers to employment for people with disabilities

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EU-funded online platform Por Talento was developed by Inserta Empleo, an arm of Spain’s ONCE Foundation specialising in training and employment for people with disabilities. Since 2009, it has helped over 38 000 people with disabilities to find work in Spain.

“Por Talento is an online platform aimed at supporting people with disabilities, their families, companies and society as a whole to increase their opportunities for employment and training”, explains project head and Inserta Empleo director Virginia Carcedo.

The platform acts as an intermediary between jobseekers and companies. Firstly, it helps companies to understand that taking on a person with disabilities “is not a problem but an opportunity”.

Secondly, its training courses and jobseeker’s plans tailored to each applicant help people with disabilities to increase their employability and find work.

In addition, Por Talento has one of Spain’s largest employment databases, with 240 000 people and more than 4 000 companies registered. The companies range from the biggest Spanish and multinational firms to small and medium-sized enterprises.

“With this pool of talent, our staff and the person with a disability together devise a route to employment and a timetable”, says Carcedo.

Beneficiary Patricia Carmona, who found a job with human resources company Ilunion Capital Humano, recounts how Por Talento helped her with her job search.

“The job interviews they do help to pinpoint your strong and weak points, and also their database, which has a huge number of companies looking for people with disabilities, gives you a lot more options”, she confirms.

Furthermore, the platform, with its accessible content and interface, enables people with disabilities to register online and access training courses and video tutorials.

Each of these aspects is reinforced through the use of physical offices. Here, people who do not have internet access or have difficulty using internet services can register on the platform with the aid of Inserta staff.

The work of the online platform is also backed up by various communication campaigns focusing on specific sectors and unique circumstances. As Carcedo highlights, a good example is women who suffer “double discrimination for being disabled and also for being a woman.”

There is also a strong emphasis on youth. In addition to the barriers typically suffered by people with disabilities, the economic crisis has led Inserta and Por Talento to focus their efforts on young people to facilitate their training and access to the labour market.

POR TALENTO NATION WIDE

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Infrastructure and consultancy services support innovationPromoting research, development and innovation in Melilla and encouraging the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) throughout Spain: these are two goals which EU support for innovative projects is helping to achieve. The overall effect is job creation in various sectors of the economy.

The EU aspires to enable everyone to participate in the knowledge economy so that all citizens, especially young people, can acquire the skills that will enable them to enter a job market that is ever more competitive as a result of the digital revolution.

Because of this, no European country or region can afford to look on from the sidelines. With help from the EU’s European Regional Development Fund, the Spanish city of Melilla has got on board, in line with the spirit of the Europe 2020 strategy which promotes smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

One example of this is the Melilla Technology Centre. According to its coordinators, it aims

to be “an engine for progress in the field of innovation and in information and communication technologies”, and it has become a reference point since it opened in 2015.

One of the centre’s main objectives is “to disseminate technological know-how throughout society and to supply all the tools and scientific procedures necessary to carry out projects, providing the main support for training and educational activities and symbolising its role as the impetus for the use of technology in Melilla”.

The Melilla Technology Centre is not the only project funded by the EU to promote innovation. The same goal inspired InnoCámaras, a programme designed by the Spanish Chambers of Commerce aimed at providing subsidies, consultancy services and channels of communication for SMEs.

Henceforth, all SMEs who wish to innovate will find better conditions for doing so thanks to European Structural and Investment Funds. InnoCámaras beneficiaries receive expert advice to identify their needs and get the chance to enhance their knowledge and understanding without using their own resources. Later, they can obtain the grants necessary to implement their projects.

The programme offers “tailor-made solutions for SMEs through innovation, including knowledge transfer activities”, explains Luisa Artiz Cohen, communications director for the Spanish Chamber of Commerce. “More than 16 000 Spanish SMEs have benefited from this project, which will extend to 2023”, she adds.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND CONSULTANCY TO ENCOURAGE INNOVATION MELILLA, NATION WIDE

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NATION WIDEODILOReadinggoes digitalOdilo, a Spanish digital content provider from Murcia, was set up in 2011 with the aim of uploading libraries to the cloud. Its original approach enabled it to get financing from the EU’s European Investment Fund.

Odilo started as a group of 14 people who worked for three years to develop the company with no outside funding. Subsequently, some €9 million of financing obtained over several stages has enabled them to create a catalogue containing 1.3 million titles in more than 40 languages.

They have also signed contracts with major companies to manage their content digitally and reached agreements with some 2 500 publishers to make their titles available in libraries, schools and leisure centres.

With EU financing, Odilo now aims to deploy its technology in the education sector in order to improve reading standards in Spain.

According to CEO Rodrigo Rodríguez, “Our platform makes it possible to get away from the traditional model of reading. Hence, literature becomes a social activity and turns students into proactive readers”.

“They can make comments, resolve problems in the book, add links and videos or ask questions to their classmates or their teacher: We can make the book totally interactive”.

Data from the platform shows teachers what their pupils are interested in and allows them to adjust study plans to their needs.

The technology developed by Odilo helps to improve learning capacity, assess reading comprehension skills and stimulate students, while also encouraging reading from an early age.

Another important role of digital libraries such as Odilo is to “democratise education” and “give those without the financial resources to buy books the opportunity to read”, says Rodríguez.

The technology developed by Odilo is also important as a vehicle to promote bilingual education. By making written and audio books available in several languages, it grants students first-hand access to content that will help them improve their knowledge of other languages.

This start-up based in Cartagena has already reached agreements with various Spanish regions to introduce its collaborative reading platform. This will enable students and teachers in public schools across Spain to access this pioneering European technology.

The company’s future plans include continuing to expand its team and branching out into other European countries, beginning with those where English is the native tongue.

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ARAGONEXOVITEArtistic innovation set to musicTo see the 150 dancers from four countries involved in Let’s Dance perform is to hear them speak the same language. Cultural exchange, inclusion of people with disabilities or at risk of social exclusion and professional training complete the setting for this EU-funded project.

Let’s Dance promotes the cooperation and mobility of young artists through exchanges involving cultural institutions in four countries. This gives them access to the wider European artistic scene and expands their cultural awareness. Via the international language of dance, the project also reflects on the subject of migration and its impact on Europe’s people and culture.

The Granada headquarters of the Escuela Pública de Formación Cultural de Andalucía (Andalusia Public School of Cultural Training), run by the Agencia Andaluza de Instituciones Culturales (Andalusian Agency for Cultural Institutions), a body under the responsibility of the regional government’s Department of Culture, created the pieces that were staged during the project. They were performed by 35 Spanish dancers of all ages and abilities, alongside their colleagues from Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The

participants from the four countries exchanged experiences and merged their work into a single performance with a common thread: migration in Europe.

Europe is thus reclaiming dance as a vehicle of dialogue and integration since dance knows no language barriers and is an essential part of culture. The European Commission funded Let’s Dance to the tune of €195 745, 60 % of the overall budget.

Through its MEDIA area, focused on the audio-visual and video gaming industry, and CULTURE area, centred on dance, music, literature, theatre and the fine arts, the EU’s Creative Europe programme will invest a total of €1.46 billion in the cultural and creative sectors between 2014 and 2020. This has enabled these sectors to continue to contribute to economic growth, job creation and social cohesion in the EU.

ANDALUSIALET’S DANCEMending broken bones without plaster castsBroken bones require immobilisation followed by rehabilitation. Technology developed by Exovite brings together both aspects – combining 3D printing and electrical stimulation via a mobile phone. Backed by EU funding, the Zaragoza-based company guarantees faster, more comfortable and cheaper recovery.

Exovite uses 3D printing to produce splints that immobilise broken bones once they have been scanned. The process takes about five minutes. Afterwards, electrical stimulation technology is applied. The semi-open design of the splint allows electrodes, which emit small charges that strengthen the muscles and help them to recover, to be placed on the patient’s skin. Treatment information can then be sent to doctors from the patient’s mobile phone, which is connected to the stimulation device by Bluetooth.

The combination of technologies allows patients to receive 80 % of their treatment at home, reducing recovery times by up to 10 % and healthcare costs by up to 30 %.

Today, Exovite technology is used in more than 50 hospitals and the company’s engineers are working on applying it to animals. “For those

of us who are part of the Exovite family, it’s not only about earning money or growing the company. What drives us is that our dream, our passion, serves to help others’, says CEO and founder Juan Monzón. “And if, on top of that, you can do it as part of a human team where you are not just an engineer but rather a part of a project that grows with the collaboration of others, it is a privilege”.

To reach this stage, Exovite needed funding. “At the time, the greatest difficulty in obtaining it (funding) was because it was a health project – where there are no guarantees”, adds Monzón. The €300 000 loan Exovite received through the Compañía Española de Reafianzamiento (Spanish Refinancing Company), backed by the European Commission and the European Investment Fund, allowed it to make its first product to show to investors.

FATIMA CASTILLA-LA MANCHA

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A digital revolution in the Spanish countrysideFounded by agronomists and farmers, Spanish technology company AgriSat Iberia created the FATIMA project in 2015 with EU support. The main aim is to develop software tools to enable farmers to optimise resource use and productivity.

FATIMA coordinator Anna Osann says that “the project data helps farmers reduce their production costs without diminishing their yield”, which increases profits. The data is generated by satellite imagery which can tell farmers a week in advance how much water will be needed for crops in over 5 000 hectares of field of various types across Spain, explains Osann.

Sensors and satellite images make it possible to produce graphs showing crop progress, problems and needs in a given piece of land. Farmers receive this information on a regular basis and can thus intervene to influence productivity.

AgriSat has also developed an application for mobile devices which shows the current state of crops and analyses and compares growth using charts. This gives farmers even more precise information and greater control, enabling them to identify variations between plots of land and

to increase efficiency by managing each area in accordance with its production potential. “With the mobile app, profits are higher as it tells you what resources to use and in which areas of the field to apply them”, says Osann.

Developed in Albacete, in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha, the tools are available for use by farmers in some nine countries. “Over the three years that the FATIMA project has been in operation it has fulfilled our expectations, in terms of both R&D results and innovative technologies”, Osann confirms with great satisfaction.

An EU marine research and development baseIn a world where fossil fuels are becoming increasingly scarce, to the point of running out, it is essential to look for new forms of energy. Waves, tides, currents and winds could act as a spearhead to help the planet move forward over the coming decades. With EU assistance, the PLOCAN oceanic platform is exploring the possibilities offered by these clean energy sources as alternatives to oil.

According to its promoters, the “Plataforma Oceánica de Canarias/Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands” (PLOCAN) is like a floating laboratory on the open sea. They describe it as “an emergent space for conceiving new cutting-edge technological tools for the energy sector”.

Thanks to PLOCAN, which is stationed like a “scientific aircraft carrier” in the seas to the north of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, European experts are driving forward progress in the fields of biotechnology, renewable energy and the design of marine vehicles and robots.

However, despite its multiple functions, PLOCAN’s main objective is “to develop new technologies in the field of renewable marine energy using waves, tides, currents or wind as primary energy sources, which require great

power and/or great depths”.

Why a marine laboratory rather than a laboratory on dry land? Experts insist that in the area of renewable marine energy, it is essential to have test rigs situated in a marine environment so as to be able to assess the results of experiments accurately.

With the PLOCAN platform, it will be possible to make advances “in demonstrating the proper functioning (of marine technologies) on a real-life scale, before they are introduced to the market”.

This innovative initiative has been made possible by EU funding, through the European Regional Development Fund among other instruments, which accounts for a substantial part of PLOCAN’s budget.

The challenges which Europe will face in the future require the foundations to be laid now for the exploitation of energy alternatives to petroleum, carbon and natural gas, the main fossil fuels, as part of moves towards the progressive decarbonisation of the European economy.

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URBAN PLANING FOR SOCIAL INCLUSION CATALONIA, NAVARRA

Urban planning for social integrationThe Fondo building, in the town of Santa Coloma de Gramenet near Barcelona, has become a new symbol of social integration for local inhabitants. With EU financial support, the modern multi-purpose site has brought together a number of useful services in an ecologically sensitive and sustainable way.

The Santa Coloma de Gramenet renovation project focuses on the neighbourhoods of Fondo, Raval, Santa Rosa and Safaretjos. The aim is to improve economic, social and environmental conditions in order to help enhance residents’ quality of life and encourage integration.

The main investment has been in the construction of the Fondo building, which has become a meeting place for around 42 000 people a day. The site includes a crèche, a library and a market, among other things, and is designed to foster neighbourly contact.

The project directors explained that they wanted to encourage residents to participate in recreational and cultural activities and thereby create a spirit of cooperation. The Fondo building is now a local landmark and an example for the whole of Spain of the role architecture can play in integration.

Since 2005, the EU’s European Regional Development Fund has granted financial assis-tance to 43 Spanish cities for the improvement of neighbourhoods with specific needs.

As well as Santa Coloma de Gramenet, they include Pamplona, capital of Navarra, where EU funds have been used for the renovation of 21 previously unoccupied apartments.

The apartments will be used to house people at risk of social exclusion, including those who lack the means to rent accommodation or whose welfare benefits are due to come to an end.

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SAICA balances profit and sustainabilityIndustrial production that makes a profit while respecting the environment: that’s the goal of Spanish corrugated paper maker SAICA. EU funding is enabling the company to play its part in the circular economy, a system aimed at getting maximum value from and recycling resources.

SAICA is planning to renew two production lines at its plant at El Burgo del Ebro, near Zaragoza, with the aim of reducing the environmental impact of production, reusing packaging and substituting materials that are overused. Thanks to a European Investment Bank loan, the company will use innovative technology to turn old liquid containers into a new type of corrugated paper, which, SAICA states, “will look like and have the same properties as paper made from virgin pulp”.

This improvement “will not only have a direct positive effect on the environment, avoiding storage containers for liquid ending up in rubbish tips, but will also increase employment in the area. When the project comes on-stream it will create 570 new temporary jobs, of which 118 will become permanent”.

“EU aid will be used to replace machinery and improve waste water treatment”, the company

adds. “In addition, part of the capital will be used to develop different ranges of white paper for high-quality printing”.

Modernisation of the plant will not drastically change production levels, but SAICA will be able to turn out 270 000 examples of biodegradable paper products by using waste paper and replacing “over-exploited materials such as wood, with other materials that are more environmentally friendly and much more affordable”.

In short, EU support is enabling SAICA to adapt its processes with a view to implementing sustainable long-term strategies.

ARAGONSAICA

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Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2018

© European Union, 2018Reuse is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.The reuse policy of European Commission documents is regulated by Decision 2011/833/EU (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39).

For any use or reproduction of photos or other material that is not under the EU copyright, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holders.

Print ISBN 978-92-79-72334-6 doi: 10.2775/682755 NA-06-17-038-EN-CPDF ISBN 978-92-79-72336-0 doi: 10.2775/92849 NA-06-17-038-EN-N

WHERE TO FIND MORE INFORMATION:

General information about the Investment Plan for Europe: ec.europa.eu/invest-eu

Representation of the European Commission in Spain:Paseo de la Castellana, 4628046 Madrid SPAIN

Tel. +34 91 423 80 00Email: comm-rep-es-docu@ec.europa.eu Internet: ec.europa.eu/spain

Find a Europe Direct centre near you for information:europa.eu/european-union/contact_en