Fourth edition of APTenisa to boost the growth of 72 startups

The National Innovation Company (Enisa) and the Association of Science and Technology Parks of Spain (APTE) have signed a new agreement to launch the fourth edition of the APTenisa program for business ideation and acceleration. This edition will feature a competition involving 126 projects, from which the 42 best will be accelerated. Additionally, 30 startups will receive support in their investment processes.

The APTenisa program, promoted by Enisa and APTE, is now in its fourth edition and aims to facilitate the creation of new science- and technology-based companies while reducing the obstacles they face during their growth. It supports the development of companies to a size that makes them more competitive, aligning clearly with the objectives of the Spanish Government’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, the Law for the Creation and Growth of Companies, the Law for the Promotion of the Emerging Companies Ecosystem, and the Spain Up Nation Strategy.

In 2025, APTenisa will extend its support to 42 early-stage entrepreneurship projects through a common framework based on the Candy Innovation Model and Lean Launch Pad methodologies, implemented by La Salle Technova Barcelona, which participates in the program as a lead park.

As a new feature, the selection of these 42 projects will include a preliminary phase called APTenisa Competition, in which 126 projects will take part.

Another new aspect of this edition, as part of its mission to support startup growth and development, is APTenisa 2025’s APTenisa Investment Readiness initiative. Through this initiative, 30 additional startups will be prepared to successfully navigate investment forums by enhancing their readiness for investment.

In total, the APTenisa 2025 program will boost the growth of 72 startups.

APTenisa 2025 will involve 9 science and technology parks located across 5 autonomous communities: La Salle Technova Barcelona (Barcelona); Málaga TechPark (Málaga); Madrid Science Park (Madrid); ParcBit (Palma De Mallorca); Alicante Science Park (Alicante); Cartuja Science and Technology Park (Seville); Agri-Food Science and Technology Park of Lleida (Lleida); Fundació Parc de Recerca i Innovació Universitat de Girona (Girona); and the Technoparc Technology and Innovation Park (Reus, Tarragona).

APTenisa also addresses territorial, connectivity, and gender gaps by promoting initiatives that support digitalization and the implementation of technologies in various sectors, as well as fostering female entrepreneurship.

The collaboration between Enisa and APTE began in 2022 with the launch of the pilot edition of the APTenisa program. Since then, the program has been consolidated through successive editions, generating over 300 new business ideas and accelerating 99 startups.

The National Innovation Company highly values this collaboration. Borja Cabezón, CEO of this public company, stated: “The APTenisa program, now in its fourth edition, is proving to be a valuable tool for entrepreneurs to access the resources and support they need to bring their projects to life. The work that APTE and Spain’s Science and Technology Parks are doing, together with Enisa, enables the essential partnerships needed to drive and strengthen entrepreneurship in our country—especially in the field of technology.”

Felipe Romera, president of APTE, added: “I want to express my satisfaction with a program that allows our association to structure the national entrepreneurial ecosystem around Spanish science and technology parks and support the growth and development of new startups, which are essential to improving the level of innovation and competitiveness in our country.”

With the call for applications opening on June 3rd, projects will be able to register for the preliminary selection phase, called APTenisa COMPETITION. During this phase, projects will be selected to advance to the acceleration phase known as APTenisa LAUNCH.

The registration period will remain open from June 3rd to July 3rd, 2025.