The University, Research, and Innovation Department of Andalucia is mobilizing more than €370 million for R&D&I, strategic infrastructures, and entrepreneurship. This was highlighted by its chief Mr. José Carlos Gómez Villamandos during his appearance before a parliamentary committee, where he explained that €203.2 million corresponds to the ‘InvestigAndalucía’ initiative, aimed at strengthening the focus on young talent and scientific employment, while ‘InnovAndalucía’ includes €59 million to promote business and technological innovation in sectors strategic for the region. Additionally, €108 million will be allocated to strategic infrastructures for the search for clean energy, such as IFMIF-DONES in Granada and TOKAMAK SMART in Seville, and three lines of incentives worth €2.2 million will be published in the entrepreneurial sphere.
During his intervention, he emphasized that these incentives “reflect a firm commitment to knowledge transfer, the generation of added value, and the strengthening of capacities that allow us to face present and future challenges with confidence.” In this regard, Gómez Villamandos highlighted the approval in 2022 of the Andalusian Research, Development, and Innovation Strategy, EIDIA Horizon 2027, a planning instrument for the region’s research policy, which “represents the Andalusian Government’s commitment to R&D&I as a basis for economic growth in the region and aims to increase the percentage of the population engaged in R&D activities, foster the training and retention of talent in our land, and attract investments and innovative ideas that enrich our productive fabric.”
The responsible for University stated that the results of these new policies are already visible in the evolution of certain indicators, such as the increase in R&D&I investment in both public and private sectors. He highlighted that Andalusia, according to INE data, has achieved for the second consecutive year the highest investment in R&D in its history, reaching €2.31 billion in 2024. “Compared to 2018, Andalusian investment in research and development last year represents an additional €830.5 million, equivalent to a 56.1% increase since the start of Juanma Moreno’s government,” he noted.
He added that in Andalusia, most R&D efforts come from the public sector, including public administration and universities, which “provided 62.4% of the funds allocated to this area in 2024, amounting to €1.442 billion, the second-best figure in the historical series, slightly below the 2023 investment.” He also noted that Andalusia leads in the employment of researchers in Spanish public universities, with 18,251 professionals engaged in research in 2023/2024, ahead of Madrid and Catalonia.
Gómez Villamandos explained that this year the Department has promoted the incorporation of 274 researchers (predoctoral, postdoctoral, and through the Emergia program) into the Andalusian knowledge system, with public funds totaling €38.42 million. Calls for applied research projects worth €25 million are about to be resolved, as well as calls for research excellence units and competitive research units totaling €27 million. “This is a decisive policy for Andalusia,” stressed the Gómez Villamandos, who also highlighted, in terms of innovation, the calls for two innovation cluster lines worth €9 million, as well as two lines directed at technology centers worth €22.6 million under ‘InnovAndalucía,’ funded through the Andalucía FEDER Program 2021-2027.
In this context, Gómez Villamandos explained that “in early 2026 we will launch a new call for applied research projects worth €25 million, so that in just two years we will have called for €50 million.” At the same time, a fundamental research call for €9.75 million will also be launched. “The beginning of the year will also be the right time to publish calls for university equipment (€30 million), non-university equipment (€6.5 million), and calls aimed at knowledge transfer and dissemination (€5 million),” he emphasized.
Upcoming Calls
He also referred to calls expected later in 2025: International Excellence Campuses (€5 million); incentives for non-university R&D&I support staff (€30 million); and predoctoral and postdoctoral calls (€20 million over two years). Incentives for university R&D&I support staff (€20 million) will be published in early 2026. In December, the remaining two lines of the ‘InnovAndalucía’ initiative will be published: one for innovative projects in companies (€11.4 million) and one for sustainable aviation development (€15 million).
Before the end of the year, three incentive lines worth €2.2 million will be published to promote entrepreneurial initiatives, especially in the university environment; foster open innovation by promoting collaboration between startups and leading companies to accelerate knowledge and technology transfer; and accelerate innovative technology SMEs, facilitating their development from early stages.
Mr. Gómez Villamandos also highlighted the strengthening, during this legislative term, of the connection between university and entrepreneurship, completing the network of university entrepreneurship centers to promote innovative, knowledge-based companies, as well as establishing provincial entrepreneurship commissions, supporting the programs of the Association of Young Entrepreneurs of Andalusia (AJE), and signing a protocol last week to launch the DefTech Accelerator in Seville—a key instrument of the Andalusian Defense Hub promoted by FEDEME, aimed at supporting startups and technology SMEs in the defense and security value chain.
Furthermore, he referred to the support from the Department for strategic infrastructures for Andalusia and clean energy research, such as IFMIF-DONES in Granada, for which “we have today signed the financing agreement, with an unprecedented commitment of €100 million,” and TOKAMAK SMART in Seville, which has received an exceptional grant of €8 million to finance the second phase of the project following an agreement with the University of Seville (US).
87 Public Procurement for Innovation Projects with €207 Million Investment
Gómez Villamandos also highlighted that Andalusia has up to 87 Public Procurement for Innovation (PPI) projects at different stages, representing an investment of over €207 million. He recalled that the Ministry promotes, on one hand, the eCity project, which includes 12 actions with an allocation of nearly €20 million and aims to implement innovations in ICT, mobility, and energy efficiency at Sevilla TechPark, and, on the other, the Space Innova Andalucía project, endowed with €20.2 million, aimed at identifying innovative technological solutions in the space sector to apply them in areas managed by the regional administration related to emergency response, fire fighting, environmental management, or statistical and cartographic analysis.
Finally, Gómez Villamandos emphasized that Andalusia has top-level human capital, with researchers and scientists “recognized worldwide, as demonstrated by rankings, awards, and various international scientific publications.” “Thanks to this talent, our region has consolidated in recent years an increasingly robust innovation ecosystem, supported by world-class scientific infrastructures, internationally projected universities, a solid network of science and technology parks, a dynamic business fabric, and an institutional framework actively promoting the digital transition and knowledge economy,” said, adding that “the work carried out during this legislative term confirms a roadmap designed to transform Andalusia through knowledge, innovation, and talent.”
cloud technology axon
Addleshaw Goddard (AG), the London-headquartered international law fir...
