A Spain-Portugal Fund of EUR 484 M, of which EUR 365 M will be financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), has just been announced under the Inter-regional Spain-Portugal European Development Fund (POCTEP). It is the largest Program of the kind in the European Union.
The POCTEP Program will provide support for the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy in the Spanish – Portuguese border region. The Program integrates borders of 1,234 km divided into six regions: Galicia-Northern Portugal, Northern Portugal-Castile and Leon, Castile and Leon-Central Portugal, Alentejo-Central Estremadura, Alentejo-Algarve-Andalucía and the multi-regional area.
According to the Secretary of State for Regional Development, Isabel Ferreira, at the seminar to publicly present the POCTEP, “this is the largest EC-funded cross-border Program that will leverage development and competitiveness in the low-density regions."
The Program will promote sustainable jobs, labor-mobility and corporate networks in order to boost research and knowledge transfer and to promote energy efficiency projects.
In the field of Smart Growth, the Program will provide capacity-building for cross-border innovation as well as support to SMEs, especially in the field of R&D. Other areas of intervention include Sustainable Growth to adapt to Climate Change and Territorial Cohesion for cross-border public services.
The Spain-Portugal Fund will Promote research, technological development and innovation for commercial use. This will include technological transfer, university-business cooperation and support to SMEs with a network of mentors as well as business incubation for globalization.
Fund beneficiaries will include Universities, Technology Centers as well as Business Associations. Under this Program, Spain and Portugal will carry out joint initiatives and the first bids will be launched in December 2022.
Source: https://www.portugalbusinessesnews.com/post/spain-portugal-fund
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