The Spanish industry is entering a phase marked by major transformations. After years shaped by the deployment of European funds, Spain’s industrial policy faces the challenge of turning that investment into competitiveness to meet a European context that is increasingly demanding.
The recent approval of SEPIDES’ Action Plan 2026-2028 is evidence of this shift. The agency aims to solidify its position as a key instrument in industrial policy. To that end, it places among its goals the boost of corporate competitiveness, the strengthening of SMEs, reindustrialization, sustainability, and territorial cohesion. It also identifies as core lines the optimization of business financing and public aid.
The Plan should not be interpreted, however, as an immediate announcement of new calls, but rather as a clear signal of where the public support capacity for industrial investment is being reinforced. Its relevance lies precisely in anticipating an industrial policy with a broader vision, in which public aid will increasingly coexist with financing instruments, support for new productive capacities, and actions aimed at facilitating the deployment and transformation of industrial projects.
In recent years, public funding has gained weight as a tool to drive industrial transformation. Between 2025 and 2026, SEPIDES mobilized more than €1.25 billion in aid tied to the industrial PERTEs, of which €734 million correspond to the PERTE VEC and €518 million to the PERTE for Industrial Decarbonization. In total, more than 230 industrial projects have been reached. The next step must go beyond simply securing more funds.
More complex investments
Industrial companies must face increasingly complex investments: new productive capacities, automation and digitalization, energy efficiency, decarbonization, technological innovation, or the adaptation of facilities. These are decisions that require planning and timelines that do not always align with the administrative calendar of calls. Understanding the public financing landscape helps illuminate which instruments can accompany these decisions.
In this new scenario, waiting for the publication of a call for proposals to define an investment can mean arriving late. Companies that want to effectively leverage public instruments should work with medium-term investment roadmaps, identify in advance which actions are eligible for support, and analyze which combination of grants, public financing, and own resources is most appropriate in each case.
Thus, SEPIDES’ Plan 2026-2028 reflects an increasingly broad conception of industrial policy: financing, territory, sustainability, digitalization, and talent. Its approval also comes at a moment when Europe seeks to strengthen its industrial capacity, accelerate ecological and digital transitions, and gain strategic autonomy.
The coming years will be marked by significant economic, technological, and environmental challenges. Therefore, turning industrial policy into real competitiveness will depend on connecting these large objectives with the investment and transformation needs of companies. And for that, public funding should not be merely a tool to boost specific projects, but a lever that strengthens the competitiveness of the Spanish industrial base.
David Carulla, Technical Manager International at Euro-Funding.
