Spain announces a €600 million AI voucher for small businesses: what it will pay for and why you can't apply yet
On 21 September the Spanish Government presented the IA360 Plan, its roadmap for bringing artificial intelligence into companies. One of its measures is aimed squarely at small businesses: a business AI voucher with a budget of €600 million. It's good news, with one important caveat: you can't apply for it yet.
What the voucher will pay for
According to the plan's official document, the voucher will fund AI-based services and solutions delivered by European technology companies that add something of their own: development, integration, sector knowledge, data work or process redesign. Three details set it apart from other grants:
- No licences. The plan says it will not fund "the mere subscription to licences": it is aimed at services that change how the company works.
- A concrete use case. There will be a prior maturity assessment, a specific use case and a later measurement of its effect on productivity.
- Paid by milestones. The planned design includes milestone payments and conditions on AI training for staff.
When it will arrive
The plan's own timeline:
- First half of 2027: design, regulatory groundwork and a controlled pilot.
- Before the end of 2027: the general call, with the €600 million.
The stated goal is 25,000 transformed companies by 2030. The amount per company, the exact requirements and the procedure are not known yet: they will come with the call's rules.
What is already moving
The plan also creates the NEURONA Network, a network of centres where a company can see AI working in its sector and test it with its own data. Its first pilot, with 100 small businesses in two regions, is planned before the end of 2026.
And since 9 September Red.es has had an open call worth up to €40 million to develop AI use cases for small businesses and startups. Note: small businesses don't apply to it. Business associations and technology centres do, and then offer those use cases to companies. The deadline is two months from its publication on the Red.es website.
Be wary of anyone offering it already
We saw it with the Digital Kit: as soon as a grant is announced, offers appear to "process" something that doesn't exist yet. If someone offers to handle your AI voucher today, ask them which call and which rules. As of today, none has been published.
What you can do in the meantime
- Pick one process. The voucher will ask for a concrete use case. Think of a task that repeats every week and is done by hand today.
- Measure how you do it today. If the effect on productivity has to be measured later, it helps to know your starting point: how long it takes and how many errors it has.
- Start with training. The voucher will set AI training conditions, and the EU AI Act has required since February 2025 that people using these tools in a company have sufficient AI literacy.
None of these three things depends on the call coming out, and all three mean that, when it does, half the work is already done.