At the joint session of the Board of Directors and the Advisory Board of the Innovation and Economic Development Agency of Valladolid (IdeVa) held today, the strategic lines that mark the budget for 2024 were presented to promote the 'City Project' that the Agency catalyses through its policies of innovation, economic promotion, business development and dynamization, as well as resource attraction.

In this framework, the role of the Agency is being a stimulus for entrepreneurial dynamism and resilience, especially through digital transformation and sustainability, in line with the Green Deal and the Digital Agenda for Europe with which the '100 Smart and Climate Neutral Cities by 2030 Mission' is aligned. 

Support for entrepreneurship and talent, and business development; innovation and European programmes are some of the pillars that also mark its strategic lines and its budget.

Support for entrepreneurship and business development

In this area, within the set of functions entrusted to the Agency for the development of public affairs and policies, work will be carried out along three basic strategic lines:

1. Revitalisation of the Agency's own physical space
2. Entrepreneurship support
3. Investment attraction

Strategic innovation

In this area, the Agency will continue to develop the Valladolid Innovation and Smart City Plan through the following lines of work:

• Deployment of the tools of the smart city platform and its component related to the Municipal Services Card; start of pilot projects in some of its areas, completion of the Municipal Sports Foundation area and consultancy for other projects in different areas that require a city platform, as in the case of the smart destination platform to be launched by SEGITTUR for Smart Tourism Destinations.
• Support for the automotive and components sector. Automotive Bureau.
• Recovery of the efficient lighting project, ‘Ríos de Luz’ (Rivers of Light) 
• Support to business innovation by promoting projects that comply with the municipal ordinance "Valladolid Demo City", such as test circuits in a real environment for connected electric vehicles.
• Promotion of the logistics and agri-food hub, through the contracting of the necessary technical assistance for studies on the need and demand for logistics land in Valladolid for the next 30 years; the design and dimensioning of the hub to take advantage of the situation location of the New Railway Goods Complex within the Atlantic Rail Corridor and the capacities of the railfreight freeways; the determining of the legal form of its exploitation, and the raising of EU funds. 
• Generation of a strong digital ecosystem in the city of Valladolid, a digital content hub to foster entrepreneurship and improve training in video games, Artificial Intelligence (AI), virtual reality and audio-visual production (digital arts). Encourage collaboration with organisations that favour the generation of synergies, through joint dissemination and investment attraction actions, within the framework of the Agency's reach:
  • The promotion and economic development of the city, employment in companies in the video game sector, virtual reality and audio-visual production and associated employment, both present and future, with the attraction of investment.
  • Improvement of education and training in digital technologies associated with the video game sector (design, development, art), adapted to the state of the art and technology, compatible with the curricula of Universities and Vocational Training Centres.
  • Boosting of Valladolid's local digital ecosystem and thus, laying the foundations for a digital content hotspot and, in particular, for the creation of digital arts and video games, encouraging programming at an early age, offering training in competitive excellence, retaining and attracting talent to the city of Valladolid and enabling the training of its citizens in digital skills.

European Programmes

With regard to European Programmes, the Agency is committed to the city’s decarbonisation in line with the 'European Mission for Smart and Climate Neutral Cities in 2030'. Thus, the implementation of the 'Valladolid Mission' will continue in 2024 now that the city has placed itself at the forefront of Europe by being one of the first ten European cities to obtain the Mission Label. 

The Valladolid Climate Agreement, which has been awarded the European Commission's Mission Label, will be implemented.

Raising new financial resources

In terms of attracting new financial resources, the objective is to reach all areas where these funds are generated, and also to support local agents seeking to access them, establishing actions and procedures to improve their attraction and management. Collaboration through partnerships and public-private alliances will be intensified. Special attention will be given to the new European mechanisms and to the opportunities generated by the Valladolid Mission Label.

With regard to the city's international projection, the city's participation in the international sphere will be strengthened by intensifying relations with other cities, through active participation in international city networks, forums, events and international projects. The aim is to position Valladolid as a benchmark in innovation, sustainability and smart, green and sustainable city projects. 

In this sense, the Agency for Innovation and Economic Development of Valladolid (IdeVa) will work on the recovery of the Ambassadors’ Network.