Over 2.5 million euros for neighbourhood enterprises with ‘Impulsem el que fas’
The seventh edition of the subsidy call ‘Impulsem el que fas’, offered through Barcelona Activa, provided a total of 2.5 million euros for 156 projects in local neighbourhood economies. These are enterprises created by individuals, companies and organisations in the third sector, familiar with daily life in each corner of the city. The funding helps boost services and resources offered to members of the public from business premises in the streets. A new call is planned to help more projects in second quarter of 2024, and should include some changes to categories, the goal being for more people to be able to develop their projects.
The main characteristic of this programme is to provide funding of up to 80% of the budget for each project, up to a maximum subsidy of 40,000, except for the ‘Amunt Persianes’ category, which offers a maximum of 20,000 euros for opening businesses in ground-floor premises, or 6,000 euros for active businesses included in the Neighbourhood Plan.
These are projects rooted in the local area, fostering enterprise, quality jobs, sustainable food, responsible consumption, the use of ground-floor business premises, innovation, local logistics, zero-emissions vehicles and more. At a territorial level, 30% of projects have a citywide scope, and the districts with the most projects benefitting are Ciutat Vella (20%), followed by Sant Martí (10%), Sants (9%) and L’Eixample (8%).
What made this year’s edition different was the diversity of sectors and the locations of projects put forward. For instance, some of the projects receiving subsidies included an aquatic school specialising in babies and pregnant women, local workshops and exhibitions by artists, shops selling locally sourced food and sports training centres adopting digitalisation tools.
