Note: You can register for our GEM National Report webinar taking place on 20 June, featuring GEM Spain and GEM Austria.
The latest GEM Spain National report shows the state of innovative entrepreneurship in the country has made a comeback. The GEM Spain 2022-2023 report on innovative entrepreneurship is supported by ENISA and presented in collaboration with the MAPFRE Observatory for Sustainable Finance and included the participation of Carme Artigas, Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence.
The report showed that the business services sector (B2B) is consolidating its position as a niche for medium-high technology entrepreneurship.
With a sample covering 36,000 people aged between 18 and 64 throughout the country, the report presents a positive diagnosis of the recovery of Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) to pre-pandemic levels.
“This result reflects the innovative entrepreneurial spirit that we have in our country and which is undoubtedly already admired abroad due to the talent that it brings,” explained José Bayón, CEO of ENISA.
"The motivations for entrepreneurship in Spain are still not very ambitious and have been negatively affected by the years of pandemic,” said Nuria Calvo Babío, Technical Director of the GEM Spain project, during the launch at the MAPFRE Foundation Auditorium.
The report also highlighted that women and men, regardless of whether their income level is high or low, are equally entrepreneurial.
“Nonetheless, age is a factor that has changed, since older and more qualified people are becoming entrepreneurs,” Calvo highlighted. “If the number of young entrepreneurs does not grow in the future, we will continue to maintain an ageing entrepreneurial profile and, therefore, we will have a shorter time frame than the benchmark countries.”
An in-depth analysis is more than necessary
The report points out that in 2022, 6% of the adult Spanish population was starting a new business project of less than three and a half years (a percentage similar to that of 2019) before the health crisis and the invasion of Ukraine. It also highlights that the percentage of those who intend to start a business in the next three years is 9.4%, which is the highest since 2012.
“This confirms a growth in entrepreneurial activity similar to that experienced after the 2008 financial crisis”, said Bayón.
However, out of the 48 countries analyzed, Spain is among those in which the environment conditions for entrepreneurship are perceived to be the worst, although it maintains an average level of innovation, a position similar to that of Italy.
For Ana Fernández Laviada, president of the Spanish Entrepreneurship Observatory, the glass is half full. “Entrepreneurial activity in Spain is lower, but more resilient than in other countries, with the lowest rates of closure in its group of benchmark countries. Although it still ranks behind its benchmark countries (high-income countries) in the early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) rate, the percentage of business closures in Spain is the lowest in its group, consolidating Spain as a favourable environment for the survival of entrepreneurial initiatives.”
The highest rates of entrepreneurship are found at higher education levels. In 2022, 11% of people with a university education stated that they were thinking of starting a business in the following three years; 9% are already doing so and another 9% are running consolidated companies, which have been in existence for over three and a half years. Moreover, among those who have completed a Master's Degree or Doctorate, the percentage of female entrepreneurs is significantly higher than that of men, especially in the early-stage of entrepreneurial activity (TEA). This is a clear indicator of the entrepreneurial vocation of highly qualified women in Spain. The perception of having specific knowledge for entrepreneurship also increases among entrepreneurs compared to the previous year, reflecting the effort made by educational institutions in this country to offer specific training programmes in entrepreneurship.
Additional points
In Spain, the income level is not a determining factor for entrepreneurship, as there is no predominance of entrepreneurs with above-average incomes. In 2022, those who started their projects did so with less capital than in previous years. Six out of every ten business projects required seed capital of less than €30,000, which reflects the small size of their initiatives. However, at the same time, this facilitates their financing.
Seven out of every ten entrepreneurs start their business in the services sector (to consumers and other companies). In recent years, the percentage of those offering services to other companies has increased, which strengthens the business fabric of our country.
In the last three years, the technological level of early-stage (TEA) and consolidated entrepreneurial initiatives has been increasing. One in ten entrepreneurial initiatives is classified as having a medium or high technological level, a percentage that doubles if the entrepreneur has a university or higher level of education. In 2022, the business services sector (B2B) consolidates itself as a niche for medium-high technological level entrepreneurial initiatives.
The innovative capacity of early-stage initiatives (TEA) is increasing in all productive sectors. Initiatives with a larger number of employees and non-family initiatives innovate more. However, this year, one in four early-stage initiatives (TEA) with a family ownership and/or management structure offer new products and processes to the market, which is double the percentage of consolidated initiatives.
The digitalisation of business processes varies throughout the entrepreneurial process. The adoption and improvement of digital technologies, as a consequence of the pandemic, has been higher among early-stage initiatives run by younger entrepreneurs. Younger people are more likely to react to unforeseen situations, but senior entrepreneurs are more likely to plan in advance.
The internationalisation capability of early-stage initiatives (TEA) has increased by 5% and can be classified as born-global, with a range of exports that exceeds 75%. Consolidated initiatives are gradually increasing their internationalisation capability and it is foreseeable that in the coming years they will increase their orientation towards international markets.
Consistency between the strategic orientation towards the sustainability of entrepreneurial initiatives and their effective implementation is increasing by means of specific business practices. Female entrepreneurs are still somewhat more likely to prioritise the social and environmental impact of their entrepreneurial initiatives than men. This behaviour also changes depending on their region of origin.
“Despite perceiving fewer opportunities than in previous years and having a fear of failure, entrepreneurial activity is increasing slightly,” said Fernández Laviada. “In Spain, entrepreneurship is taking place at an older age and the capability for innovation, digitalisation and internationalisation is linked to an increasingly higher level of education. Entrepreneurs in Spain are resistant to closure, are loyal to their workforce, have a social and environmental commitment and demand better environmental conditions for entrepreneurship.”
The presentation of the report included the participation of Carme Artigas, Secretary of State for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence; Ana Fernández Laviada, President of the Spanish Entrepreneurship Observatory; José Bayón, CEO of ENISA; Gregorio Holguín, Head of MAPFRE Alliances Spain; Jordi García, Director of Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Development at ENISA; Luis Pérez Echeguren, ADER La Rioja; Irene Chía, co-founder and CEO of Cazatuplaza, and Marta Ortiz, founder and CEO of Matiz.
Download the report.
About Enisa
The National Innovation Company is a public company attached to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, whose mission is to help viable and innovative projects, driven by entrepreneurs or small and medium-sized Spanish enterprises, to find the necessary funding to develop and compete in a global market.
The universe of companies that approach Enisa seeking financing for their business project is very broad, with a presence in all sectors and in all autonomous regions.
Enisa's participative loans require no guarantees other than those of the business project itself and a solvent management team, with amounts ranging from 25,000 to 1.5 million euros. Enisa's historical portfolio exceeds 8,280 loans in more than 7,200 companies for a total amount of more than 1,260 million euros.
About GEM Spain
Within the framework of the GEM global project, the Spanish Entrepreneurship Observatory, also known as RED GEM Spain, is the most powerful and productive national team in the consortium. It is currently organised into 19 regional and 8 provincial teams, covering and representing the entire national territory. It has almost 200 researchers and leading experts in entrepreneurship from the main Spanish universities. Thanks to the support of ENISA, a public entity attached to the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, and more than 200 institutions and companies, the regional teams produce annual reports and studies that serve as a source and inspiration for the definition of entrepreneurship policies.
For media requests, contact comunicacion@gem-spain.com.
Learn more about GEM Spain at https://www.gem-spain.com and register for the GEM National Report webinar featuring GEM Spain and GEM Austria (20 June).