Madrid, December 26, 2024.- The Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Service activates the first 35 million euros of the Aid Plan for the Digitization of the Media, presented less than a month ago by the head of the department, Óscar López.
The aim of these grants is to digitally strengthen the media and communication sector, to preserve its competitiveness and to provide accurate information to the citizens, as stated in Article 20.1 of the Spanish Constitution.
Aid distribution
The measures – some already called for, others will be launched before the end of the year – are as follows:
a) 15 million euros through the National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE) in Cybersecurity
The INCIBE has published today a public invitation for the development of collaboration agreements for the promotion of cybersecurity with media and communication. 10 million will be destined to projects focused on strengthening and improving cybersecurity capabilities through the development of resources and the remaining 5 million euros to proposals aimed at training professionals who strengthen cybersecurity talent.
With this action the INCIBE aims to improve the cybersecurity of Spanish companies and media professionals, for which it is considered essential to collaborate in the training, awareness and awareness in cybersecurity of employees and users of the media that can carry out training and awareness actions in cybersecurity.
The deadline for the submission of proposals begins today and will be extended until 30 June 2025. Projects must be implemented by 30 June 2026 (capacity building projects) and 31 December 2025 (training projects).
This invitation may be attended by media companies, non-profit entities, business federations and associations or self-employed professionals whose representatives, associates, federates or participants are media companies or professionals, whether publishers, radio, television or the press.
The work will be carried out through the formalization of collaboration agreements between INCIBE and the collaborating entity for activities with a common purpose that will focus on the following concepts:
- Develop resources for awareness and communication actions in the field of cybersecurity.
- Develop digital skills in cybersecurity at all educational levels, through the development of specific resources, tools and materials.
- To train professionals who strengthen the talent in cybersecurity.
- Among others, and provided that its link with the previous objectives is justified, the following actions can be developed:
- Cybersecurity tools or solutions.
- Programs promoting a culture of cybersecurity.
- Generation of resources to raise awareness and awareness in cybersecurity of media professionals or citizens in general such as the generation of specific materials, training or events.
b) EUR 10 million for AI projects
The second line of grants will provide EUR 10 million to finance AI integration projects (under experimental development) in the media value chain of the publishing sector. These grants are aimed at large or medium-sized companies with publications of supraautonomic circulation, in more than 2 autonomous communities, which certify publication on paper, either daily or periodic, and which also have an associated digital medium.
Convened by the Secretary of State for Digitization and Artificial Intelligence, among the applications that can be developed with these grants are:
- Fact-checking: tools to identify and combat fake news.
- Content personalization: systems that adjust the news to the interests and needs of the user.
- Comment moderation: solutions to manage interactions on websites and social networks.
- Indexing, metadata and content search: including techniques such as Retrieval Augmented Generation.
- Transcription and accessibility: advanced systems that facilitate inclusion and access to information.
- Generation of summaries: tools to simplify texts and make the news more accessible.
- Other innovative AI applications that strengthen the media business model.
This line of aid will be launched before 31 December in non-competitive competition.
c) EUR 2 million for boosting productivity and promoting innovation based on data sharing
The call for data-driven or data-driven technology products and services, currently opened by the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, reserves a specific line of support for projects aimed at the media.
The objective of the call is to support the development of the technology industry through aid for the development of products and services aimed at data spaces and business data. These projects should offer solutions that promote the development of data spaces and the participation of companies, such as:
- Building blocks of data spaces
- Data Products and Services
- Data processing tools
- Data Space Platforms
- Discovery of data
- Tools to ensure regulatory compliance
The call, which opened on December 20, will remain open until January 31, 2025. Grants will be awarded on a non-competitive basis and projects must be completed by 30 June 2026.
d) 8 million euros for the creation and operation of data spaces in strategic sectors.
Within the framework of the Sectoral Data Area Programme, the call funds “pilot development” projects, grouped in two lines for two types of differentiated projects:
- Line 1. Demonstration centers: development of technological platforms of data spaces in strategic sectors.
- Line 2. Use cases: development of specific use cases to promote the promotion of strategic sectors
| Sector | Line Demonstrators (euros) | Line Cases of Use (euros) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agri-food | 1,000,000 | 2,000,000 | 3,000,000 |
| Sustainable mobility and transport | 1,000,000 | 2,000,000 | 3,000,000 |
| Health and safety | 1,000,000 | 2,000,000 | 3,000,000 |
| Social and care economy | 1,000,000 | 2,000,000 | 3,000,000 |
| The mass media | 2,000,000 | 6,000,000 | 8,000,000 |
| Other sectors | 10,000,000 | 44,577,854,07 | 54,577,854,07 |
| Total | 16,000,000 | 58,577,854,07 | 74,577,854,07 |
This second call for Data Spaces will be published before December 31, 2024.
Commitment to informative quality
All these measures reflect the commitment of the Government of Spain to the right of citizens to receive truthful information, as well as the support for the technological transformation of the media sector to preserve its competitiveness and its role as a fundamental vehicle for the formation and expression of the free and informed public opinion that our democracy requires.
The Council of Ministers approved on Tuesday 10 December 2024 the media aid plan endowed with 124.5 million euros, one of the measures included in the Action Plan for Democracy of the Government of Spain.
More information about the calls: