The Government of the Canary Islands approves the creation of an Office of Strategic Projects in Proexca to be more effective in the policy of attracting investments and in the support, monitoring and agility required by investment projects to materialize, contributing to the economic diversification of the archipelago.
It is about having a specific tool that can solve the problems they face "in the face of excessive regulation and bureaucracy, and the imperative need to comply with the appropriate times in the execution of projects that maintain the interest of investors and do not discourage them," explained Alfonso Cabello, Deputy Minister of the Presidency and President of Proexca.
Cabello, who gave a press conference with the general director of Organic Coordination and Strategic Projects, David Pérez-Dionis, took a tour of Proexca's activity in recent years since the Strategic Planning Instrument of the company was approved in 2020, which was intended to assume the internationalization of the economy by promoting other economic sectors that, together with tourism, strengthen the competitiveness of the archipelago.
Examples of leading sectors are animation, video games, audiovisual and aerospace, which place the Canary Islands in the focus of investment and value creation and, precisely, to channel and enhance these opportunities, "the Executive created this office, approved on June 9 in the Governing Council, which will operate in coordination with the General Directorate of Strategic Projects."
Among the functions of the new Office, explained Pérez-Dionis, "are the detection of strategic opportunities, the evaluation and management of project risks, and the active search for financing." It will also assume continuous monitoring of initiatives and institutional coordination with public and private agents. In addition, it will facilitate administrative agility and offer soft landing services for international companies interested in establishing themselves in the Canary Islands. In short, "this office will act as a dynamizer of projects and investment attraction, streamlining procedures and maximizing the economic impact of each initiative," he added.
The Government has provided the Office of Strategic Projects with 1.1 million euros for the next two years and will incorporate a team of specialized people. This budget allocation reinforces the role of PROEXCA as a bridge between investors and innovative projects, ensuring that each initiative receives the necessary support.
With this structure, the Canary Islands reinforces its message to investors: "we are a solid destination for future projects, with clear competitive advantages, real business opportunities and a firm public commitment," said Alfonso Cabello.
Together with the expansion of PROEXCA's foreign network and the strengthening of its Foreign Promotion and Invest in the Canary Islands departments, "the new Office completes the institutional gear to attract investment and talent to the archipelago and joins the measures already underway (sectoral plans, support for clusters and incentives) to consolidate the Canary Islands as a hub of innovation and sustainable growth," said the general director, who added that the institutional interest "at this time is not accidental."
In that sense, strategic projects will be valued for their contribution to the social and economic development of the Canary Islands, to the diversification of the economy, to the generation of quality employment, and therefore to the attraction and retention of talent, to the introduction of new areas of activity of high added value or to the attraction of investments in productive sectors with innovative potential and technological development.
Currently, added Pérez Dionis, "there are several projects in the process of validation related to the areas of Energy and Sustainability, such as the production of clean energy and waste management, sustainable production of desalinated water or the implementation of green hydrogen as a heat generation system; as well as others in the area of the Aerospace Sector, the area of the Blue Economy and in the area of Digitalization.