The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has published the definitive selection of 189 innovative projects of territorial transformation and combating depopulation promoted by local entities, which will be financed with a total of 40 million euros. This was announced this Tuesday by the Secretary General for the Demographic Challenge, Paco Boya, in the Congress of Deputies. In Asturias, MITECO allocates 1,167,305 euros to six innovative projects in the municipalities of Teverga, Cangas del Narcea, Aller, Boal, Santa Eulalia de Oscos and Castropol. Among the projects to be financed in the Principality are projects for ethnographic recovery, support for digitalization in the rural environment, improvements in livestock markets; the creation of agri-food cooperatives or the construction of a gymnasium, among other issues.
“The policy of demographic challenge is a country policy, an essential component of competitiveness, social justice and ecological transition in Spain, guarantor of the right of citizens to remain”, said Boya when presenting the II National Strategy for Territorial Equity and the Demographic Challenge, in the Commission on Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge.
BIOECONOMY, CLIMATE RESILIENCE, CARE, TRANSPORT…
The final resolution of the call for 2025 aimed at local entities includes initiatives for housing, bioeconomy, climate resilience, care, transport, entrepreneurship and culture. After the designation of this definitive list, the process will culminate in the granting of the aid and its notification to the final beneficiaries.
The largest number of projects are located in Andalusia (41), Castilla y León (37), Aragon (21), Catalonia (16), Extremadura (15) and Comunitat Valenciana (14). The recipients of the grant include 18 provincial deputies, three autonomous uniprovincial communities, 13 counties, 35 communes and consortiums, and 120 municipalities, smaller local entities and groups.
1,200 APPLICATIONS
In this line of aid, more than 1,200 applications were received, by municipalities, island councils and councils, provinces, entities of higher or lower scope of the municipality, consortiums, groupings of municipalities without legal personality, and uniprovincial autonomous communities, which demonstrates the interest and high competitiveness in the process.
This call is joined by two others launched in 2025 to finance innovation projects promoted by non-profit entities and SMEs, self-employed persons and social economy entities, whose provisional lists of beneficiaries will be published in the coming weeks.
MORE THAN 900 PROJECTS PROMOTED THROUGHOUT THE TERRITORY
The grants are part of the Government’s policy to address the demographic challenge through actions that combine innovation, economic activity, services and opportunities in territories with special demographic difficulties.
Between the calls of 2022 and 2025, 739 projects of territorial innovation promoted by local entities, throughout the Spanish geography, have been financed. While in the calls of 2022 and 2023 for non-profit associations and by companies and autonomous people there were 198 projects funded.
The objective is to support innovative initiatives with the capacity to generate models that can be replicated in other territories that face similar demographic challenges. In addition, it seeks to strengthen the role of local entities as fundamental agents to promote new economic and social opportunities, promote their adaptation in the face of the climate emergency, favor the diversification of local economies and contribute to establishing and attracting population.