The Vice-Mayor of Madrid and acting Mayor, Inma Sanz, visited this morning at La Nave (Villaverde) the free entrepreneurship promotion program ‘Playing to innovate’, promoted by the City of Madrid through this municipal innovation center and designed to foster the entrepreneurial spirit, innovation, creativity, and teamwork among Madrid children aged 8 to 12 during the summer months.
Sanz was accompanied by the Delegate for Economy, Innovation, and Finance, Engracia Hidalgo; the Delegate Councilor for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Ángel Niño, and the Councilor for Villaverde, Orlando Chacón. They all had the opportunity to see the group projects developed by the children who participated in the program this week, simulating the process of creating a startup and learning to create prototypes and understand the innovative ecosystem, among other aspects. They chatted with the young participants, encouraging them to have fun, work as a team, and enjoy being creative and entrepreneurial.
Sanz took advantage of the visit to La Nave to get a closer look at some of the projects of the startups currently housed in this innovation center through entrepreneurship programs like Orbital Paradigm, which produces the first Spanish satellite capable of returning from space and has just signed a framework agreement with the European Space Agency, or Ayúdame3D, specialized in personalized and free 3D prosthetics for those in need.
Innovation, a valuable bet
The City of Madrid, in its commitment to making the city a European benchmark for innovation, has been supporting the innovative ecosystem through various programs and a network of 11 municipal centers that have hosted and promoted over 1,100 startups since 2019.
La Nave alone has accelerated nearly 500 startups since the beginning of its activities, which have had an impact on the Madrid economy of 379 million euros and have generated around 1,300 direct jobs and over 2,800 indirect jobs.
«Madrid is in an excellent moment from the point of view of entrepreneurship and innovation,» emphasized Sanz. Proof of this is that it is the number 1 city in the world in emerging ecosystems, according to the Startup Genome ranking, jumping from 18th place to first place in just two years. «We are an open, free, and dynamic city that leads entrepreneurship in Spain with 34% of investors, 28% of the country’s startups, and an investment that exceeded 821 million euros last year,» she highlighted.
The municipal innovation network, with spaces like La Nave, Madrid in Game, iLab, or MiL, is already a reference in Europe. In 2024 alone, around 160 startups have been accelerated from these centers, and over 1,100 events have been held, with the participation of more than 77,000 people.
Investing in innovation is profitable and strategic. According to the European Commission, every euro invested in Horizon Europe, the Union’s main program to finance research and innovation, can generate up to 11 euros in European GDP growth by 2045. /
