San Sebastián City Council, through Fomento San Sebastián, activates the DSS 2022 Economic Boost Plan of more than 8.4 million euros focused on youth, equality and territorial cohesion.
The Plan envisages five lines of action with the corresponding budget allocations:
• Promotion of territorial cohesion and employment for groups with greater difficulties in accessing the labor market, such as young people, women and people over 45 years of age. €4 million
• Promotion of new business projects. 1 million euros.
• Strengthening the city services fabric & supporting their digital transformation. €2.19 million.
• Promotion of science and innovation. 476,890 euros.
• Sustainable and innovative urban transformations. 686,101 euros.
A plan for gender equality
The main focus groups are young people, people over 45 years of age and women, a group in which the Plan will have greater involvement. There are programs to improve the employability of the most vulnerable women (unemployed, single-parent families, women at risk of social exclusion, etc.), with a special focus on the most vulnerable areas. Half of the investment is directed to specific programs to create a cohesive city, in which different groups have access to grants and financial opportunities, always in collaboration with other city stakeholders: companies, training centers, associations or institutions that are part of the entrepreneurial and innovative ecosystem. On the other hand, women with more qualifications will also benefit from mobility internships, the return of local talent or for hiring women under 35 years of age with higher academic training and who are unemployed.
San Sebastian entrepreneurial city
The Plan contemplates specific programs to support the creation of more competitive companies in traditional sectors, as well as for innovative entrepreneurship or to favor the competitiveness of companies in the growth and consolidation phase.
Transformation towards a city of services
San Sebastián has a rich business fabric that revolves mainly around the services sector, with special relevance in recent years in advanced services. Accompanying companies in their growth or settlement phases and in their digital transformation, to achieve competitive improvement, is another of the objectives of the Plan.
The weight of sectors such as commerce and the hotel industry in the GDP of San Sebastián is very important, employing more than 16,800 employees. Currently, the sector is in the process of structural transformation, with two major transitions that have impacted our trade: digital and environmental.
The Plan proposes different programs focused fundamentally on strengthening the competitiveness of the more traditional services sector through its progressive digitization. Likewise, there will be a commitment to the competitive improvement of advanced knowledge-based services that represent 44.5% of the productive fabric and 56.6% of employment in the city.
San Sebastián, city of Science and Innovation
Fomento de San Sebastián has been working for years to position our city as a benchmark in Science and Innovation, aware that it provides quality employment, wealth for the city and, therefore, a better quality of life, in addition to promoting the city brand .
Although San Sebastián has a broad innovative ecosystem, as evidenced by the thirty local agents associated with the Basque Science and Technology Network, the city should not be immune to a double global challenge: generating STEAM vocations drive for equality in science. In this sense, the Plan includes different education initiatives for innovation already consolidated, such as the Donostia Innovation Challenge, together with actions to raise awareness, among which the Innovation Week stands out, which this year will celebrate its ninth edition. In addition, an important asset is underway, such as Talent House 2, an almost unique facility in Europe that is in an advanced stage of construction.
Urban Transformation
The sustainable urban development of the city through innovative actions that respond to the needs of citizens and improve their quality of life is another of the plan's priorities. All these projects, which will be developed during 2022 in collaboration with stakeholders and companies in the city, will allow adaptation to the interests of citizens or specific groups. In addition, the European Next Generation funds are a strategic opportunity to develop these integral urban transformation projects, through the collaboration of public-private entities in our city that will allow us to maintain our commitment to the SMART services that are already being developed in different neighborhoods of the city.
