- The Cluster will promote actions of urgent interest to contribute to sustainable development and circular economy.
- Developing the environmental technologies sector will contribute significantly to Galicia’s GDP.
- VIRATEC is a transversal cluster that integrates 58 companies and entities representing a turnover of more than 2,000 million euros.
Santiago de Compostela, September 29, 2021.- VIRATEC, the Cluster of environmental technology solutions and circular economy, has been the beneficiary of the call for grants for emerging clusters that has just been resolved by the Xunta de Galicia. This new line of aid activated this year aims to support and promote the activity of new clusters that aim to boost digital transformation and improve the competitiveness of Galician SMEs.
VIRATEC has the participation of 58 companies and entities representing a turnover of 2,000 million euros. Environmental solutions and the development of the circular economy is a transversal activity that is becoming strategic in more and more primary, industrial and service sectors, involving those sectors that are committed to sustainable development and environmentally friendly industrial activity.
VIRATEC joins public-private efforts in pursuit of the development of environmental solutions and the promotion of collaboration between agents for mutual benefit, understanding that competitiveness in environmental solutions is the competitiveness of the future. In this way, it aims to modernize Galician industry and its business fabric through the promotion of policies that favor its competitiveness through innovation and the transformation of its production models based on the Circular Economy and that contribute to sustainability and the transition to climate neutrality.
The aid funds will be allocated to the development of the strategic plan and its improvement, the implementation of two units, one for tractor projects and the other to support internationalization and access to foreign markets; and the organization of initiatives aimed at promoting the Galician, state and European strategies associated with the circular economy.
Actions aimed at boosting economic activity in Galicia
VIRATEC’s 2021-2024 Strategic Plan, which is currently being developed, will be based on six pillars: promotion of excellence in technological capacity; promotion of cooperation between companies in the sector; involvement in local and global environmental challenges; identification of international opportunities for companies in the sector; awareness and dissemination of an environmental culture; and contribution to the sustainable development of Galicia. This plan, which integrates the entire value chain, will take the form of singular actions that validate the plan’s programs.
VIRATEC will promote an Unit of collaborative tractor projects, where agents and companies in the environmental solutions sector can participate, aimed at attracting European funding for the promotion of R+D+i initiatives associated with enabling environmental technologies aligned with the strategic pillars of the Cluster. This unit will also provide technical support in the presentation of applications to the different instruments for attracting European funds or from other countries (USA, India, China or Israel). Similarly, an unit will be set up to support internationalization and access to foreign markets.
Finally, the funds granted in the aid to emerging clusters will also support the launch of initiatives aimed at promoting the Galician, state and European strategies associated with the circular economy through actions aimed at the revitalization, training and dissemination of the key aspects identified in these strategies linked to the circular economy.