On 28 October 2026, the regional government of Cantabria published in the Boletín Oficial de Cantabria (BOC) a decree from the Consejería de Industria, Empleo, Innovación y Comercio switching internationalisation support to direct grants. Awards will now be made without a competitive process through the public development company SODERCAN, to speed up payments and reduce administrative paperwork.
The decree sets the funding rate at up to 70 per cent of eligible expenditure, with a maximum grant of €50,000 per business or self-employed person. Eligible activities include exhibiting at trade fairs with a stand of one’s own, presentations and promotional events, business visits, market research, certifications and trademark registrations. The “Studies and feasibility analyses” scheme has a maximum grant of €6,000; the audit report required for this scheme is subsidised by up to €900. The minimum spend is €5,000; each beneficiary may submit up to two applications per calendar year.
Applications are administered by SODERCAN and can be submitted throughout the year; there are no formal application deadlines. Supporting documents, such as invoices, proof of payment and the required audit report, must be submitted from the outset so that payment can be initiated immediately if the application is approved. The maximum time allowed for a decision is three months from receipt of the application. For first-time applications, expenditure dating back to 11 October 2025 can be taken into account. Applications must be submitted through SODERCAN’s Gestor de Ayudas .
According to the regional government, the change is part of the I Plan de Internacionalización de Cantabria 2025–2028. It is justified by the need for greater speed and flexibility in international trade activities, which do not fit rigid administrative timetables. The aims are to increase exports and strengthen the competitiveness of small and medium-sized businesses.
The measure is likely to simplify administration, but it also shifts responsibility for assessment and risk management to SODERCAN. The announcement leaves national coordination with other funding schemes unresolved; nor does it specify the total allocation for 2026 in the context of SODERCAN’s other programmes. The regional government has set a maximum decision period of three months, which is intended to give applicants greater certainty.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).