SPANISH STARTUPS THAT HAVE STOOD OUT

A few years ago, Educa 2020 and the Axa Foundation published a study whose results show a surprising and somewhat worrying reality for the future of our country. What is it? Less than 20% of university students want to start their own company or business (the ratio is somewhat higher among students of studies such as the degree in software engineering), with public employment being the most popular option among Spaniards. The stability of being a civil servant and having a secure job "for life" seems to predominate over other factors such as making the most of one's abilities, being creative, developing professionally or being one's own boss. Why is this preference predominant?

Jesús Sainz, secretary general of the Círculo de Empresarios, states that in Spain there is less entrepreneurship for "cultural and educational reasons". He also points out that "there is no entrepreneurial spirit because we are not trained to take risks, to use failure to learn, to be creative or to work in teams". This fear of failure, according to the OECD, is a barrier to entrepreneurship in 47.41% of cases. In addition to this fear of entrepreneurship, there are regulatory aspects and financing. According to Sainz, "70% of private banks" do not take risks with new projects.

In order to rebound from these figures, the managers of large companies such as Telefónica, Indra and Siemens are committed to investment, training and entrepreneurship. The goal? To boost the digitisation of industry. This is what they explained at the Industry 4.0 Congress, where it became clear that it is necessary to instil a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. As the president of Accenture Spain, Portugal and Israel, Juan Pedro Moreno, explains, it is necessary to "have courage", "put on the high beams" and think about everything we can do to evolve.

But in Spain, what we do, we do very well. According to a report by the online home rental platform 'Spotahome', called "The best cities for digital nomads", Spain is the fifth country in the world with the highest-rated startups. In addition, the European Commission and the Finnova Foundation have recognised four Spanish startups among the best startups in Europe in a ceremony chaired by Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, at the Startup Europe Summit.

Of these four companies, two are from Valencia, one from Navarre and one from Madrid, in the categories of gastronomy, social, space and energy. Do you want to know more about them?

• It is already implemented in Madrid and makes surprise gastronomic experiences possible with Cabify. It has a large selection of restaurants.
• The company from Castellón provides assistive technology for people with total or partial blindness. As co-founder Antonio Quesada explains, "we are working hard to change the paradigm and offer a technological mobility system never seen before".
• From Navarra, the company is trying to take drones to the next level: long-range flights, winning the space category.
• The Madrid-based company seeks to improve working environments by individualising thermal comfort and reducing resource consumption.