Plan IA360: what may change for SMEs in les Terres de l'Ebre

The NEURONA network, the AI voucher and the AI Marathon: what the Government plan says, what it does not say yet and how to read it as an SME.

On 21 September 2026 the Spanish Government presented the Plan IA360 at La Moncloa, a package of fourteen "flagship projects" to bring artificial intelligence into the economy between 2026 and 2027. I read it in full with one specific question in mind: what could change for an SME (small or medium-sized enterprise) in Terres de l'Ebre? This is what the official document says, and what it does not say yet.

Three measures that affect SMEs

The NEURONA network

It is a public-private network of AI demonstration and deployment centres spread across the country. The idea is that a company can see AI working in its sector, try it with its own data and deploy it on a subscription basis, with a centre less than 50 kilometres away. It will build on what already exists: the AI Factories, the Spanish Supercomputing Network, technology centres and the Acelera Pyme network, among others.

The planned timeline is a pilot with one hundred SMEs in two autonomous communities before the end of 2026, and ten communities and five thousand companies in 2027. So far neither the pilot communities nor how the centres will be chosen have been announced.

The AI voucher for SMEs and the self-employed

This is the measure with the most money: €600 million to help 25,000 companies adopt AI. What matters is how it is designed:

• It pays for services, not licences. It funds the work of European technology companies that integrate, adapt and deploy AI in a business. A simple subscription to a tool is excluded.
• It starts with a diagnosis. It plans to assess the company's maturity first and choose a specific use case.
• It pays by milestones and measures. Payments are tied to milestones and, at the end, the effect on productivity is measured. It includes training for the team.

The plan foresees drafting the rules and running a controlled pilot in the first half of 2027, and opening the general call before the end of 2027. No rules have been published yet: the amount per company, who will be able to act as a provider and how to apply are all still unknown.

The AI Simplification Marathon

An open exercise to reduce the administrative burden on the self-employed and SMEs: documents the administration asks for even though it already has them, duplicated or obsolete regulations, and the same procedure compared across autonomous communities and municipalities. Companies, administrative agencies, professional associations and civil servants will be able to take part. The first call is planned before the end of the first quarter of 2027.

What not to confuse it with

• It is not a Generalitat plan. It belongs to the Spanish Government. The AI vouchers from ACCIÓ are a separate line, with accredited providers, and their 2026 window closed on 30 July.
• It is not the Kit Digital. Its last calls closed on 31 October 2025, and the AI voucher has a different design.
• The dates are targets, not legal deadlines. Until the rules are published in the BOE (Spain's official gazette), any date can move.

What it means here

In Terres de l'Ebre most companies are small: hospitality, retail, farming, services. For them, the voucher's design makes sense. Diagnosis first, a specific use case, payment for results and no licences forgotten in a drawer.

It is also how I work: every engagement starts with a free diagnosis, we choose a specific case and we measure before and after. I am not a node of the NEURONA network or an accredited provider for the voucher, because neither exists yet. I am following the plan closely and, when the rules are published, I will explain here what they require and how they fit into a real project.

In the meantime, if you have a process that eats up hours, you do not need to wait for a call to find out whether AI can solve it. A diagnosis is just as useful with or without funding, and it leaves you ready if the funding arrives.