A total of 1,766 companies are eligible for the 2022 SME of the Year Award, the benchmark award for the business world in Spain, which is organized annually by Banco Santander and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, and aims to highlight the work of small and medium-sized companies companies as generators of wealth and creators of employment.
The SME Award recognizes essential aspects of the contribution to society and the economy of SMEs, which make up 99.8% of the business fabric of Spain: job creation, with special attention to permanent employment; promotion of talent through training; international activity, focusing on the evolution of exports and the opening to new markets; innovation and digitization initiatives and socially responsible projects. Madrid with 125 registered companies; Vizcaya with 86; and Valladolid with 75, are the territories that present, according to number of registered, the highest participation.
The SME of the Year Award is a distinction that is convened in 50 provinces and the autonomous city of Ceuta and has the participation of 50 territorial Chambers of Commerce, 13 Territorial Directorates of Banco Santander and the main heads of the Spanish press. In the next few days, the meetings of the provincial juries will begin, which will decide, among all the candidates, five winners: Provincial SME of the Year Award, Second Prize for Internationalization, Second Prize for Training and Employment, Second Prize for Innovation and Digitization and Second Prize for Sustainable Company.
The provincial winners will compete for the 2022 National SME Award, which will be awarded in the first quarter of next year. The winners of the four second prizes will also compete for the National Award, in their respective categories.
7,440 participating SMEs since the creation of the Award
As a consolidated recognition, in the previous edition of the SME of the Year Award, a total of 1,770 companies from the 50 provinces and the Autonomous City of Ceuta registered, and 50 territorial Chambers of Commerce and 13 Territorial directorates participated. of Banco Santander.
His Majesty the King presented the National SME of the Year 2021 Award to the company Seabery Augmented Technology, from Huelva, dedicated to the development of educational technologies based on simulation with augmented and virtual reality. The national second prizes were also awarded: for Internationalization, to Yurrita and Hijos de Gipuzkoa; Innovation and Digitization, to Pigchamp Pro Europe in Segovia; Training and Employment, to Kimitec de Almería; and Responsible Company, to Teiga TMI, from A Coruña. The Institute of Genomic Medicine SL of Valencia obtained the Special Mention “COVID Reinvention”, which recognizes the resilience of companies in the face of the pandemic. Since 2017, the year of its launch, there are already 7,436 SMEs that have participated in this event.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.