The Junta de Castilla y León, which runs Alfonso Fernandez Manuecohas allocated 850,000 euros to ensure generational change in the countryside of the Castilian-Leonese region. This was announced on Wednesday by the Official Gazette of Castilla y León, where it explains that with this subsidy, the regional government also intends to promote industrial research or experimental development projects that can be applied by professionals and companies in the agri-food sector.
This line, promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development through the Agrarian Technological Institute of Castilla y León (ITACyL) and called Talents 2.0aims to promote the attraction and retention of research talent in the Community. Another of the main objectives is to provide beneficiaries with financial support that facilitates the development of scientific and technical initiatives that can be transformed into competitive advantages for agri-food companies.
It must be said that the beneficiaries These aids may be public or private companies, natural or legal persons, legal entities under public law or groups of these entities that can solve, with the development of a collaborative project, one of their specific needs or problems.
At the time, this subsidy approved by the Mañueco government was a great success in its first call with a total of six projects belonging to different fields (recovery of effluents from the pig industry, amaranth cultivation, energy recovery from corn, application of satellite images, development of a biostimulant for nuts or recovery of beef).
According to information published in the Official Gazette of Castilla y León, the projects will have a maximum duration of four years and the co-financing they will receive could reach up to 80% of their cost, with 158,400 euros as maximum ceiling of aid per project. Likewise, the selected proposals, based on their scientific and technical quality, their alignment with the objectives of the R&I Dynamization Platform, the merits of the industrial doctoral student, among other elements, may receive at the time of granting the grant 60% of the total amount of aid as an advance payment.
Other aids
Last August, OKDIARIO announced that the Junta de Castilla y León would allocate 26 million euros for the early childhood education in children aged 0 to 3 years. A total of 178 educational centres will receive funding to provide free training by covering tuition fees.
It was through government council led by Mañueco, which was held on August 22, during which this budget item was approved, a financing that comes entirely from the regional coffers and that guarantees free education for families in the Community, from birth to 16 years of age.
THE schoolchildren between 0 and 1 years old Thus, from this September, they join those from 1 to 3 years old, whose registration was already free the last two years. During the 2023-2024 school year, almost 16,000 children benefited from this measure, and it is expected that in 2024-2025 there will be almost 20,000 beneficiary families. These students will benefit from complementary services such as Early Birds or school cafeterias, among others, and with the same bonuses as the rest of the students.
This measure will mean for families a a saving of 2,000 euros per schoolchild, with an investment from the Government of Castilla y León of 64 million euros for 2024 alone, of which 26.4 million will go to local entities to finance the school expenses of children between 0 and 3 years old.
According to the Council chaired by Mañueco, so far the Ministry of Education has registered, 10,521 applications for the third course as a child; 7,566 for the second; and 1,746 for the first, whose students begin free classes in September.
To guarantee the provision of this service and the free choice of centre for all families, the Junta de Castilla y León has established a unique admission system in the 632 centers who offer this service, both public and private.
