Artificial intelligence voucher (Plan IA360): what we know, when it launches and what AI and digitalisation grants you can apply for today

The President of the Government presented Plan IA360 on 21 September 2026 at Moncloa. The official note describes it as the roadmap for the next 12 months and cites the "Artificial Intelligence Voucher, for SMEs and autónomos (self-employed people)" among its measures. In the plan document, a 15-page PDF, it appears as a "business artificial intelligence voucher" and is flagship project (proyecto tractor) number 11.

The idea is simple: public money for a company to hire artificial intelligence services that change the way it works, not to buy a subscription. The plan allocates a budget of 600 million euros and a target of 25,000 transformed companies, with the intention that every public euro attracts private investment.

The decisive point as of 5 October 2026: it is an announced measure. There is no regulatory order, there is no call in any official gazette, there is no managing body and there is no form. No one can apply for it yet, not even through Managora.

The official document sets 2 milestones. In the first half of 2027, the design and regulatory preparation along with a controlled pilot. Before the end of 2027, the deployment of the general call with the 600 million. There is no more specific day or month, and the plan speaks conditionally about what the voucher will be like.

The amount per company is not set. The plan does not state how much each beneficiary will receive, what percentage of the expense it will cover or if there will be brackets by size. Any figure per company you read today is an estimate by whoever publishes it, not official data.

It is also unknown who will manage it. The document does not designate a managing body, does not name Red.es (the Spanish government's digitalisation agency) and does not speak of registered providers (agentes adheridos) as in the Kit Digital (the state digitalisation grant programme for small businesses). Do not assume it will work like that programme.

What it does say is that the voucher is linked to the NEURONA Network, a network of artificial intelligence demonstration centres where the company sees AI working in its sector and tests it with its own data. Its schedule: a first pilot with 100 SMEs in 2 autonomous communities before the end of 2026 and its replication in up to 10 communities and 5,000 companies in 2027. The plan does not say which communities they will be.

According to the plan, it will finance AI-based services and solutions provided by European technology companies that use foundation models as an input and add their own value: development, integration, sector knowledge, data processing or process redesign.

The exclusion is written out clearly: "The voucher will not finance the mere subscription to licences". Paying the monthly fee for an AI tool is not included; the voucher is aimed at services that transform the company's production processes.

The planned design includes payments by milestones, conditions on AI training for workers, incorporation of AI into internal processes, a prior maturity diagnosis, the identification of a specific use case and the subsequent measurement of the impact on productivity, with a 1st phase to validate the model before scaling it.

2 common confusions. The "cybersecurity shield" in the same plan, of about 300 million, is pre-commercial public procurement for critical infrastructure, not a grant for SMEs. And the "Axudas IA360" from the Galician Igape share the name, but they are a different regional programme that closed on 17 March 2026.

No. There is no call, no official list, and no electronic office (sede electrónica) where you can sign up. An offer to "reserve" the voucher, "secure" an amount or sign now with a provider to be paid for with the voucher has no official backing: who can be a provider, what expense counts and from what date will be known when the rules are published.

There is a specific risk in getting ahead of yourself. In many grants, only the expense after the application counts; for example, in the CDTI Direct Innovation Line, only expenses after the application are eligible. If you contract a project today expecting to pay for it later with the voucher, that project may be left out.

At Managora we do not process or reserve the AI voucher because there is no procedure to submit yet. We will update this guide when its rules are published in the official gazette.

With the Kit Digital and Kit Consulting closed and the AI voucher without a call, what you can apply for today are regional calls and the odd state line that is not an outright (non-repayable) grant. We have checked the status of each one in its electronic office or in its official gazette as of 5 October 2026; you have it in the table.

Castilla-La Mancha, Bono Crecimiento Pyme 2026, modality 4 for digital transformation: of the open calls we have reviewed, it is the only one that expressly pays for the selection of artificial intelligence use cases with a proof of concept for non-industrial SMEs. It also covers the digital maturity diagnosis, the dashboard, task automation and the cybersecurity plan. It pays 60% or 80% depending on the score, with a maximum of €12,000 per action and €60,000 per beneficiary. It is open until 30 June 2027 or until the credit is exhausted, and applications are decided in order of submission. It excludes the manufacturing industry (section C of the CNAE), hardware, perpetual licences and owned software.

La Rioja has 2. ADER's Cheque Digitalización 2026 (Digitalisation Cheque), open until 12 February 2027 at 14:00, pays 50% (70% in advanced cybersecurity) of an expense between €3,000 and €20,000, and it is requested with the expense already made and paid: the application itself includes the proof of spending. The Digitalización e Industria programme (Digitalisation and Industry; TIC empresas, i.e. ICT in businesses) closes on 30 October 2026 at 14:00, pays 40% and requires a minimum investment of €50,000.

In the Basque Country, SPRI (the Basque Business Development Agency) keeps Inteligencia Artificial 2026 (Artificial Intelligence) open until 2 November 2026 and Ciberseguridad Industrial (Industrial Cybersecurity) until 23 November 2026: 60% of the expense, with a maximum of €100,000 per company, only for industrial companies or services connected to the industry, registered for the IAE (business activity tax) in the Basque Country.

In Asturias, the Avilés Chamber of Commerce has the Pyme Digital programme open until 16 October 2026 at 14:00: free diagnosis and a 60% grant for implementation, with a maximum of €4,494 per company. It requires a minimum turnover of €100,000 and registration in the IAE before 1 January 2024. We do not process this programme: the Chamber states that it does not collaborate with external companies in managing its grants.

Less linked to AI: Murcia's Cheque de Innovación (Innovation Cheque, INFO), open until 23 December 2026, and the Community of Madrid's Cheque Innovación (Innovation Cheque), permanent until the 2026 credit is exhausted, which only admits incorporated companies (sociedades) and does not pay for subscriptions to AI tools. At the state level, the CDTI Direct Innovation Line is open all year, but it is a partially refundable loan for projects from €175,000 to 6 million that excludes autónomos.

The Red.es invitation C012/26-IA, open until 10 November 2026, is not for you: only professional or business associations and technological or innovation support centres can apply. The SME does not receive money from it.

For this we publish the "Regional grant to digitalise your business or implement artificial intelligence" service file. You choose the community and programme; today it covers the Bono Crecimiento Pyme in Castilla-La Mancha, SPRI's Inteligencia Artificial and Ciberseguridad Industrial in the Basque Country, the Cheque Digitalización and Digitalización e Industria in La Rioja, the Cheque de Innovación in the Region of Murcia and the Cheque Innovación in the Community of Madrid. Before charging you, we check that your company fits the call. We prepare the project report with the quotes you request from your providers, the signed declarations of compliance (declaraciones responsables) and the application. In Castilla-La Mancha, La Rioja and the Region of Murcia we submit it as your representative, with your mandate. You can see the updated amount in the service file.

In Castilla-La Mancha the call allows a representative to sign, provided their authority is proven "by any means valid in Law that leaves a reliable record", and requires the representative to be registered in notifica.jccm.es. The report counts: you need at least 20 points out of a maximum of 60, with an additional score of 20% to 40% if the action takes place in an area at risk of depopulation, and exceeding 40 points raises the grant from 60% to 80%. In La Rioja the rules provide for submission on another's behalf with express authorisation from the company's legal representative.

In SPRI and in the Community of Madrid the electronic office requires the company itself to sign: you sign with your recognised electronic certificate and we leave everything prepared and guide you through the signing. We never ask for your digital certificate. If your grant is another call with an open deadline that is not on that list, we process it with the public subsidy application service file.

2 clear limits. You choose the technology provider: we neither recommend them nor are we one. And in Castilla-La Mancha legal advice, notarial and registry expenses are not eligible, so our processing fees are not included in the grant.

To be a beneficiary of a subsidy you must be up to date with Hacienda (the Spanish Tax Agency) and the Seguridad Social (the Spanish social security system). If the call asks for the certificates or you prefer to provide them, we obtain them with the certificate of being up to date with payments service file.

No. Acelera Pyme literally says that "The calls for the Kit Digital Programme have ended". The last closure was for Segment III, on 31 October 2025 at 11:00; Segments IV and V closed on 30 June 2025. The Kit Consulting appears as "call ended". The Kit Espacios de Datos closed on 31 March 2026.

Orden TDF/39/2026, published in the BOE on 28 January 2026, does not reopen any deadline. It extends the rules until funds are exhausted, obliges Red.es to reinvest the unspent budget and to issue new proposed decisions in favour of those whose application was refused because the budget had run out. If that happened to you, there is no new application to submit.

In the Red.es electronic office the only procedures with an open deadline are the invitation C012/26-IA and the registrations of digital advisers for the Kit Consulting and of digitalising agents for the Kit Digital. None is a grant that an SME can apply for. The Activa Ciberseguridad and Activa Industria 4.0 from the EOI also appear as "Application period closed" for their 2023-2025 call.

What the plan announces as conditions for the voucher (maturity diagnosis, specific use case, staff training) can already be worked on with open grants. Modality 4 in Castilla-La Mancha pays precisely for the digital maturity diagnosis and the selection of AI use cases with a proof of concept.

AI training for your workers can be charged to the Fundae training credit, which is permanent: every company with employees has an annual credit, with a guaranteed minimum of €420 for those with 1 to 5 workers, which is deducted from social security contributions. The 2026 one can only be applied until the end of the period for settling the social security contributions for December 2026, and each training group must be notified at least 2 days before it starts. The autónomo without employees cannot use it.

Keep your paperwork up to date: being up to date with Hacienda and the Seguridad Social, the deeds and powers of attorney of whoever signs and, if you are going to apply for the Bono Crecimiento, the average workforce report from the General Treasury of the Seguridad Social.

And do not finance the same expense twice. The calls limit it: the Avilés one does not pay for solutions already paid for with the Kit Digital and in SPRI's Ciberseguridad Industrial there is no room for another SPRI grant for the same expenses. When the rules for the AI voucher come out, you will have to read its compatibility regime before counting on it.