Pilar Mazo
Logroño, (EFE).- Spain goes in search of “digital nomads”, a professional profile on the rise, which generates added value in those towns where they settle, and that the Law for the Promotion of the Emerging Companies Ecosystem, more known as the “Startup Law”, tries to favor this country.
Carlos Prieto, director of the Center for Digital Transformation of the International University of La Rioja (UNIR), in an interview with EFE, explains the characteristics of these digital talents, why they are so necessary, and analyzes this new regulation, which came into force last December, and that he understands that “it will allow wealth in Spain”.
It is the first law that addresses, with very specific measures, favoring investment, growth and development in the field of technological entrepreneurship in Spain, through a favorable tax system in the first four or five years of the takeoff of the business, he emphasizes.
From his extensive experience in digital technology, he also sees that the promotion of technological vocations will be favored in this standard, something in which UNIR’s Digital Transformation Center, explains, has been working for some time to contribute to the digital transformation of companies. SMEs and startups in Spain and Latin America.
UNIR, a 100% online university, through its different degrees and specialties, reports Prieto, has also been offering adequate training to future digital professionals for some time, either so that they can create their company, work for others or become «digital nomads», who only need an internet connection to carry out their professional activity.
Retain and attract digital talent
In this regard, from the Center that he directs, he sees a boost in the “Startups Law”, by the Government, to favor the retention of talent that generates value in Spain, which was in “a position of comparative grievance” with respect to to other countries, with more advanced regulations in entrepreneurship ecosystems.
Many young Spaniards have become “digital nomads” towards multinationals based in countries with better tax regimes and better entrepreneurial ecosystems than Spain, reflects this telecommunications engineer.
For this reason, he understands that the “Startups Law” tries to cover this existing grievance and also attract thousands of digital talents, who can contribute their knowledge, mobilizing from various parts of the world to help develop Spanish companies.
The law also includes “significant tax breaks” during the first years of a business investment taking off so that you can focus your resources on technology, hire professionals and have digital platforms.
It has been shown, says Prieto, that a favorable tax regime can “help the company so that tax burdens do not have as much impact in its early years and can pay salaries according to the needs of the workers it needs.”
In addition, it is also aimed at individuals, individually, who have an idea of investing in this field of new technologies and services in this field.
Tourism and leisure attract talent
Prieto also sees as very necessary the “digital nomads” who come to Spain from other countries, especially to areas of the Mediterranean, attracted by the good weather and leisure, and whose teleworking conditions allow them to work remotely from their workplaces. .
There are many cities or towns, such as Barcelona, that want to attract these professional profiles because they generate wealth, since, in general, they are professionals with above-average salaries, who spend money on rent, leisure, tourism or gastronomy and, as a whole, generate added value and wealth in the places where they settle.
Spain is “very powerful at the European level in tourism, climate and leisure”, sectors that have attracted digital nomads to this country, whose workplace is thousands of kilometers away.
Currently, “there is a very powerful current of young people, between 25 and 35 years old, without family ties”, favorable to becoming this type of professional profile because teleworking allows it, since working life is on a laptop, a Internet connection and sometimes a physical place for meetings or video conferences.
However, he understands that the “Startup Law” also seeks to retain Spanish talent that wants to create this type of technology-based and highly innovative companies, which are part of a business technology that has been gaining strength in recent years, and is not become digital nomads abroad. EFE