History

IIniciativas Innovadoras SAL was founded on February 7, 2000 and from the very beginning has oriented its activity towards the development of European projects and consultancy services within local development and public management.

The period of 2000-2005 stood for the consolidation of the business project with an increase of its team size to nine members and the configuration of its range of services in the following areas: European Projects, Innovation, Information Society, Local Development and Public Management.

For at that time, Iniciativas Innovadoras already coordinated European projects with a significant impact at regional level, such as the EUROINNOVA-NAVARRA or ICARO programmes, and obtained the approval of a first project within the 6th Framework Programme for R&D. Furthermore, the Governments of Navarre and La Rioja, numerous town halls, development agencies, public corporations and private companies were already among its wide customer base.

In accordance with the guidelines of the Strategic Plan approved in 2005, within the period of 2006-2008 the company started its commitment to internationalisation, first supported by the Cámara Navarra (Navarre Chamber of Commerce) with whom it designed a strategy focused on the MFIs and later with the PIPE Programme (Plan de Iniciación a la Promoción Exterior/Initiation Plan into Foreign Promotion) of the ICEX (Instituto Español de Comercio Exterior/Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade).

This phase also served to develop the Innovation area, focusing on the specialisation in emerging sectors (ICT, Health, Bio, Renewable Energies, Environment …) and the Consulting area focussed on the development of studies and business sector plans, as well as on the improvement of public services.

In addition, Iniciativas Innovadoras is a social economy company associated with ANEL (Asociación Navarra de Empresas Laborales/Navarrese Association of Social Economy Companies), which consistently aims at the stimulation and dissemination of this business organisation model.

New Phase (2009-2010)

Within this new phase, Iniciativas Innovadoras has reformed its range of services by dividing them into four areas: European Projects, Consulting, Innovation and Multilateral Cooperation.

Simultaneously, it started this new period with the approval of 20 projects within several European Programmes in the last 2 years: Lifelong Learning Programme (LLL), Territorial Cooperation Programmes (POCTEFA, INTERREG IV B SUDOE, Atlantic Space and MED, INTERREG IV C), Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (Eco-Innovation, Intelligent Energy Europe).

Within the Innovation area, the commitment has focused on the cooperation, by supporting companies and other technological agents in designing and developing cooperative R&D projects within the framework of the “Análisis de Proyectos Cooperativos” (Analysis of cooperative projects) programme of ANAIN, and by boosting the preparation of projects towards the 7th Framework Programme for R&D of the European Union and other international programmes (Iberoeka).

In addition, within the Consulting area it has focused on the development of sectoral studies in business environments with the collaboration of such entities as CEIN, ANAIN and LASEME. Within Multilateral Cooperation, it is making progress in its strategy of participating in contracts and projects financed by Multilateral Financial Institutions.

Finally, it must also be noted that Iniciativas Innovadoras is a social economy company and as such, it continues relying on its team members as a key element, getting involved with the needs and projects of the customers and maintaining a high social compromise through its active participation in various business associations (ANEL, ANEC, ATANA).