Novadays and the Community of Madrid Successfully Complete the RETECH Project with Three Digital Entrepreneurship Hubs Now Operational

For about a year, we have supported the General Directorate of Digital Strategy in coordinating, monitoring, and overseeing a project that has launched three specialized hubs in the fields of health, green technology, and aerospace.

The Department of Digitalization of the Community of Madrid entrusted Novadays with the management of the Technical Office of RETECH, the Regional Networks for Technological Specialization program promoted by the Secretariat of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence and funded by the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan.

The Community of Madrid is participating alongside Andalusia and Ceuta in the “Digital Entrepreneurship Networks” project. Our work has consisted of providing technical, managerial, and legal-administrative support to the General Directorate of Digital Strategy throughout the project’s entire lifecycle, from its launch through its completion.

The challenge was demanding. RETECH combines various legal instruments—service contracts, a call for SME grants, entrepreneurship awards, and a communications campaign—along with multiple stakeholders and the obligations inherent to European funds: traceability, conflict-of-interest prevention, the DNSH principle, digital labeling, and registration in the CoFFEE-MRR system.

Specifically, the Technical Office has coordinated and supervised PwC, the company responsible for the comprehensive management of the nodes. In general, the work has consisted of supporting and overseeing PwC’s efforts, ensuring that all stakeholders are aligned, and making sure that each task or action is carried out in compliance with the requirements of European funds.

At the Technical Office, we have implemented a governance structure based on weekly committee meetings with the Community of Madrid and the team in charge of the nodes, a Balanced Scorecard with indicators updated weekly, a risk management system, and an audit trail that ensures the project is ready for oversight.

Our multidisciplinary team—comprising project managers, technical experts, and legal professionals specializing in European funds and public procurement—reviewed calls for proposals, agreements, and other materials; evaluated grant applications; and facilitated the necessary contractual amendments to ensure the continuity of the service.

The result is a project that has activated three key hubs—in Madrid, Las Rozas, and Tres Cantos—and that the Community of Madrid can account for in an orderly and traceable manner. Specifically:

• More than 100 deliverables and 67 governance meetings have provided the project with a continuous and traceable overview of its status.
• 4 project activities under comprehensive control, with documentation organized for verification and audit purposes.
• Seamless adaptation to the extension of the deadline and the change in investment: a new set of indicators, validated by SEDIA.
• A replicable model of governance and oversight for multi-instrument programs funded by the European Union: audit trail, PRTR and CoFFEE checklists, risk matrix, and CMI—all ready for future projects.
• A project that reaches its target audience: 489 registered entrepreneurs and 142 who completed the programs; 6 Demo Days; 3 main programs; 2,906 hours of mentoring, technical assistance, and training; 18 open innovation challenges with 7 companies; 224 startup–investor matches; 11 investment meetings with 76 investors; 18 digital entrepreneurship awards and 32 grants to SMEs totaling €4 million.

With the support of Novadays, the Community of Madrid has carried out a complex project in accordance with PRTR regulations and the requirements of the NextGenerationEU funds. This has ensured that European funds are used appropriately and that the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the Community of Madrid is strengthened.

This project reinforces Novadays’ track record as a technical office for projects funded by the European Union, in which we combine management expertise, regulatory knowledge, and close collaboration with government agencies to ensure that these funds translate into tangible results, outcomes, and impacts.