Documented examples

The move, and what it needed

Red.es standardised eligible solutions and payment rules, while private agents supplied implementation and volunteer representatives handled applications for firms that lacked administrative capacity. The public side made demand legible and portable; the private side supplied local skills and delivery capacity.

Preconditions

• A public grant and verification platform that can process many small awards
• A pre-qualified supplier network with enough geographic reach to serve rural firms
• Simple application and justification rules plus intermediaries who can assist digitally excluded owners

Where else it has been used: Voucher programmes travel when the state defines an interoperable menu and pays on verified delivery. Spain's agent network shows the reach gained by outsourcing implementation, while its project count keeps the risk of double-counting visible.

The move, and what it needed

The state co-funds a firm's employment of a doctoral candidate for four years on condition that the thesis is built on the firm's own research or development project, tying a university doctoral programme to a company problem through one person.

Preconditions

• Universities that accept company-based thesis topics and co-supervision
• Firms with an R&D project long enough to carry a thesis
• A national agency running regular competitive calls

Where else it has been used: The design follows France's Cifre and Denmark's Industrial PhD. Catalonia and Galicia run regional versions alongside the national one.

The move, and what it needed

The state ring-fenced a payroll levy for vocational training and let every contributing firm reclaim it as a social security rebate for training it organises itself. A tripartite foundation, now FUNDAE, governed by government, employers and unions, verifies the training and publishes coverage.

Preconditions

• A payroll training levy collected through the social security system that can be returned as a rebate
• Social partners willing to co-govern the fund and accept its verification rules
• Enough administrative capacity in firms to organise and report training, which is why micro-enterprise take-up stays low

Where else it has been used: Levy-rebate schemes run in France and Singapore. Spain's coverage split by firm size shows the design reaches employees of large firms far better than workers in small firms, who need the training most.

The move, and what it needed

The Treasury built a cohort-based sandbox in which the Bank of Spain, the securities regulator CNMV and the insurance supervisor DGSFP assessed and monitored tests under one statute, then fed the conclusions back into legislation. Demand collapsed once the first cohort's backlog cleared, and the Government answered with a draft law for year-round intake and a shorter pre-assessment.

Preconditions

• A statute that lets supervisors grant time-limited testing protocols without licensing
• Supervisors with staff to assess applications and write public conclusions for each test
• A steady supply of firms whose innovation is blocked by a specific rule, rather than one-off pent-up demand

Where else it has been used: The UK FCA's sandbox model was copied widely after 2016. Spain's cohort data show the common afterlife of such regimes: an opening surge, then thin demand once EU-level regimes and innovation hubs offer cheaper routes.

The move, and what it needed

Spain created one public-sector identity layer that agencies could embed in their own procedures, then added a mobile channel while retaining other assurance routes. A central platform reduced repeated account creation and let a high-volume agency such as the Tax Agency test and scale the identity flow.

Preconditions

• A stable taxpayer and population registry that can anchor identity assurance
• A central operator able to publish standards and support many agencies
• Fallback credentials and assisted routes for people who cannot use a smartphone

Where else it has been used: Shared authentication rails travel when agencies agree on assurance and liability. Spain's separate identifier and active-user counts are a useful reminder that reach is not the same as unique people or successful service journeys.

The move, and what it needed

Spain created a mixed commission linking the central government, the autonomous region, island government and municipalities, then paired large-scale aid with a locally targeted monitoring system. The CO2 programme turned a continuing hazard into a measured re-entry protocol rather than treating the end of the eruption as the end of the emergency.

Preconditions

• Clear authority to coordinate national funds with regional and municipal reconstruction decisions
• Scientific monitoring that can translate a changing hazard into household-level safety rules
• A recovery budget that remains available after media attention and the acute emergency decline

Where else it has been used: Post-disaster recovery travels through coordination and monitoring more than through a single grant. La Palma shows how a small island can use national fiscal capacity while keeping local authorities in the operational loop.

The move, and what it needed

Spain treated high-speed rail as a long-horizon territorial network, retained a national infrastructure manager and sequenced corridors over multiple administrations. European funding, domestic engineering capacity and a common technical standard let each new line add value to a growing national system.

Preconditions

• A stable national investment pipeline that survives electoral cycles
• An infrastructure manager able to plan track, signalling, stations and maintenance as one network
• Demand, finance and environmental appraisal strong enough to choose where extension is justified

Where else it has been used: Spain's network is a reference case for countries weighing high-speed rail, but the transferable capability is continuity of planning and network integration, not the kilometre target alone.

The move, and what it needed

The state granted a private concession for strategic gas storage, then halted injection when induced seismicity made operation unacceptable and transferred administration to the system operator. The exit preserved the physical asset and safety responsibility but socialised a large compensation claim, showing how a rapid stop can still leave a long fiscal tail.

Preconditions

• Independent seismic monitoring and a regulator able to suspend operation on safety grounds
• A concession contract that defines compensation, decommissioning and liability before construction
• A system operator capable of securing and maintaining a closed facility while its final fate is decided

Where else it has been used: Castor travels as a caution about subsurface megaprojects and asymmetric risk: stopping unsafe operation is necessary, but the public needs an honest liability and decommissioning plan before approving the investment.