This chapter analyses Spain’s entrepreneurial culture. It constitutes the second of the ten elements of the entrepreneurial ecosystem framework used to assess Spain’s ecosystem. This chapter identifies strengths and areas for improvement, presents an international example for inspiration, maps recent policy developments, and offers recommendations for further improving Spain's entrepreneurial culture.
Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Diagnostics of Spain
Abstract
Entrepreneurial activity rates in a given context are influenced by the cultural characteristics and attitudes of the surrounding society (Hayton and Cacciotti, 2013[1]; Fritsch and Wyrwich, 2014[2]). There are wide cross-country variations in how society views successful entrepreneurs and in the extent to which business creation is seen as a desirable career choice (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 2023[3]). Countries where entrepreneurs are celebrated can be expected to have higher rates of business startup than those where entrepreneurs receive a lower status (Obschonka, 2017[4]). Research also indicates that certain personality types increase the likelihood of an individual engaging in entrepreneurial activity, with those with more extraversion, conscientiousness and openness, and less agreeableness and neuroticism more likely to start new ventures (Obschonka, 2017[4]). The prevalence of such traits also varies widely between countries, impacting upon startup rates (Schmitt-Rodermund, 2004[5]; Obschonka and Stuetzer, 2017[6]; Obschonka, 2017[4]),. This chapter reviews the extent to which the informal institution of culture facilitates or inhibits productive entrepreneurship in Spain. Based on the OECD ecosystem diagnostics data, Culture is one of the main areas for strengthening in Spain entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Spain’s entrepreneurial culture is improving
Measuring entrepreneurship culture is difficult and is generally examined through perception surveys asking people questions on their values and views on entrepreneurship. These metrics indicate that Spanish entrepreneurial culture is growing but still less developed than other leading ecosystems.
There are some aspects where Spain performs relatively well, such as societal trust. In addition, Spain performs close to the OECD European average in the share of young people expressing an intention to become an entrepreneur one day.
On the other hand, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)’s Adult Population Survey, less than 50% of Spanish adults (18-64 years old) consider entrepreneurship as a good career option. There is nevertheless a growing interest in entrepreneurial careers over time in Spain, particularly among younger generations. Furthermore, less than 58% of Spanish adults think that successful entrepreneurs have a high social status. Another barrier to entrepreneurship in Spain is a relatively high fear of failure, which some stakeholders contrasted with attitudes in the United States, where, trying and failing is perceived more as something positive.
On another indicator from the European Social Survey, perceptions of the importance of thinking creatively and being creative are relatively low on average, as show in Figure 4.1. Creative thinking is often associated with willingness to innovate, take risk and embrace change, which are important in an entrepreneurial society.
Note: Average of answers to the importance of think new ideas and being creative
Source: European social survey
These cultural characteristics are likely to have an adverse impact on the number of entrepreneurs starting businesses, with many individuals with the skills or ideas needed to succeed in entrepreneurship instead opting for other career paths that are seen as being safer, more stable or more respected in society.
There are also ripple effects of this mentality in other areas. One of them is the commercialisation of research in academia. Stakeholders often refer to a cultural divide between the academic and private sectors and a stigma towards engaging in business activities that stifles research commercialisation, knowledge transfer and spin-off generation. Stakeholders also widely report that large corporations do not engage in enough collaboration and open innovation with startup companies, in part due to the risks associated with these activities. Furthermore, investors – from individual angel investors to venture capital firms and institutional investors – also often provide limited resources to early-stage startups, including those with innovative or disruptive technologies and a less certain development horizon, due to the perceived risks of investing in these companies. Public entities also display risk aversion in their approach to public procurement and there are limited special provisions for SMEs and startups, which limits the extent to which they can support new and emerging companies with innovative products and services.
One explanation for Spanish society’s relative ambivalence towards entrepreneurship is the young nature of Spain’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, which has largely developed over the last 10 to 15 years. With Spain now home to a growing number of start-ups that have gone on to achieve considerable scale, from Cabify to Factorial HR, there is a view that societal attitudes towards entrepreneurship are shifting as the profile of these entrepreneurs and companies grows and their wider societal impact becomes more widely recognised and felt. The passage of the Startup Law has also given an increased visibility to Spain’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, although more can be done to communicate the Law beyond the standard entrepreneurial ecosystem actors and to wider society. Several stakeholders also noted that the global financial crisis in 2008-09 and the subsequent economic difficulties and period of high unemployment triggered a change in outlook through which entrepreneurship became seen by more people as a viable and promising option for creating employment.
The shift towards a culture more conducive to entrepreneurship is being supported by a raft of major startup events, competitions and promotional activities involving both the public and private sectors. For example, the recently launched “Spain Up Nation” brand has been created with the aim of fostering a culture that encourages and celebrates innovative entrepreneurship across Spain. The brand, which is promoted by ENISA, held the first editions of its Top 101 Awards in Córdoba 2024, which brought together 101 of the country’s most innovative startups. These companies were from all of Spain’s autonomous communities and cities and had an opportunity to deliver pitches to a jury of experts from ENISA and the regional development agencies. 19 companies (one from each autonomous community and city) were presented with awards and designated as ambassador companies based on their high social and environmental impact. This type of initiative can significantly boost the profile of innovative young companies and provides recognition of their wider impact to society. In a similar vein, the Spanish Startup Association, with funding from the EU, the Ministry of Industry and Tourism and the EOI Business School, runs the Women Startups and Rural Startups awards to shine a light on successful women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs from rural areas.
Among the most prominent private initiatives helping to build an entrepreneurial culture in Spain is South Summit, which was conceived in 2012 in the aftermath of the global financial crises. South Summit is an annual 3-day event in Madrid. The last edition attracted more than 18 000 people, including approximately 2 000 investors. South Summit’s annual startup competition involves approximately 4 500 startups from 130 countries, out of which 100 finalists are selected to come to an event in Madrid to make pitches to and meet with to the many investors and corporations in attendance. Nine of the startups that were finalists in South Summit’s startup competition have gone on to become unicorns, seven of which are Spanish companies.
Another approach to boosting awareness of the contribution of Spanish startups and scaleups is through the publication of reports with data on the performance of the Spanish ecosystem. In collaboration with Kfund, Wayra, SpainCap, Endeavor, GoHub Ventures, BBVA Spark, ENISA publishes a “Spain Ecosystem Report” that showcases the growth of Spain’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and benchmarks it against other European countries, leveraging data from Dealroom.
Entrepreneurship classes can be expanded across all education levels
The cultural dynamics of a country are deeply rooted and persistent, meaning that public actions to create a shift in direction can only be expected to have a major impact in the medium and long terms. One of the most important policy levers for instilling a shift towards a more entrepreneurship-friendly culture is the introduction of programmes and initiatives within the public education system that develop entrepreneurial skills and stoke interest in business creation.
The view among most of the stakeholders interviewed is that Spain has been playing catch up to other European countries in this respect. Some public universities have been very active in promoting a culture of entrepreneurship. For example, the Technical University of Madrid has a longstanding startup competition that culminates in an awards ceremony that attracts a range of different actors from across the entrepreneurial ecosystem, including venture capital investors, large companies and other potential customers. Several prominent Spanish startups and scaleups have emerged from this competition, and there is scope for this approach to be replicated in other Spanish universities. This type of approach can be expanded to more universities.
More can also be done to encourage an entrepreneurial mindset among school pupils and to increase the emphasis on creativity and innovation. In general, although entrepreneurship education has been better incorporated in public school and university programmes since the global financial crisis, it is not yet widespread or a mainstream component of the curriculum. In addition, approaches vary between educational institutions, with private universities appearing, on average, more advanced in the promotion of entrepreneurship in their coursework than public schools and universities. As Spain is expanding its entrepreneurship education offer, it can look at the experience of other countries. For instance, Box 4.1 shows how could Spain improve entrepreneurship education drawing from Estonia’s training for teachers mechanism.
Entrepreneurship education is somewhat better integrated in the vocational education system, which has undergone several reforms in recent years. In 2022, the Law on the Organisation and Integration of Vocational Training came into effect, the purpose of which was to establish a single and integrated system of vocational training in Spain. A key aspect of the Law is to establish a dual system of vocational training through which students receive training both at a vocational education college and at a company, with the latter “on-the-job” training components accounting for at least 35% of the total training time. This dual system will be fully implemented by the 2025-26 school year (European Commission, 2024[7]).
Description
Entrepreneurship education has been deeply embedded in Estonia’s school system since 1996, when it was added as a core theme in the national curriculum. This was further strengthened in 2011 with the addition of entrepreneurial competence as a key competence promoted by the national curriculum. In 2016, the Estonia Ministry of Education and Research launched the “Entrepreneurship and Career Education” programme, which aimed to give all school students the opportunity to experience entrepreneurship and to build entrepreneurial competencies. The ultimate goal is to develop entrepreneurial knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that can be applied not just in creating a business but in all aspects of life. The key focus areas for the programme include:
Developing an entrepreneurial competence model and accompanying teaching materials.
Designing and implementing entrepreneurship courses for school students.
Supporting the launch of new startups.
Raising awareness of success stories and rewarding best practices.
Providing training to teachers and mentors.
The “Entrepreneurship and Career Education” programme has supported 46 projects in which schools worked with businesses in the delivery of entrepreneurship education, with an emphasis on practical applications. There is also a compulsory module on entrepreneurship within the initial vocational education programme for teachers. In addition, training courses of up to 11 days over a 6-month period are available to schoolteachers who wish to teach entrepreneurship. The trainings cover entrepreneurial competences, teamwork, project-based learning, and self-evaluation. Another important action of the Entrepreneurship and Career Education programme is the creation of an “Entrepreneurial Schools” label that recognises kindergartens and schools that support students in building entrepreneurial competencies. A book has also been published which shines a light on the enterprises created by Estonian students.
Success factors
As a result of the “Entrepreneurship and Career Education” programme and other related government initiatives, 71% of general education schools in Estonia were implementing entrepreneurship education as of 2021, while 25% had been awarded the “Entrepreneurial Schools” label. While entrepreneurial skills gaps remain a challenge for Estonia, it is noteworthy that the gap in perceived entrepreneurial skills between young people and older adults is significantly smaller in Estonia than in other European countries, suggesting that recent initiatives within the school system may be having an effect.
Key to Estonia’s success in integrating entrepreneurship education within schools has been the combination of giving schools a mandate and responsibility to develop entrepreneurial competencies while also launching a range of actions to support schools and teachers in fulfilling this role. These actions, which include the provision of training and quality labels and the facilitation of partnerships with businesses, were contained within the umbrella of the “Entrepreneurship and Career Education” programme.
Lessons for Spain
Spain can learn from Estonia’s approach of embedding entrepreneurship within the national curriculum. One of the keys to emulating Estonia’s success is to ensure that schools and teachers are provided with the tools and assistance needed to deliver impactful entrepreneurship. Training for teachers in the delivery of entrepreneurship education is of particular importance given that this is a fairly recent concept in the Spanish context.
Source: https://www.educationestonia.org/innovation/entrepreneurship-education/<!!Best practice on boxes: see page 20 of the OECD Style Guide.
Another important development is the establishment of a national network of vocational training centres of excellence in 2022. As of 2024, the network comprised 66 schools, which receive funding through Component 20 of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP). These schools deliver teacher training and implement innovation and applied research projects, in close collaboration with local businesses, business associations and unions, as well as other schools and non-governmental organisations. The network thus serves to create environments for innovation and entrepreneurship across the country.
The Ministry of Education, Vocational Education and Sports’ “Vocational Education Modernization Plan” was launched in 2023 with a budget of EUR 273 million, within component 20 of Spain’s Recovery and Resilience Plan. One of the plan’s three pillars is the “incorporation of digitization, innovation and entrepreneurship into the Vocational Education system”. To implement the plan, the ministry has defined the following action areas: i. Evaluation and certification of the skills acquired through work experience and non-formal training routes; ii. Conversion of classrooms into applied technology spaces; iii. Entrepreneurship classrooms in Vocational Education; iv. Creation of bilingual training cycles for intermediate and advanced levels and specialisation courses.
The aim is to create 1 850 classrooms for entrepreneurship inside the vocational education system in Spain, which will provide physical spaces for prototyping and networking with partners and collaborators. Entrepreneurship promotion is therefore a key focus of the ongoing reforms to Spain’s vocational education system. This will help to strengthen the pipeline of entrepreneurs and innovative startups and scaleups while also creating a wider cultural shift towards entrepreneurship in the longer term.
As a result of the reforms, vocational education providers are required to develop programmes on entrepreneurship and to establish linkages with the private sector. This means that vocational education and training is well integrated with Spain’s entrepreneurial ecosystem in a way that is not always mirrored in the university sector, where some gaps with the business community persist.
Culture has historically represented a bottleneck for Spain’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Data and stakeholder observations both point to risk aversion and limited celebration of successful entrepreneurs within parts of society. This weighs on the number of talented and skilled individuals taking the decision to create a business. It also hampers the development of promising startups further down the pipeline, due, for example, to a limited appetite for corporates and public entities to act as first customers for innovative products or technologies from startups.
Spanish culture is however undergoing a progressive shift towards embracing entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship more positively. This is driven in part by major policy initiatives such as the Startup Law as well as a large number of high-profile events and awards that raise the profile of Spanish entrepreneurs and their contribution to society. As the Spanish and European policy agenda increases its focus on generating and retaining home-grown and high-impact scaleup companies in high technology sectors, there is strong potential for Spanish attitudes towards entrepreneurship to continue to evolve positively in the medium term.
Entrepreneurship education in schools and universities needs to be ramped up in order to continue this momentum. While progress has been made in the last 10-15 years, the amount and quality of initiatives to stoke interest in entrepreneurship and develop entrepreneurship skills lag behind that of other countries. Achieving consistent quality standards and similar educational curricula across regions is not obvious, since it requires aligning programmes across schools and universities which retain relative autonomy in different parts of the country. Valuable insights could be drawn from the recent reforms to the vocational education system being led by the Ministry of Education, Vocational Education and Sports, as well as from policy approaches in other countries.
Culture is perhaps the element of an entrepreneurial ecosystems where public actors have the least scope to affect change in the short term. This is because the policy levers for influencing culture are generally indirect and have a considerable time lag between intervention and outcomes. There are however policy actions that can encourage the development of a culture that is more conducive to entrepreneurship in the medium to long term. In this respect it is recommended that the Spanish government:
Introduce campaigns to promote entrepreneurship to the Spanish population under the “Spain Up Nation” brand and tailor communication to a more mainstream audience that extends beyond the narrow ecosystem boundaries.
Create an “entrepreneurial schools” label for schools and universities that meet certain standards with respect to entrepreneurship promotion, in partnership with the “Spain Up Nation” brand. Issue “Spain Up Nation” awards for standout schools and universities that demonstrate excellence in entrepreneurship promotion.
Provide training for teachers in teaching entrepreneurship in schools, vocational training institutions and universities.
Embed a module on entrepreneurship education in tertiary, vocational and secondary education and make pedagogy more practical.
References
[7] European Commission (2024), Spain: Final steps of the Vocational Education Reform.
[2] Fritsch, M. and M. Wyrwich (2014), “The Long Persistence of Regional Levels of Entrepreneurship: Germany, 1925–2005”, Regional Studies, Vol. 48/6, https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2013.816414.
[3] Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (2023), Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Adult Population Survey.
[1] Hayton, J. and G. Cacciotti (2013), Is there an entrepreneurial culture? A review of empirical research, https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2013.862962.
[4] Obschonka, M. (2017), The quest for the entrepreneurial culture: psychological Big Data in entrepreneurship research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.07.014.
[6] Obschonka, M. and M. Stuetzer (2017), “Integrating psychological approaches to entrepreneurship: the Entrepreneurial Personality System (EPS)”, Small Business Economics, Vol. 49/1, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-016-9821-y.
[5] Schmitt-Rodermund, E. (2004), “Pathways to successful entrepreneurship: Parenting, personality, early entrepreneurial competence, and interests”, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 65/3, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2003.10.007.