One-liner: the Institut Valencià de Competitivitat Empresarial — the GVA's central business-competitiveness body under the Conselleria d'Indústria, Turisme, Innovació i Comerç; the umbrella funder behind almost every regional grant, cluster program, and internationalisation service a Valencian founder will touch.
What a founder gets
- R&D & innovation grants via its Ivace+i Innovació division: IVACE PIDI-CV 2026 (R&D projects), IVACE INNOVA-CV 2026 (new-product & TEIC innovation), IVACE DIGITALIZA-CV (SME digitalisation, FEDER), IVACE MIDCAP Digitalizacion (mid-cap industrial digitalisation — new for 2026), energy-efficiency lines. The IVACE Startup Innovadora "line" is a brand label routed through PIDI-CV/INNOVA-CV rather than its own convocatoria as of 2026 — see that page for the correction.
- Internationalisation services via Ivace+i Internacional: export missions and trade-fair participation (e.g. Fimi Boutique, Summer Fancy Food NY), a foreign-market/country-report library, an international "red exterior" support network, and IVACE Becas Exterior (under-30s, university degree, English ≥B2, 12-month paid placement abroad — a genuine talent-development access route, not just funding).
- Non-financial services most founders overlook: patents & marcas registration support (Patentes y Marcas), Red PI+D+I (information/consultation network on R&D+I financing), and a Centros Tecnológicos directory pointing founders to the right REDIT institute for their sector.
- Cluster funding — runs the IVACE+i Cluster Program (with AVI) that finances the 19 official Valencian clusters' digitalisation/internationalisation/talent activities — the mechanism by which joining a sector cluster (AVIA, AVAESEN, Innovall...) becomes genuinely useful.
- Industrial land platform — new 2026 tool aggregating all available industrial land/parcels in the Comunitat Valenciana in one place (Comercialización de parcelas), useful for hardware/manufacturing founders scouting sites.
Who it's for
- SMEs and startups registered/operating in the Comunitat Valenciana, across all phases — the R&D/innovation lines skew seed–growth, the internationalisation and industrial-land services skew growth–scale.
How to engage
- Active grants: ivace.es/index.php/es/ayudas/ayudas-vigentes — browse by category (Innovación e I+D, Energía, Internacional, Industria y parques empresariales, Becas).
- Electronic application only — most procedures require a digital signature/ACCV certificate via the GVA Sede Electrónica and IVACE's Solicit@ application portal.
- General info route: "Saber cómo me puede ayudar el IVACE" — a guided orientation page on ivace.es for founders who don't yet know which line applies to them.
Key facts
- Full name: Institut Valencià de Competitivitat Empresarial (IVACE), operating publicly as IVACE+i.
- Structure: organised into divisions — Ivace+i Innovació (innovation/R&D), Ivace+i Internacional (export/trade), Energía (efficiency, energy communities, thermal social bono), Industria y parques empresariales (industrial land, vehicle inspection/ITV, legal metrology, industrial safety).
- 2026 news highlights (as of the last scrape): first-ever specific aid line for mid-cap/intermediate-size companies; €2.5M allocated (30 Jun 2026 announcement) for energy-efficiency measures in companies/entities; Generalitat had paid out €27M of the 2025 Bono Social Térmico to ~194,000 beneficiaries as of 28 Jun 2026.
- Leadership: Marián Cano (Consellera d'Indústria, Turisme, Innovació i Comerç) publicly represents IVACE+i in
international/trade contexts (e.g. Morocco alliance remarks, 1 Jul 2026); Santiago Lumbreras is Director General
of IVACE (appointed June 2026, per
raw/trackers/contacts.csv) —#status/verifyboth roles given frequent GVA reshuffles. - Fund sources: manages FEDER and Next Generation EU structural funds alongside regional budget.
Relations
- Runs: IVACE Startup Innovadora
- Runs: IVACE DIGITALIZA-CV
- Runs: IVACE+i Cluster Program
- Partners with: AVI
- Runs: INPYME 2026
- Runs: IVACE DIGITALIZA-CV 2026
- Runs: IVACE Eficiencia Energetica
- Runs: IVACE INNOVA-CV 2026
- Runs: IVACE MIDCAP Digitalizacion
- Runs: IVACE PIDI-CV 2026
- Runs: IVACE Startup Innovadora (Program)
- Runs: IVACE+i Cluster Program 2026
- Runs: IVACE Becas Exterior
- See also: REDIT
- See also: GVA Clusters (registry)