More than 120 young people from different European countries have visited the facilities of Incubazul in Cádiz as part of the program for the Ventotene Forum Cádiz 2026, to learn about the Blue Economy ecosystem developed by the Free Zone of Cádiz and projects linked to entrepreneurship, innovation, and business creation.
The visit has taken place during the first edition in Spain of the Ventotene Forum, organized by the youth association JEF Andalucía. The meeting brings together young Europeans in Cádiz from September 9 to 13, around different debates on the future of Europe, with a program composed of workshops, cultural activities, and initiatives related to youth participation.
The participants have toured the building of Zona Base Incubazul and learned about the operation of the model designed by the Free Zone Consortium to support business projects related to the Blue Economy in different phases of development.
The State Delegate in the Free Zone of Cádiz, Fran González, has stated that the visit allows participants from other European countries to understand the destination of community resources managed in Cádiz and their application to business projects and new spaces.
"It is important that these young people can see directly in Cádiz what the arrival of European funds means when there is a strategy to manage them, turn them into concrete projects, and put them at the service of the economic transformation of the territory," González has indicated.
For his part, the president of Young Federalists of Andalusia (JEF Andalucía) and president of the Youth Council of Andalusia, José Juan Timermans, has stated that the visit allows for understanding concrete examples of the application of European funds in initiatives related to innovation, employment, and the Blue Economy.
During the tour, the young people received information about Incubazul and ZF Blue Core, two projects with differentiated functions within the business model proposed by the Free Zone. The former primarily targets the initial phases of the initiatives, while Blue Core is designed for companies that are in later stages of development and consolidation.
Incubazul is the High Technology Incubator specialized in Blue Economy of the Free Zone of Cádiz. Its activity focuses on supporting entrepreneurs and business projects in their early stages with the goal of turning proposals linked to the maritime sector into viable business initiatives.
The program offers selected projects a support and acceleration itinerary composed of specialized mentoring, advice, and connections with companies, technological agents, and knowledge-linked entities. Since its inception, the incubator has worked with over a hundred projects related to different areas of the Blue Economy.
The initiative has involved an investment of over 5.5 million euros, of which 4.6 million come from European funds. The resources have also been allocated to the recovery and adaptation of spaces in the Free Zone for use by new business projects.
The scheme will continue with ZF Blue Core, the 4.0 business incubator specialized in Blue Economy currently being developed by the Free Zone of Cádiz. This project is conceived as a space for initiatives that need to continue their growth process once they have overcome the initial business stages.
Blue Core will be aimed at projects coming from Incubazul as well as other innovative companies related to the Blue Economy. Among its objectives is to facilitate an environment where they can develop technological and digital capabilities, work on innovation and research activities, and gain greater business autonomy.
The project includes two 4.0 business buildings, with a combined usable area of nearly 9,000 square meters and a total investment of 10.3 million euros.
The action has financing of 85% from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), within the Multi-Regional Operational Program of Spain 2021-2027. It falls under Priority P1A of the 4.0 Incubator Program for High Technology and Specific Objective 1.3, aimed at sustainable growth and competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises and job creation through, among other measures, productive investments.
The combination of Incubazul and Blue Core thus configures an itinerary that encompasses different stages of a company’s evolution. While the incubator works with ideas and projects in early phases, the 4.0 incubator is aimed at initiatives that require facilities and services to continue their business development.
The visit is integrated into the international program of the Ventotene Forum Cádiz 2026, which has the support of the Andalusian Youth Institute, the Secretariat for External Action of the Junta de Andalucía, and the Provincial Council of Cádiz.
JEF Andalucía has included among the goals of its collaboration with the Free Zone to bring the Consortium's activity closer to the more than 120 participants in the meeting and the European youth associative fabric. The organization considers that the tour allows for showing concrete applications of community funding and projects related to new business models.
The celebration of the Ventotene Forum also positions Cádiz as the venue for an international meeting dedicated to the debate on European issues. José Juan Timermans has referred during these days to the transatlantic dimension of the city and its historical position in the relations between Europe and Latin America.
The inclusion of Incubazul in the program allows participants to directly learn about one of the projects linked to the Blue Economy currently being developed in Cádiz and the role of European funding in creating infrastructures aimed at entrepreneurship and companies specialized in maritime-related activities.
