A total of 1,766 companies are competing for the SME of the Year Award 2022, the benchmark award in the Spanish business world, organised annually by Banco Santander and the Spanish Chamber of Commerce. The aim of the competition is to highlight the work of small and medium-sized companies as generators of wealth and job creators.
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In the Balearic Islands, 70 companies have applied. Madrid, with 125 registered companies; Vizcaya, with 86; and Valladolid, with 75, are the regions with the highest participation according to the number of registered companies.
The SME of the Year Award is a distinction that is awarded in 50 provinces and the autonomous city of Ceuta, with the participation of 50 regional Chambers of Commerce, 13 regional offices of Banco Santander and the main Spanish press.
This award is a public recognition of the essential aspects of the contribution to society and the economy of SMEs, which make up 99.8% of the business fabric in Spain: job creation, with special attention to permanent employment; boosting talent through training; international activity, focusing on the evolution of exports and the opening up of new markets; innovation and digitalisation initiatives and socially responsible projects.
In the next few days, the different juries will begin to meet to decide, from among all the candidates, five winners in each region: the Provincial SME of the Year Award, the Second Prize for Internationalisation, the Second Prize for Training and Employment, the Second Prize for Innovation and Digitalisation and the Second Prize for Sustainable Business.
The provincial winners will compete for the National SME of the Year Award 2022, which will be announced in the first quarter of next year. The winners of the four runners-up prizes will also compete for the National Award in their respective categories.
7,440 SMEs have participated since the creation of the Award.
As an already consolidated recognition, in the previous edition of the SME of the Year Award, a total of 1,770 companies from the 50 provinces and the Autonomous City of Ceuta registered, with the participation of 50 territorial Chambers of Commerce.
His Majesty the King presented the National SME of the Year 2021 Award to the company Seabery Augmented Technology, from Huelva, dedicated to the development of educational technologies based on simulation with augmented and virtual reality. The national runners-up prizes were also awarded: Internationalisation, to Yurrita e Hijos from Gipuzkoa; Innovation and Digitalisation, to Pigchamp Pro Europa from Segovia; Training and Employment, to Kimitec from Almería; and Responsible Business, to Teiga TMI, from A Coruña. The Instituto de Medicina Genómica S.L. from Valencia won the Special Mention “Reinvención COVID”, which recognises the resilience of companies in the face of the pandemic.
Since 2017, the year it was launched, 7,436 SMEs have already participated in this competition.