23 September 2026

AI in Catalonia: an observatory to watch algorithms at work and €600 million that cannot be applied for yet

A busy fortnight. The Catalan Government has announced a new body to watch how AI enters companies, the Spanish State has presented a plan with a lot of money but no counter open yet, and the data-centre dispute has turned up the volume. This is what is real.

Catalonia will create an AI and labour-market observatory

In mid-September the Government approved the creation of the Catalan Observatory of Artificial Intelligence and the Labour Market, together with a register of algorithmic systems. The declared aim is to analyse which sectors and profiles will be most exposed to automation and to guarantee that, as President Illa put it, no algorithmic decision affecting a worker is applied without human oversight. The package includes support instruments for small businesses and reskilling programmes.

What it means for you

For now, nothing you need to file: the observatory still has to be set up and the register has no regulations. What you can do today is look at your own automations through this lens. If you have a tool that filters CVs, allocates shifts, scores customers or decides who gets chased for an unpaid bill, ask yourself who reviews the result before it goes out. The direction is clear and does not depend on this observatory: when a machine decides about a person, there has to be someone who can stop it and explain it.

Spain presents the IA360 plan and a €600 million voucher

On 21 September the Spanish Government presented IA360. Plan for a responsible deployment of AI, with four pillars and a twelve-month rollout. What interests a small business is the second pillar: a business AI voucher endowed with €600 million will be approved. The document is explicit that the voucher will not fund subscriptions or licences, but services that transform the company's production process. The declared goal is for more than half of companies to have integrated the technology by 2030; today 21.1% use it.

What it means for you

You cannot apply for anything yet. There is no call, no rules, no amounts per company, no date. Anyone who phones you this week to sell a tool "subsidised by the €600 million" is making up something that does not exist. What does make sense is to start preparing the answer to the question these grants always ask: which specific process in your business do you want to change, and how much time or money do you lose on it now. If you have it written down, you will get there in time the day it opens; if not, you will not.

Remember that the ACCIÓ AI adoption voucher, of up to €8,000, closed on 30 July and has not reopened. I covered it in the previous article in this series.

Data centres: two sides of the same coin

On 15 September the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, defended the 26 data-centre initiatives the Government has identified across the country, the Móra la Nova gigafactory and ESTRATEC, the technological-autonomy strategy that includes a sovereign public cloud.

On 22 September, coinciding with the AI Summit at the World Trade Center, more than 140 organisations — environmental groups, trade unions and digital-sovereignty collectives — gathered at Moll de Barcelona to demand a moratorium. Their central argument is the numbers: the planned rollout would go from today's 120 MW to 2,000 MW, around 12,000 GWh a year by their calculations. They also question the employment forecasts and ask for open data on impacts and incentives granted. The organisations stress that they do not reject the technology, but the how and the for whom.

In parallel, the Spanish royal decree meant to tighten environmental requirements for data centres — among other things, requiring 80% new renewable energy in every hour of operation — closed its public consultation with more than 600 submissions.

What it means for you

If your business is in one of the affected municipalities, this debate touches you on two sides: the power grid you share and the water. It is worth looking at your town council's agenda and knowing whether it has a position. And if you have considered hosting your data "in Catalonia" as a selling point, bear in mind that where the server is and who owns it are two different things.

And in Anoia?

No new local developments this fortnight: the four data-centre projects between Òdena and Jorba are where they were.

Sources

Capgròs and ACN on the Catalan AI and Labour Market Observatory; Ara's report on the presentation of the IA360 plan; the Government's note on Minister Dalmau's speech at the Forward Summit; Llibertat.cat on the gathering of the 140 organisations; and Ara on the 600 submissions to the data-centre decree. All sources in Catalan.