--- title: "Kit Digital for SMEs: bureaucracy drives a surge in withdrawals and Sánchez announces a successor programme — Marsanne Studio AI watch" description: "SMEs have returned €1.221 billion from Spain's Kit Digital; a €600 million successor programme for AI has been announced." url: "https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch/kit-digital-for-smes-bureaucracy-drives-a-surge-in-withdrawals-and-9873b5/" lang: "en" --- [Marsanne Studio](https://marsanne.studio/en/) [← Back to home](https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch) [← The AI watch](https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch) Regulation · 25 September 2026 # Kit Digital for SMEs: bureaucracy drives a surge in withdrawals and Sánchez announces a successor programme Original title, in Spanish: “Kit Digital pymes: la burocracia dispara las renuncias y Sánchez anuncia un programa sucesor” **Publication** Merca2 (Spain) **Author** Jorge Sanz **Published on** 25 September 2026 · read in the page structured data ## Summary The article describes the shortcomings of Spain's Kit Digital programme, where withdrawals jumped by 70% in 2025 (€526.6 million), bringing the total funds returned to €1,221 million according to Red.es, mainly because of administrative difficulties in justifying the use of the grants. Pedro Sánchez's government is preparing a successor programme with a budget of €600 million for 25,000 companies, intended to help them adopt artificial intelligence and train their employees, or about €24,000 per SME. Other related schemes (Kit Consulting, bonos internet, AI projects) saw comparable withdrawal rates. The article stresses that the government has never detailed the number of companies that withdrew after the award, and warns against repeating the same bureaucratic pattern in the future AI programme. Summary based on the full text of the article. [Read the article on Merca2 →](https://www.merca2.es/2026/09/25/kit-digital-pymes-renuncias-sucesor-2461913/) ## Figures cited - 70 % Increase in Kit Digital withdrawals in 2025 compared with the previous year Spain, SMEs and autónomos, 2025 > « Las renuncias al Kit Digital se dispararon un 70% en 2025, hasta los 526,6 millones de euros, según las cuentas de Red.es. » Source: Red.es - 526.6 EUR million Amount of Kit Digital withdrawals and expirations in 2025 Spain, 2025 > « Las renuncias al Kit Digital se dispararon un 70% en 2025, hasta los 526,6 millones de euros, según las cuentas de Red.es. » Source: Red.es - 1,221 EUR million Total funds returned (withdrawals and cancellations) under the Kit Digital programme Spain, cumulative total for the Kit Digital programme, EU funds > « para un total de 1.221 millones de euros de fondos europeos devueltos por sus destinatarios dentro de un único programa. » Source: Red.es - 297.3 EUR million Amount returned by SMEs in 2024 Spain, 2024 > « las pymes devolvieron 297,3 millones de euros solo un año antes. » Source: Red.es - 600 EUR million Budget of the Kit Digital successor programme dedicated to AI Spain, programme announced for next year > « El programa contaría con 600 millones de euros de presupuesto para 25.000 compañías, a ejecutar el año que viene. » - 25,000 companies Number of companies targeted by the successor programme dedicated to AI Spain, SMEs, announced programme > « El programa contaría con 600 millones de euros de presupuesto para 25.000 compañías, a ejecutar el año que viene. » - 24,000 EUR Average grant amount per SME in the future AI programme Spain, estimate for the successor programme > « Sale a unos 24.000 euros por pyme, muy por encima del bono medio del programa clásico. » - 83 EUR million Amount of withdrawals from the Kit Consulting programme Spain, Kit Consulting programme > « El Kit Consulting registró renuncias por 83 millones de euros, casi la mitad de lo adjudicado. » Source: Red.es - 4.4 EUR million Amount returned on SME internet access bonos Spain, bonos de acceso a internet para pymes, out of 7.3 million granted > « Los bonos para el acceso a internet de las pymes dejaron 4,4 millones devueltos de los 7,3 concedidos. » Source: Red.es - 13 EUR million Amount returned on Kit Digital artificial intelligence projects Spain, AI component of the programme > « Los proyectos de inteligencia artificial sumaron otros 13 millones de euros de vuelta. » Source: Red.es - 930,000 grants Number of grants awarded at the close of the Kit Digital programme Spain, Kit Digital programme, final cumulative total > « El Gobierno presume de 860.000 subvenciones concedidas al cierre del plazo, una cifra que después se elevó a 930.000. » - 3,600 EUR million Total budget execution of the Kit Digital programme Spain, Kit Digital programme, cumulative execution against an initial budget of 3,067 million > « La ejecución superó los 3.600 millones de euros frente a los 3.067 millones de presupuesto inicial, porque el dinero devuelto volvía a repartirse. » ## Classification **Country** Spain **Company size** SMEs, Micro-businesses **Industries** All industries, or industry not specified **Companies** Red.es (cited), Gobierno de España (cited) **Keywords** kit digital, pymes, public subsidies, artificial intelligence, bureaucracy, autónomos Entry written by Marsanne Studio from the cited article, with the help of an AI model (claude-sonnet-5). The rights to the article and its illustrations belong to Merca2 and its author. Entry translated from French by Claude Sonnet 5.5.