The Cheque Innovación is a Community of Madrid grant that helps small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) commission innovation projects from a specialised provider. At Legal & Cloud we use it to fund artificial intelligence, data and process improvement projects, never as an end in itself. We first define a project that is useful for your business and then check whether it fits the grant.

Who can apply

According to the official information sheet, the grant is open to SMEs that:

Are validly incorporated when they apply.
Habitually carry out a market-oriented economic activity in the Community of Madrid.
Have at least one workplace in the Community of Madrid from which the subsidised activities will be carried out.
Have enough administrative, financial and operational capacity to carry out the project.

The grant is aimed mainly at SMEs in traditional sectors that do not produce technology and whose business model does not rely on intensive development or use of technology: law and accounting firms, workshops and industry, retail, logistics and transport, among others.

What the grant covers

The grant covers 80% of eligible costs, excluding VAT, up to a maximum of €60,000 per project. Each type of action also has its own indicative maximum amount, according to the published information about the call:

Diagnosis or innovation plan: €12,000.
Feasibility study: €30,000.
Process transformation: €30,000.
Innovative software development: €30,000.
Proof of concept or prototype: €60,000.

An indicative example: a fully eligible €60,000 project would mean €48,000 of aid and a €12,000 contribution from the business, before VAT. Always check the cap for the specific action and which costs are eligible. You can run your own figures with the calculator on the home page.

Provider requirements

The project must be carried out by an innovation provider: a technology centre, a university, a research body or a company providing specialised technical assistance in R&D and innovation. The provider signs the collaboration commitment (Annex II). If the provider is a company, its registered office and the workplace from which it provides the service must be in the Community of Madrid. We check this fit for each project before anything is submitted.

How we help

Initial diagnosis. A 30-minute conversation to understand the problem, the data available and the result you are looking for.
Scope and proposal. We define deliverables, budget, responsibilities and acceptance tests, and review possible eligibility.
Application. We prepare the project's technical report and budget and tell you which documents your business needs to provide.
Delivery. If you decide to go ahead, we deliver the project in phases, with human review of decisions and documentation to support the final claim.

The projects that fit best are usually AI implementation (document automation, assistants based on your own documents, prototypes) and data engineering with Azure and Databricks when it underpins that AI.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a deadline? The official sheet states that applications can be submitted on an ongoing basis. The 2026 funding was approved by Order 2604/2026 of 3 July (BOCM no. 167, 15 July). Applications are submitted electronically only.

Can I start the project before applying? No. The application must be submitted before the project starts.

Do I have to pay upfront? Usually the business pays for the project and receives the grant after justifying it. We explain the timeline under the current rules.

What if the grant is not awarded? You decide whether to go ahead. If the project depends on the grant, we can wait for the decision before starting.

Official source

Information checked on 8 November 2026 on the Cheque Innovación sheet of the Community of Madrid's official website (last updated 16/07/2026, in Spanish). This information is for guidance only: always consult the current rules and call. The grant is decided by the competent authority and we do not guarantee that any project is eligible.