The Spanish Government has approved the launch of a new strategic project for economic recovery and transformation (‘PERTE’). The aim in this case is to get artificial intelligence to use Spanish, so that this innovative technology thinks in the language spoken by about 600 million people in the world, i.e. 7.5% of the world's population.

The New Language Economy PERTE also aims to reinforce the value of official languages in the digital transformation process and will have a budget of 1.1 billion euros.

Co-official languages too
Along with this public investment, the Government plans to mobilise a further 1 billion euros of private investment. At least 30 million euros will be specifically earmarked for supporting projects in co-official languages. This public-private partnership will take the form of a body called the Alliance for a New Language Economy (‘Alianza para la Nueva Economía de la Lengua’).

This Alliance will feature a special commissioner and an advisory board including representatives from major  cultural, science and technology institutions. This body will be responsible for driving proposed measures and other projects linked to the promotion of language and its digitalisation. An Alliance Forum will also be created to organise meetings and outreach activities.

New Language Economy
The launch of the new PERTE aims to promote the value chain in the new economy of language, knowledge and artificial intelligence, concepts which are together inherent to digital transformation. This initiative is considered to be of high strategic value, as it serves as an impetus for key and emerging sectors which can at the same time serve as an impetus in the new digital economy.

It is considered particularly essential to get artificial intelligence to think in Spanish, which is the second most spoken language by number of native speakers and the third most used language on the Internet. This will enable both Spanish-speaking companies and the public to play a leading role in the growth and creation of quality employment.

Projects and strategic priorities
The New Language Economy initiatives will be based around six principles: integration; public-private partnerships; regional structuring; Panhispanism; the participation of SMEs and startups; and inclusive digitalisation, based on technological humanism and gender equality.

From these principles, 14 impactful projects will be launched based on five strategic priorities. The first one, the creation of a knowledge base in Spanish and co-official languages, will have a budget of 97 million euros, 10 million euros of which will be reserved for co-official languages. The second one, focused on artificial intelligence in Spanish, will be allocated over 330 million euros.

The third priority, focussed on science in Spanish, will have a budget of around 130 million euros. 475 million euros will be earmarked for learning Spanish and learning in Spanish around the world, including the creation of a single and secure technology platform. The final priority, cultural industries, with a large share focussed on audiovisual production and the video game industry, will receive around 70 million euros.

^{Photo: Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation}