Digitalization in Spain: Experts say there’s room to improve
Expanding to Spain brings unique opportunities: its market is ripe with potential, particularly for businesses ready to contribute to its exploding digital landscape. While the country's transformation is undeniable, it's also true that administrative hurdles can slow progress.
This presents a clear opening for agile companies to not only expand but to become part of the solution.
To better understand Spain’s digital landscape and what needs improvement, we spoke with two experts: Iván Ibáñez (CTO at UVE Group) and Daniel Abad (Founder and CEO at Neurafy).
Keep reading for their conclusions.
What you’ll learn:
Digitalization in Spain: more services online now than a decade ago
Digitalizing in Spain needs simpler processes
Can digitalization in Spain improve?
What about the tech talent pool in Spain? Is it amazing?
Adopting AI: the pros and cons
Final thoughts: what needs to change?
Digitalization in Spain: more services online now than a decade ago
Public administration in Spain has a clear plan for digitalization since 2021. According to Iván Ibáñez, while more services are available online now than a decade ago, the user experience could be better. “When we talk about user experience, whether with clients or internally within companies I’ve worked at, we always say: If you want an example of how not to do user experience, just look at government websites.”
Government platforms are often slow, outdated, and counterintuitive, making it difficult for younger generations to navigate them—let alone older citizens. The core issue, as Iván describes it, is that instead of simplifying the existing infrastructure, new complex layers keep piling up.
“The way I see it, public administration, from a technological standpoint, is like a tangled mess of wires. The infrastructure exists, but it’s chaotic. Instead of untangling the mess, they just keep adding new wires on top. The result? More confusion.”
The situation doesn’t just affect citizens. Government employees struggle with confusing interfaces, too.
“Last time I went to a government office, the computer I was sitting next to had two open USB ports—I could have plugged in anything. And the employee assisting me was using Microsoft Copilot to troubleshoot technical issues. That tells you everything you need to know.”
In 2024, Spain announced that it would pay digital nomads and remote workers in tech up to $17,000 to move to a rural region, showing a clear effort to attract and retain top talent—and foreign businesses, too, thanks to the Beckham Law.
Digitalizing in Spain needs simpler processes
Many online workflows in Spain still mirror inefficient offline processes. Daniel Abad highlights this issue:
“Digitalization isn’t just scanning documents and emailing them. If the same old bureaucratic steps remain, no real progress is made.”
Government systems remain fragmented. A business dealing with the tax authority will likely have to repeat the same steps with social security, as these systems don’t communicate with each other. The result? Tech-related businesses looking to set up a subsidiary in Spain could bet on improving all workflows–and speeding up processes.
Can digitalization in Spain improve?
Iván believes the answer lies in a structured, step-by-step reform:
“What they should do is dedicate a team—whether it’s 10, 50, or 100 people—to systematically fix issues step by step. If I, as a citizen, can’t access a government website for a week because they’re revamping it, fine! I’ll go to a bank or an office this year if it means that next year I’ll be able to do everything seamlessly from my phone.”
Collaboration with private companies and startups could also accelerate progress, so there’s undoubtedly a business opportunity there.
“They could collaborate with startups, outsource the entire digitalization project... That would be ideal.”
In fact, there’s a whole movement online, called España Digital 2026.
What about the tech talent pool in Spain? Is it amazing?
While Spain struggles with digitalization at an institutional level, its tech talent is a different story. Both Iván and Daniel emphasize the strength of Spain’s developer community, particularly among younger professionals.
“There’s a lot of tech talent in Spain, especially among younger generations. Back in the day, finding a tutorial on a programming language was a challenge. Now, there’s a massive amount of free content online. Plus, with AI tools, learning has become even more accessible.”
According to Daniel, Spain offers strong technical education, and developers in the country offer high-quality work at more competitive costs than those in Germany or the UK. The startup ecosystem is growing, and Spain’s lifestyle continues to attract international talent.
However, both experts agree that English proficiency remains a weak point.
“For people my age and older, there’s still a huge language barrier, even if they have technical expertise. Younger generations are a bit better, but honestly, not by much.”
Daniel notes that international companies hiring in Spain should know this challenge. While many highly skilled developers have strong English skills, it’s not yet the norm.
Adopting AI: the pros and cons
The rise of AI has brought both opportunities and challenges for Spanish businesses. According to Daniel, many companies still see AI as an optional luxury rather than a necessity, which is a mistake.
“The question isn’t whether they want to adapt—it’s that if they don’t, they’ll be left behind.”
Startups, in particular, often make critical errors when implementing AI:
Using AI just because: Not every problem needs AI. Sometimes, simple automation is more effective.
Poor data quality: AI relies on data. If the data used is bad, the AI won’t work properly.
Underestimating complexity: AI models require continuous training and optimization—they don’t work out of the box.
Lack of real expertise: There’s a lot of talk about AI, but few professionals truly understand how to implement it successfully.
And regulation is another major roadblock. While rules like GDPR are essential for data protection, excessive regulation makes AI adoption much harder for startups. Daniel states that:
“Regulation is important, but overly strict policies mean only large corporations can afford compliance. Startups need flexibility to innovate without being suffocated by bureaucracy.”
Final thoughts: what needs to change?
Spain has a wealth of tech talent and a growing startup ecosystem, but its digital transformation efforts—especially in the public sector—can still improve.
Government digitalization must focus on simplification, not just moving old bureaucratic processes online.
Collaboration with startups and private companies could provide much-needed expertise in systems and software.
Businesses must recognize that AI and digitalization aren’t optional—those that resist will be left behind.
The country must continue improving English proficiency to make its workforce more competitive on a global scale.
Spain is full of potential. The question is: Will it make the necessary improvements to unlock it?
