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If the old welfare state falters, startups could be the key to a new model

In this society of which we are a part, we do not believe that something will happen until it happens. If a few months ago they had told us today the situation in the world would be what we are experiencing, possibly we would have thought that we were before the synopsis of a science fiction novel, of a dystopia that makes us rethink the future.

In a few weeks we have given up part of our freedoms in the name of the common good and health. We have gone from working in an office to doing it at home in front of a screen, or not doing it. And much of the daily life that shaped our personal and social identity and that so-called welfare state has been transformed.

Of well-being by not knowing how to be

The so-called “welfare state” is a relatively recent concept, coined in 1945 after World War II, in which the State and the economy join forces to offer a socioeconomic environment capable of guaranteeing just that: the “well-being” of people.

AND technology has become an essential ingredient of the welfare state, as reflected in initiatives such as the award Millennium Technology Prize. It has been awarded biannually from the Finnish Academy of Technology since 2004 to projects that promote the well-being of society and humanity.

But the emergence of COVID-19 has made practically everything that we took for sure and immovable, wobble and question. From a reasonable degree of certainty and security we have gone into uncertainty practically overnight.

The declaration of the global pandemic by the WHO on March 11 was followed by the declaration of the State of Alarm in Spain on March 14. In just three days, the situation in countries like Spain went from complicated normality to unprecedented exceptionality that has changed our priorities in the context of well-being. Suddenly, the urgent thing was to try to manage a false daily life from an online environment, teleworking, with virtual classes, purchases and online payments …

Technology as a catalyst

It is true, as we said, that if there is a catalyst that has facilitated the construction of civilization as we know it, that is technology. First, industrial technology, with the steam engine, chain production or transport. Then, in the last fifty years, the empire of digital, with the arrival of information and communication technologies, which in this pandemic have served to keep us connected to the world.


AND if technology is the catalyst, innovation is intelligence that makes it possible for that catalyst to be really effective and serve a purpose. Entrepreneurs and startups they know it well and Santander Bank too. Therefore, it has launched the initiative Tomorrow Challenge. It aims to open the way for entrepreneurs or startups to try, if not change the world, to improve small plots of our day-to-day life that have been susceptible to improvement after the coronavirus.

Technology without innovation is a potential Russian roulette. And, in moments like this that we are living, both have to assert in a more forceful way their regenerative and rehabilitative capacity of that state of well-being in which we were immersed.

Already during these weeks of confinement, many businesses have managed to transform their operations to adapt to changes. For example, confectionery businesses that had their biggest source of income at face-to-face events such as weddings have adopted e-commerce models complemented by training in their specialty area.

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The academies have gone from hosting hundreds of students in physical rooms to moving classes to online platforms and some like Bunkyo language academy They plan to maintain this model even when it is possible to return to the classroom with a view to expanding their services in other countries.

Innovation is synonymous with hope

Just a decade ago, innovating was almost the exclusive property of large companies. And the innovative “indies” he may have focused his efforts on creating large companies. Furthermore, innovating was not always compatible with a university education and required dedication as exclusive as it was risky.

Today, innovation is not that it is compatible with the training of people, is that it is part of the training process. The “startup phenomenon” has grown both outside and within the University. It has much to contribute to a world where changes are happening at an accelerated rate and in which sources of financing have been made available to projects in which talent is valued more than the bureaucratic guarantees of yesteryear.

Credits: University of Zaragoza

Work team at the University of Zaragoza in search of a vaccine for COVID-19


Facilitate the expression of this talent by simplifying access to financing and eliminating bureaucratic processes is now more important than in a past of normality without disruption. There is no time for delay. Ideas are there to be turned into reality. It already happened during confinement, when respirators were urgently needed: from the DIY world, multiple initiatives arose that put in value the 3D printing technologies to manufacture them.

Some curdled, others did not. Some served as the foundation for other initiatives or as a motivation for even companies such as vehicle manufacturing companies to adapt their production lines to the construction of respirators. It all starts with an idea to undertake, it is evaluated, it materializes. Without forgetting that failure is a (necessary) part of the process.

In the search for a vaccine against COVID-19, initiatives from the University are as important or more than those from large pharmaceutical companies. Without going any further, the Zaragoza’s University It is one of the centers that work in that search with one of the most advanced projects in our country. It is another example of the relevant role that research within the University is playing in the construction of the “new normal”.

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Initiatives like Santander Universities, with its scholarship programs, and Santander X, with their support for entrepreneurship, are the reflection of this confluence of trends. So, the financial sector supports entrepreneurship and innovation as a fundamental value to consolidate the welfare state. Or, as in the current situation, to reinvent or rebuild it.

Santander X, created in 2017, gathers in a single initiative several of the most relevant trends in the field of technology and innovation: on the one hand, the democratization of innovation bringing it closer to sectors traditionally isolated from the circles of financing and carrying out technological projects. On the other, the reconciliation between innovation and the University so that it is not necessary to finish the studies and join a template to innovate.

Now, at a time when technology and innovation have to assert their ability to reinvent and rebuild the welfare state After this particular stress test that the COVID-19 is undergoing, Banco Santander, through its Santander X platform, has created the Santander X Tomorrow Challenge call.

Santander X Tomorrow Challenge

We said it at the beginning: in a world in constant movement, we do not believe that something will happen until it happens. Now, when the world has stopped, we find that “new reality” that, with each passing day, becomes more evident in the form of subtle but continuous movements towards directions that a few months ago would be unimaginable.

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The solutions that we thought were sufficient to maintain our state of well-being have not worked in many cases, so we must devise others. The knowledge that we considered good have not been too useful either, which invites to acquire other chords with the new circumstances. Even the concept of work is being questioned, which makes it urgent to redefine it. And, customers and audiences that until a few weeks ago were the source of income in many sectors, are no longer a reference, so business strategies must be reoriented.

Santander X Tomorrow Challenge focuses its call on the search for startups that can solve one of the four identified challenges by Santander X as keys to understanding post COVID-19 society:

  • Re-Skill It focuses on identifying those skills that are relevant to the post-COVID-19 world and finding methods for those skills to be learned by professionals.
  • Re-Work emphasizes changes in labor dynamics. Employment has been extremely fragile in the face of the pandemic and it is important to strengthen it and make it more prevalent.
  • Re-Invent It transfers the challenge from people, as happens in Re-Skill and Re-Work, to companies. Business models have changed and they need to be adapted to conditions that are much more likely to change.
  • Re-Launch It is also a challenge for business rather than for people. Audiences and customers have altered their interests, their needs. It is an opportunity to identify those interests and even guide the consumer towards relevant needs.
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This call aims favor the best 20 startups with up to a million euros for financing, mentoring and global reach in Argentina, Germany, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the United States, Spain, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom and Uruguay.

The term is open until July 2, 2020 on the website of the call: Santanderx.com/tomorrowchallenge.

From challenges to opportunities

Challenges can be seen as opportunities. And this may be the ultimate opportunity to break inherited burdens and (re) build a welfare state more efficient, global, coherent and conciliatory of the economy with people, societies and the environment.

The democratization of innovation has made it possible for those entrepreneurs and startups in a position to provide a broader vision and unrelated to old constraints.


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