Bono IA for the self-employed: what the Oficina Nacional de Emprendimiento clarifies and what still has no date

If you are self-employed in Spain (autónomo) and want to know whether you will be able to apply for the Bono IA, there is news and a caveat. On 20 October 2026 the public platform Oficina Nacional de Emprendimiento (ONE) published a guide to the future voucher that names “personas trabajadoras autónomas” as beneficiaries. It is the first time a gob.es portal writes it in those words. The caveat: there are still no regulatory bases, and the ONE itself says so. This article compares the three official sources as of 21 October 2026.

What the ONE publication says

The guide summarises Plan IA360 and adds three useful things.

• It names the beneficiaries. “SMEs and self-employed workers”, more than 25,000 in the plan’s target.
• It describes fundable projects. Custom development, integration of AI into management systems and business processes, data preparation and operations optimisation.
• It sets the timeline. First Red NEURONA pilots at the end of 2026, definition of the voucher’s regulatory framework during 2027 and a call before the end of 2027.

And it states the limit: “the characteristics, requirements and access conditions of the Bono de Inteligencia Artificial will be specified with the publication of the corresponding regulatory bases”. There is no amount per company, no managing body and no application procedure.

Three official sources, three texts

Item	Plan document (20/09)	Moncloa note (21/09)	ONE guide (20/10)
Beneficiaries	“beneficiary companies”, SMEs	“SMEs and self-employed”	“SMEs and self-employed workers”
Providers	“European technology companies”	not mentioned	“specialised technology providers”
Licences	does not fund “mere licence subscriptions”	not mentioned	not mentioned
Payments	by milestones, with staff training	not mentioned	not mentioned
Budget	600 M€	not mentioned	600 M€
Amount per company	not set	not mentioned	not set
Timeline	pilot in the first half of 2027, call before the end of 2027	not mentioned	Red NEURONA pilots at the end of 2026, regulatory framework in 2027, call before the end of 2027
Red NEURONA	100 SMEs in two regions before the end of 2026	not mentioned	100 SMEs in two regions before the end of 2026, about 5,000 organisations in 2027

Where they differ, the plan document prevails. It is the most detailed text and the only one that sets conditions. The ONE guide does not contradict them, but it does not repeat them either. If you prepare a project, count on the plan’s restrictions: a European provider, no licences, payment by milestones.

Why it matters for the self-employed

The public AI advisory grant that exists today, Kit Consulting, does not accept self-employed workers as beneficiaries. Order TDF/436/2024 limits it to SMEs with 10 to fewer than 250 employees, and its article 7.5 leaves sole traders out. That is why the ONE’s wording matters: the current programme excludes them and the future voucher, according to the ONE, includes them. Until the bases say so, it is an intention, not a right.

What is still unknown

• The amount per beneficiary and whether there will be brackets by size.
• The body that will manage the voucher. The ONE does not name it.
• The requirements for providers and whether there will be a registry like the Kit Consulting one.
• The publication date of the bases. The ONE places the regulatory framework “during 2027”.

The bases can change any of these lines, including the one about the self-employed. We will update this article when they are published.

How we help

The steps to arrive prepared are the ones we describe in how to get the Bono IA voucher for your company: a diagnosis, one use case, a small pilot and a milestone proposal. If you are self-employed and want to know which process in your activity makes sense to automate, ask us for a diagnosis. No need to wait for the bases.