Chapter 263: Cooperation and Win-Win

Gao Da's plan to hold a tram exhibition was quite successful, a fact evident from the grand spectacle on the day of the exhibition and the headlines in various countries' newspapers the following day.

Trams not only attracted the attention of the European public and media outlets but also caught the eye of European capitalists and governments.

Before the exhibition had even concluded, the German government had already reached out to the Spanish government, hoping to obtain Spain's tram technology through a technical data exchange, much like they had done previously with electrical technology.

Although the German Ximenzi Company was the inventor of the tram, looking at the tram technology currently displayed by Spain, Spain had already moved ahead of Germany in this regard.

In truth, this was not surprising. Spain held a leading position in high-power generators and electric motors; trams equipped with high-power electric motors were bound to lead German trams in speed and passenger/cargo capacity.

Electrical technology was, after all, a brand-new field. Germany respected the achievements Spain had made in this new domain and preferred to synchronize these achievements through technological exchange rather than slowly researching them on their own.

Germany as a whole saw the potential brought by electrical technology, and they would not remain indifferent to such a novel technology.

It is no exaggeration to say that Germany at this time was likely the country in Europe, aside from Spain, that valued electrical technology the most. Germany's emphasis on electrical technology far exceeded that of Britain and France, which was also the reason they were ultimately able to achieve great success in the Second Industrial Revolution.

Regarding the German government's request for further cooperation, the Spanish government naturally accepted.

Even if Spain did not make its existing tram technology public, Germany was bound to master similar technology within the next few years.

It was better to take advantage of the time when such technology was still valuable to exchange it for some technology and capital from Germany—or even other European countries—which could also help boost Spain's own electrical technology development.

If they hid it and kept it private, powers of the level of Britain, France, and Germany would also research similar technology within the next few years.

After all, the existing tram technology was not particularly profound, and Spain was not yet capable of a blockade against other countries.

Like the previous electrical technology, governments of various countries were quite interested in tram technology.

Following the German government, Britain and France also successively expressed requests to introduce tram technology, followed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy.

Gao Da was extremely welcoming of the cooperation requests from various countries. Whether it was the exchange of technical data or direct purchase with capital, Spain was the ultimate beneficiary.

While the Spanish government discussed the specific content of cooperation with various governments, it also released the idea of wanting to cooperate with capital to establish tram transport systems in major cities.

Cooperating with various governments was only the first step; cooperating with capital from various countries could accelerate the construction of Spain's trams.

In an era without subways and buses, trams were the best transport method for urban residents. The trams in Ma Deli and Barcelona could perfectly connect to the industrial zones in the suburbs, which could also promote economic exchange between urban areas and industrial zones.

Could the workers in the industrial zones go to the urban areas to consume and rest during their leisure time? Was this not the best way to promote economic growth?

At this time, trams served exactly the role of subways in large cities of later generations. Although their carrying capacity was much smaller than subways, in Spain, a country without mega-cities, the carrying capacity of trams was already sufficient, and their effect would naturally be quite significant.

Because the news about trams had already hit the front pages of various countries' newspapers, when Spain released the news that it wanted to cooperate with capital to build trams, it immediately attracted the attention of domestic and foreign capital.

Besides the government and capital, power companies would also participate in tram construction. This led these capitalists to contact the power company of Gram at the first opportunity, all wanting to reach relevant cooperation with the Spanish government as soon as possible.

Although Gao Da's plan was to fully popularize trams in Spanish cities with a population of over 100,000, this was not something that could be completed in a short time.

The current primary task was still to build tram transport systems in Ma Deli and Barcelona; only these two cities, which possessed a large number of power stations, were qualified to build tram systems.

If trams could be used to link the connection between the urban areas and industrial zones of the two cities, the improvement for both cities would be enormous.

Of course, besides the improvement to the economy, the improvement of public sentiment also needed to be considered as a priority.

Unlike electric lighting, which had higher costs, the tram transport system was meant to face all residents of the two cities of Ma Deli and Barcelona.

This also meant that the cost of riding the tram certainly could not be too high, at least within a range that the public could afford.

Imagine, when a city has very convenient and cheap public transport, would the public not involuntarily thank the government for its efforts?

The answer is certainly yes. While thanking the government, the public would naturally also thank Gao Da, the ruler of the country.

Building trams could not only promote Spain's economic development but also effectively improve public sentiment in Spain; why would Gao Da not be happy to do so?

Although it was only necessary to build tram transport systems in the two cities of Ma Deli and Barcelona, because the scale of both cities was not small, the capital required for investment was still very large.

According to the joint planning of the Spanish government and the two municipal governments, Ma Deli would build at least six tram tracks; four of these tracks were within the city of Ma Deli, which was also the core urban area of Ma Deli.

One of the remaining two tracks directly connected to the industrial zone in the suburbs of Ma Deli; this industrial zone possessed the vast majority of factories and other enterprises around Ma Deli.

The remaining tram track was responsible for connecting the Ma Deli University Town, the Royal Academy of Sciences, and the large-scale experimental zone; this tram was prepared specifically for university students and scientific research personnel.

Gao Da had also reviewed the tram track planning for Ma Deli, and overall, it could still meet Ma Deli's demand for public transport.

As for the public not on the track lines, they would just have to make do, walking a distance before taking the tram.

After the tram tracks were built, the tram operating company would arrange the number of trams according to specific demand.

Tracks with larger passenger volume would be dispatched more trams, and vice versa. Although trams were urban public transport, the money that should be earned certainly had to be earned.

Only by letting these capitalists earn the money they should earn would they be satisfied and keen on investing in Spain's next urban construction.

If the first cooperation failed, these capitalists would not be so optimistic about investing in Spain's construction in the future.

In the situation where Spain lacked domestic capital, cooperating with these foreign capitalists was still very necessary. The country's construction could not be fought alone; appropriately introducing foreign capital had only benefits and no harm for Spain's development.

Compared to Ma Deli, which needed to build six tram tracks, Barcelona's tram tracks were only four.

Three of these were tram tracks in the urban area of Barcelona, and one longer tram track would connect to the industrial zone in the suburbs of Barcelona.

The reason Barcelona had two fewer tram tracks than Ma Deli was mainly because Barcelona did not have such a dense university town, and furthermore, it was not the capital of Spain, so the government's support would be slightly smaller.

However, the tram track connecting to the industrial zone in Barcelona was longer, passing through and circling more than half of the Barcelona industrial zone.

If Ma Deli had the largest number of tram tracks, then Barcelona had the longest tram track mileage. After all, it was Spain's largest industrial zone, so the attention it deserved certainly had to be given.

In order to build and operate the trams in the two cities, Spain would establish the Ma Deli Tram Company and the Barcelona Tram Company.

The Madrid Tram Company had a total investment of over 62 million Pesetas; the Spanish government invested 10 million Pesetas, the Spanish Royal Family invested 5 million Pesetas, the Madrid municipal government invested 7 million Pesetas, and the Spanish National Power Company contributed technology equivalent to 15 million Pesetas. The remaining 25 million Pesetas of investment would be open for bidding, inviting domestic and foreign capital to join.

The investment for the Barcelona Tram Company exceeded 75 million Pesetas; the Spanish government also invested 10 million Pesetas, the Royal Family still invested 5 million Pesetas, the Barcelona municipal government invested 10 million Pesetas, and the power company also contributed technology equivalent to 15 million Pesetas.

The remaining 35 million Pesetas of investment also had to be made up by domestic and foreign capital; doing so was also to reduce the government's fiscal expenditure.

The total investment for the tram tracks in the two cities reached as high as 137 million Pesetas; this was no longer a small investment.

The investment that capital could intervene in reached as high as 60 million Pesetas, already close to half of the total investment.

If they relied solely on the efforts of the Spanish government, although this 60 million Pesetas of funds could be scraped together, it would obviously affect construction in other areas.

The Spanish government's total fiscal revenue last year was only 932.5 million Pesetas, and the fiscal surplus was a pathetic 9.7 million Pesetas.

For the Spanish government, every sum of money had to be calculated carefully so that development in all aspects could be taken into account, rather than only focusing on one or a few.

After all, the Spanish government still had many foreign debts that had not been repaid, so what should be saved still needed to be saved.

As long as the tram construction was successful and entered profitability, the initial cooperation between the Spanish government and foreign capital could end with a good outcome.

In this way, when there was a need to cooperate with these foreign capitalists in the future, they would not have the slightest misgivings, and the capital power that Spain could mobilize would also be more powerful.

Although the Royal Family's investment in the tram technology for the two cities combined was only 10 million Pesetas, the shares actually controlled by the Royal Family were more than that.

The vast majority of shares in the Spanish National Power Company were controlled by the Royal Family, and the power company had obtained an investment share equivalent to 30 million Pesetas through technology contribution.

In other words, the Royal Family's direct or indirect investment in tram construction reached 40 million Pesetas, accounting for about one-third of the total input.

Added to the input from the Spanish government and the two municipal governments, this could ensure that the Spanish official side occupied sufficient say in the tram aspect.

This was also the reason Gao Da had the confidence to introduce foreign capital; as long as the combined input from Spain occupied the bulk, there was no need to worry about foreign capital possessing the say in return.

In order to encourage Spain's scientific research, Gao Da even planned to create relevant awards to commend and reward these scientific research personnel.

Such awards were, of course, not the Nobel Prize of later generations, but rather encouraging medals regarding scientific research.

Because the purpose was only to encourage scientific innovation, the selection for the awards would not be very strict. As long as one possessed the concept of scientific innovation and had already achieved certain results in corresponding research, one could apply to the award's review committee to receive the award.

Of course, an award is an award, and the selection certainly would not be too simple, to avoid such awards becoming worthless and ultimately not being valued by people.

According to Gao Da's plan, awards similar to the Scientific Innovation Award and the Technological Contribution Award would only be selected once a year, and the total number of recipients for all awards combined would not exceed ten people or teams.

Because the purpose was to encourage scientific innovation, the rewards were not just simple funds, but also included free trial use of research sites, exemption from water and electricity fees used for research, and other aspects of assistance.

If necessary, award winners could also apply for tax exemption for research projects, reducing the research funds required for research projects through tax exemption.

Especially for those private scientific research teams, whether it was the salary income of research personnel or other expenditures, they basically all needed to pay taxes.

If this part of the tax could be reduced or exempted, it would save a large sum of funds for such private scientific research groups.

And in all of Europe, what private scientific research groups lacked most was research and development funds. The effect of doing this was also very obvious, which was to allow these small-scale research groups to possess more funds, letting the research funds in their hands be used where they were really needed.

Such awards were all small-scale, and the difficulty of obtaining them was generally not high. Moreover, the selection would only be conducted within Spain; after all, Gao Da's purpose was to encourage scientific innovation within Spain, not to encourage scientific innovation in the whole world.

Of course, where there are small awards, there will be big awards.

Big awards would certainly be similar to the Nobel Prize of later generations; the conditions for application would be quite strict, and there would be very rigorous reviews.

If the previous small awards could only obtain fund rewards and certain support policies, then the things obtained by the winners of the formal big awards would be more.

Besides more funds and more powerful support policies, the winners of the big awards would even be granted titles, ascending to the sky in one step to become the aristocratic class of Spain.

Of course, the big awards would not only face scientific research personnel but would face experts in multiple fields, selecting the most capable and most contributing scientists in all of Spain, or even all of Europe and the whole world.

The purpose of the small awards was to encourage Spain's technological innovation, and the purpose of the big awards was to attract top scientists and relevant scientific research talents for Spain.

Spain's reward for the winners of the big awards was quite generous, and the purpose of this reward was precisely to attract these people to stay in Spain.

Of course, if the award winner was Spanish, that would be even better. In short, regardless of whether they were Spanish or not, the award winners would obtain quite generous funds, support policies, and other series of rewards.

But if one wanted to obtain the reward of a Spanish title, one must join the Spanish nationality. I believe the attraction of aristocratic titles is still sufficient; becoming a Spanish aristocrat through scientific research might not be a powerful means to attract foreign scientists.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 264 =====