In 2003 a total of 700 million euros was invested in Scientific Research and Technological Development activities (R&D) in the A.C. of the Basque Country, 4.1% more than the previous year, according to EUSTAT data. This growth, however, was less than that experienced by GDP at current prices (5.1%).

It can be seen that over the ten-year period under consideration, expenditure on research and development work virtually tripled.

R&D expenditure in 2003 represented 1.48% of GDP (point nought one per cent less than the previous year), which puts it above the state average (1.10%), but below the average for the European Union (1.83% in 2002,).

There is a proven positive relationship between the level of GDP per inhabitant and the percentage of GDP earmarked for R&D. The wealthiest countries are those that most invest in R&D, which is to say that surpass 2.5% of their GDP: Sweden, Japan, Finland, Germany and the USA. Among those that make an intermediate investment, between 1.5% and 2.5% of their GDP, are France, the United Kingdom, Norway, Austria and Canada. Low level investment in R&D is made in Ireland (1.15%), Italy (1.11%), Spain (1.10%), Hungary (1.02%), Portugal (0.93%) and Poland (0.59%).

By autonomous community, Euskadi continues in second position in terms of R&D investment, bettered only by the Community of Madrid, which invested 1.81% of its GDP in 2003, due to the concentration of many public centres dedicated to R&D. Therefore, none of the autonomous communities surpassed the European Union-25 average.

79% of R&D expenditure in the A.C. of the Basque Country is executed in the business sector

As regards execution sectors, companies accounted for 79% of R&D spending, 18% was dedicated to university research and the remaining 3% was carried out by various public bodies under the auspices of the Administration. In this respect there was also an important difference in the results of the Spanish state, where companies were responsible for only 54% of R&D expenditure during 2003, Public Administration for 15%, Higher Education 30% and the remaining 1% was by Private Non-profit Making Bodies.

The scientific discipline to spend the most and employ the highest number of people was engineering and technology, for which 77% of resources was earmarked and in which 73% of all personnel dedicated to R&D were occupied.

Focusing our attention on industrial companies, of the major products to be researched, the most outstanding were machinery and mechanical equipment and aeronautical and space construction. These two sectors accounted for 23% of all current expenditure dedicated to R&D by companies.

As for services companies, telecommunications, software and R&D services were the products to which the most resources were dedicated, accounting, in combination, for 24% of the current expenditure dedicated to R&D by companies.

From the viewpoint of funding, the private sector, through companies, allotted 463 million euros, 66% of the total, increasing its contribution by one and a half percentage points in relation to the previous year. Public funding came to 30%. 4% of funds came from overseas, the sector whose contribution most diminished, since it was 8% in 2002 and 7% in 2001. The A.C. of the Basque Country was among the countries with most private funding, on a par with countries such as the USA or Germany.

The total personnel dedicated to R&D activities in the A.C. of the Basque Country came to 11,353 people (+1.7% in relation to 2002), 11.58 per thousand of the active population, of which 7,142 were researchers, 7.28 per thousand. In state terms, R&D activities occupied 8 per thousand of the active population while researchers represented 4.9 per thousand.

30.5% of R&D personnel are women

The highest percentage of female participation in R&D activities was in Public Administration and in Higher Education with 45.1% and 43.1% respectively, while in companies this percentage stood at 26%.

Other indicators of research carried out in the A.C. of the Basque Country were patents and utility models.

The number of published patent applications came to 161 during 2003. According to the type of product, the greatest number were for domestic and electrical appliances, buildings and building accessories (such as locks and safes) and transport and packaging.

As for utility models, 180 were created, and here too the majority were domestic appliances, transport and packaging and buildings and building accessories, in this case doors and windows.