A total of 769 million euros were invested in the A.C. of the Basque Country in Scientific Research and Technological Development activities (R&D) in 2004. 358 million (46.6%), corresponded to Bizkaia 288 to Gipuzkoa (37.5%) and 122 to Álava (15.9%), according to Eustat data.

The average increase in internal expenditure on R&D with regard to the year before was 9.8%. Only Álava increased above this average, with 31.1%, compared to the growth experienced by Gipuzkoa (8.7%) and Bizkaia (5.0%).

The effort made by Álava is reflected in the comparison of expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP, a value which came to 1.44% for the whole of the A.C. of the Basque Country. In fact, in 2003 in Álava this indicator was 1.14% and in 2004 it represented 1.37%, while in Guipúzcoa it reached 1.65% and in Bizkaia 1.33%, and was higher than the Spanish average (1.07%) in all three provinces.

With regard to the expenditure execution sector, each province presented different peculiarities. In Álava there continued to be important expenditure in the Public Administration sector, which represented 27.3% of the expenditure of the three provinces, due to the concentration of different bodies dependent on the administration. In 2004 the enterprise sector presented a spectacular development in this province: expenditure on R&D by companies in Alava rose by 27 million euros, which represents a 38.7% increase with regard to the year before.

In Gipuzkoa, the sector with lowest expenditure continued to be the Adminsitration, but there was an important increase for the company sector due to their specific business fabric. The university sector maintained a high level due to the high proportion of technological faculties and the 11.2% increase in resources earmarked for R&D during the year.

With regard to Bizkaia, expenditure in all sectors was high. The University in particular, mainly because the Science Faculties of the University of the Basque Country are concentrated at the Leioa campus. However, we should mention that, in 2004 expenditure in the Public Administration sector increased by 24%, while the companies sector invested only 3% more in research than in 2003.

The importance of funding by companies (66%), in terms of private resources earmarked for research, places all the provinces above the state average (48%) and at the same level as countries like Gernamy, the USA, Switzerland and Belgium. Foreign funding increased by only 1%: 32 million euros were received in 2004, which represented 4.2% of the total.

The scientific discipline on which the greatest expenditure was made and that employs the greatest number of persons in all the provinces is engineering and technology. However, the percentage of this expenditure that each province earmarks is between the maximum in Gipuzkoa with 82% and the minimum in Bizkaia with 72%, with Álava in the middle with 79%.

According to the classification by technological level applicable to manufacturing companies, significant provincial differences are also evident: while in Álava internal expenditure made by companies grouped in high or medium-high technology sectors represented 67% of total expenditure made by the manufacturing industry, in Bizkaia it reached 72% and in Gipuzkoa it came to 76%.

With regard to the participation of females in R&D activities, only 29% and 28% of the total personnel in Álava and Guipúzcoa respectively are women, while this proportion reached 34% in Bizkaia, percentages that are all below the state average, which came to 37.4%.