Press release 29/09/2011
The ICT sector accounted for 2099 companies with 23,051 employees in the Basque Country in 2009
This sector, representing 1.2% of the total number of companies, generated 3.1% of the wealth created by the Basque economy
The Information and Communication Technology sector (ICT), representing 2099 companies and 23,051 employees, generated 3.1% of the GDP in the Basque Country in 2009, according to Eustat data. These companies and their employees account for 1.2% and 2.3%, respectively, of the totals in the Autonomous Community.
Moreover, the sector produced a turnover of 4096.4 million euros, generating wealth in terms of added value of 1836.8 million euros in 2009.
In the ICT sector the proportion of companies that carry out R&D and prove innovative is much higher than in the remaining sectors
In the ICT sector, 8.5% of companies carry out R&D activities, a percentage that is much higher than the figure for the remaining sectors, where 0.9% of companies carry out these activities. Moreover, this sector, accounting for only 1.2% of total companies, nevertheless takes in 11.4% of the companies carrying out R&D, and, employing 83.0 million euros, is responsible for 8.5% of total internal R&D expenditure throughout all companies.
With regards to personnel focusing on R&D within this sector, in 2009, the figure was equivalent to 1423 full-time staff (11.4% of the personnel dedicated to this activity in all sectors), 374 of whom were women.
Further analysis shows that this sector employed 652 researchers in the equivalent of full-time employment, 172 of whom were women.
In terms of innovation, as was the case in R&D, significant differences are evidenced by ICT in comparison to the remaining sectors. Thus, in 2009, 16.8% of establishments within the ICT sector proved innovative, compared to 14.6% in all remaining sectors. If company size is taken into consideration, those with 10 or more employees within ICT registered a percentage of 47.8%, compared to 29.8% in all remaining sectors.
With regards to expenditure in innovation, ICT establishments destined 204.4 million euros to this activity, representing 7.4% of total expenditure throughout all companies. Within this expenditure, 182.7 million euros corresponded to establishments with 10 or more employees, representing 8.2% of total expenditure in all companies of this size.
In the figures for expenditure in innovation and R&D in terms of turnover (intensity ratios in innovation and internal R&D), it is also clear that the ICT sector assigns a higher proportion of resources to R&D and innovation that the remaining sectors.
The use of both ICT technologies and electronic commerce is more generalised within the ICT sector when compared with all remaining sectors
Whilst the use of ICT technologies is extensive amongst companies within this sector, electronic commerce, whilst more developed in comparison with the remaining sectors, continues in the situation of not being widely introduced, particularly in terms of sales. 50.7% of establishments realised acquisitions in this manner and 11.0% carried out sales, compared to 13.8% and 3.4% , respectively, in all remaining sectors.
Furthermore, the impact of the ICT sector on foreign goods trade is not very significant. Whilst exports accounted for 183 million euros within a total of 14,945 million, imports amounted to 340 million euros within a total of 12,294 million.
Amongst the most common products in these exchanges, attention should be drawn to electronic components (49.6%) in exports, whereas, in imports, telecommunication hardware (25.5%), other ICT products (24.3%) and electronic components (22.4%) are particularly noteworthy.
Finally, if the data for the ICT sector in the Basque Country is compared with the data for Spain as a whole, in companies with 10 or more employees, there are differences in the observed indicators. The percentages for innovative companies and intensity within innovation are higher in the Basque Country, whilst electronic commerce registers higher percentages in Spain as a whole. With regards to the use of ICT technologies the percentages obtained are very similar.
Methodological note:
The ICT sector is composed of manufacturing and services sectors wherein the main activity is linked to the development, production, marketing and intensive use of Information and Communication Technology.
Having obtained the data for this year, 2009, the new Classification of Economic Activities (CNAE-2009) is employed, whereby they are not comparable with those published with the CNAE93 in previous years.
The activities currently included in this sector are as follows:
Industry: CNAE’s 2611, 2612, 2620, 2630, 2640 and 2680.
Services: CNAE’s 4651, 4652, 5821, 5829, 6110, 6120, 6130, 6190, 6201, 6202, 6203, 6209, 6311, 6312, 9511 and 9512.
This statistical operation has been carried out on the basis of information obtained from the following Eustat surveys:
· Directory of economic activities
· Economic accounts
· Industrial Statistics
· Economic survey on other services
· Survey on various services
· Survey on Scientific Research and Technological Development (R&D)
· Survey on Technological Innovation – EIT.
· Survey on the Information Society within companies
· Survey on Foreign Trade
For further information:
Basque Statistics Office
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Tel: +34-945-01 75 00 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01 E-mail: eustat@eustat.eus
Contact: Jose Miguel Escalada
Tel:+34-945-01 75 96 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01
Further press releases on the Information and Communication Technology Sector (ICT)