Press Release 28/09/2012

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SECTOR (ICT). Year 2010

The ICT grouped together 2091 companies with 22,758 employed individuals in the Basque Country in 2010

This sector accounted for 1.3% of the total companies and generated 3.2% of wealth created by the Basque economy

The Information & Communication Technology sector (ICT), with 2091 companies and 22,758 employed individuals, generated 3.2% of GDP in the Basque Country in 2010, according to data provided by Eustat.

Furthermore, this sector had a turnover of 4002.5 million euros and generated wealth in valued added terms of 1862.4 million euros in 2010.

In the ICT sector the percentage of innovating companies carrying out R&D far exceeded the other sectors

8.3% of companies in the ICT sector carried out R&D activities, a percentage far superior to the 0.9% of the total for all sectors. Furthermore, this sector, despite representing just 1.3% of companies, accounted for 11.0% of those implementing R&D and, with 83.9 million euros, carried out 8.0% of the total expenditure on internal R&D in the business sector.

With regards to personnel dedicated to R&D in this sector, in 2010 there were 1460 individuals in equivalent-to-full-time positions (11.1% of those provided by all business sectors), of which 377 were women.

Going into further detail with regards to employment in this sector, there were 718 researchers in equivalent-to-full-time positions, of which 193 were women.

Regarding innovation, as with R&D, there were significant differences between the total for all sectors and that for the ICT. In 2010 30.9% of establishments in the ICT sector were innovators compared to 13.8% of the total for all sectors. If company size is taken into account, those with 10 or more employees reached percentages of 56.7% in the first case and 30.1% in the total number of sectors.

Regarding expenditure on innovation, ICT establishments contributed 181.4 million euros, 7.0% of total company expenditure. Of this expenditure, 140.0 million corresponded to establishments of 10 or more employees, which was 6.5% of the total spent by companies of this size.

In the figures for expenditure on innovation and on R&D with respect to company turnover (ratios of intensity of innovation and of internal R&D), it is also evident that the ICT sector destined a greater proportion of resources to R&D+i than the other sectors.



Both the use of ICT technology and e-Commerce were more widespread in the ICT sector than in the total for all sectors

As the use of ICT technology is extremely commonplace amongst the companies in this sector, e-Commerce, although more developed than in the other sectors, continued to have a modest implementation, above all in terms of sales. The establishments that made purchases via this method in the ICT sector accounted for 52.0% and those that carried out sales accounted for 10.2% compared to 14.2% and 3.9% respectively for the total of all sectors.

On the other hand, the impact of the ICT sector on the foreign trade of goods was not very significant. Whilst exports accounted for 221.4 million euros out of a total of 17,875.5 million, imports stood at 415.3 million out of the 5,430.5 million of total imports.

Amongst the most common products in these exchanges, Electronic Components (42.5%) and Other ICT Products (31.3%) stood out in exports and Other ICT Products (27.2%), Electronic Components (25,7%) and Telecommunications Equipment (23.0%) in imports.

Lastly, if we compare ICT sector data for the Basque Country with Spain as a whole in companies with 10 or more employees, differences can be appreciated in the indicators observed. Whilst the percentage of innovating companies was higher in the Basque Country, the intensity in innovation and the percentages of companies carrying out e-Commerce was higher in Spain. Regarding the use of ICT technologies the percentages obtained were very similar.

Methodological note:

The TIC sector is made up of manufacturing and service sectors whose main activity is related to development, production, marketing and intensive use of Information & Communication Technologies.

From data from 2009 the National Classification of Economic Activities 2009 (CNAE-2009) is used, with the following activities being currently included in this sector:

Industry: CNAEs 2611, 2612, 2620, 2630, 2640 and 2680.

Services: CNAEs 4651, 4652, 5821, 5829, 6110, 6120, 6130, 6190, 6201, 6202, 6203, 6209, 6311, 6312, 9511 and 9512.

This statistical operation has been carried out from information obtained in the following surveys conducted by Eustat:

- Directory of Economic Activities:

- Economic accounts

- Industrial Statistics

- Economic survey of other services

- Survey on sundry services

- Survey on Scientific Research and Technological Development (R&D)

- Survey on Technological Innovation -EIT

- Survey on the Information Society in 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)