Press Release 05/12/2013
Employment in R&D in Biotechnology increases in the Basque Country but expenditure falls 0.3% in 2012.
61% of employed personnel are female
In 2012, internal expenditure on R&D for activities related to Biotechnology reached 85.6 million euros in the Basque Country, according to data provided by EUSTAT. This internal expenditure on biotechnology was down by 0.3% compared to that carried out in 2011 and accounted for 6.2% of total internal expenditure on R&D, down one-tenth on the previous year (6.3%).
Employed personnel stood at 1,613 employees, which represents 1,082 people in equivalent-to-full-time positions, having grown 4.7% compared to last year. Employed personnel represents 5.8% of total R&D personnel. Particularly noteworthy in this field are women, who represent 61.2% of the total full-time personnel employed in biotechnology. Researchers also account for 810 employees, up 7.6% with respect to the 753 in 2011.
A total of 90 entities carried out research activities in biotechnology in 2012. This activity was the main or exclusive activity of 58 of these entities since more than half of their internal expenditure was earmarked for biotechnology R&D. 76 of these entities come from the business sector.
Internal expenditure was down in the business sector
As in previous years, the business sector was the sector that presented the highest percentage of total internal expenditure on R&D activities relating to Biotechnology (58.1%), although this proportion was lower than the same figure in 2011 (60.8%).
The other sectors, higher education (36.4%) and public administration (5.5%), carried out 41.9% of the remaining expenditure for 2012, a percentage that stood at 39.2% in 2011.
The public administration financed 62.2% of biotechnology R&D activity
According to the origin of the funds, internal R&D activities relating to biotechnology in 2012 were funded mainly by the Public Administration (62.2%) and Business (25.4%). The remainder was financed via funds originating from overseas (6.9%), from Higher Education (2.9%) and Private Non-profit Institutions (2.6%).
As regards the areas of application for the products obtained as a result of biotechnology research, Human Health (77.1%) stood out. The remaining areas: Food, Agriculture and forestry production, Environment, Animal health and aquaculture and Industry make up the remaining 22.9% in similar proportions.
It should also be pointed out that, amongst the obstacles that inhibited the advancement of development and marketing activities relating to biotechnology products and processes in 2012, as in prior years, Time/Cost for carrying out R&D (90.0%) and Access to Capital (85.6%) were both important factors.
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel: 945 01 75 62
Further press releases on Biotechnology R&D in the Basque Country