Press Release 22/01/2014
Four regions in the Basque Country accounted for 75.4% of R&D expenditure in 2012
In 2012, expenditure in relation to GDP stood at 2.71% in Gipuzkoa, 1.90% in Bizkaia and 1.66% in Álava. In terms of regions,Bajo Deba (4.88%) and Alto Deba (4.60%) stood out
In 2012 the Basque Country, with 2.12%, exceeded the EU-28 average (2.06%) in expenditure on Scientific Research and Technological Development (R&D) with respect to GDP, according to Eustat data. By province, all three of the percentages over GDP obtained last year rose, although Gipuzkoa was the province that continued to exceed the European average, with 2.71%. Bizkaia and Álava, for their part, stood at 1.90% and 1.66% respectively. It can be added that both the Basque Country and its three provinces were above the Spanish average (1.30%).
In economic terms, in 2012 a total of 1.373 billion euros was invested in R&D activities, with internal expenditure on R&D up by 0.5% on the previous year. This increase in expenditure was seen in both Gipuzkoa, going from 558.7 to 570.4 million (+2.1%), and Álava, which spent 168.0 and now spends 173.6 (+3.3%). Bizkaia, however, decreased its expenditure from 639.5 in 2011 to 628.9 million in 2012 (-1.7%).
In terms of the weight that each province held in the Community, Bizkaia represented 45.8%, Gipuzkoa 41.6% and Álava the remaining 12.6%, which was a spending distribution similar to that of previous years.
Four regions in the Basque Country spent over 100 million on R&D and accounted for 75.4% of the total expenditure
Four regions, including the capitals and Alto Deba, exceeded 100 million euros of R&D expenditure: Gran Bilbao (514 million), Donostia-San Sebastián (260 million), Llanada Alavesa (154 million) and Alto Deba (106 million). Together they implemented 75.4% of the expenditure on R&D in the Basque Country, maintaining a similar percentage to the last few years. However, Bajo Deba (4.88%) was the region that obtained the greatest percentage of expenditure in relation to GDP, with the regions of Alto Deba (4.60%), Goierri (3.20%) and Donostia-San Sebastián (2.67%) appearing above the average for the Autonomous Region and the EU-28, all of them regions in Gipuzkoa.
Graph 2: Distribution of internal expenditure on R&D. Basque Country. 2012 (€ millions)
Source: Eustat. Statistics on Scientific Research and Technological Development activities in the Basque Country (R&D)
R&D activity is concentrated in a few regions of the Basque Country, as occurred in previous years. Therefore, by province, Álava implemented 88.7% of its expenditure on R&D in a single region, Llanada Alavesa, with 154 million euros. In Bizkaia two regions stood out, Gran Bilbao, with 81.7% of expenditure implemented, 514 million euros, and Duranguesado, with 9.1% of expenditure or 57 million euros. Gipuzkoa, for its part, was the province where expenditure had the greatest geographical distribution, with 90% being implemented in four regions. Donostia-San Sebastián, with 260 million dedicated to research, implemented 45.7% of expenditure in Guipuzkoa; Alto Deba, with an investment of 106 million euros, accounted for 18.6%, and Bajo Deba and Goierri, with 75 and 69 million respectively, implemented 13.2% and 12.1% of provincial expenditure.
By implementation sectors, the Business sector continued to see the greatest concentration of expenditure in percentage terms, followed by the Higher Education and Administration sectors, although each of the three provinces reflected different characteristics.
Therefore, Gipuzkoa was the province with the highest percentage of expenditure in the Business sector, 83.6%, accounting for 477 million euros. It was followed by Álava with 76.7% (133 million) and Bizkaia with 68.6% (431 million).
In Álava the Public Administration sector stood out, with 8.8% of total expenditure or 15 million euros. This percentage was lower in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, where it stood at 8.6% and 3.0%, respectively.
Bizkaia, for its part, stood out for implementation in Higher Education, accounting for 22.8% of the total expenditure for the province with 143 million, whilst in Álava this figure was 14.5% and in Gipuzkoa, 13.4%.
According to the origin of the funds, out of the total expenditure on R&D, 1.373 billion euros, 35.9% was funded by public administrations, 55.9% by companies, and the remaining 8.2% came from other sources (higher education institutes, abroad, etc).
By regions, Gran Bilbao and Donostia-San Sebastián, which are those that implemented the greatest expenditure on R&D, is where the highest funding from the administration was observed, 43.2% and 47.1%, respectively. On the other hand, they were also the regions that revealed a smaller percentage of company funding, with 46.5% and 41.5%. Regarding the other two most important regions in terms of expenditure, it is noteworthy that in Llanada Alavesa and in Alto Deba business funding stood at 53.5% and 69.1% respectively, and public administration provided 41.0% in the first instance and 20.7% in the second.
By business sector, the highest percentage, 72.9%, or 314 million, was funded by companies in Bizkaia. This percentage dropped in Álava to 72.2% and in Gipuzkoa 70.5%, where 96 and 336 million were dedicated, respectively.
As regards scientific disciplines, Gipuzkoa stood out as in previous years, where Engineering and Technology accounted for 78.8% of R&D expenditure. In Bizkaia, it accounted for 65.4% of expenditure, and finally in Álava it represented 69.8%. This extended presence of engineering and technology was seen in all regions, with the exception of Montaña Alavesa, which dedicated 73.6% to medical and pharmaceutical sciences.
In relation to the number of people employed in R&D in full-time equivalent work FTE by province, in Álava this figure stood at 2,504 individuals (+6.3% compared to the previous year), with 53.2% being researchers, Bizkaia employed 8,546 individuals (+4.3%), of whom 68.0% were researchers, and Gipuzkoa, for its part, employed 7,632 individuals (+4.1%), of whom 60.6% were researchers.
The four regions with the highest expenditure on R&D employed 4 out of every 5 researchers
The four regions with the highest expenditure on R&D, Gran Bilbao, Donostia-San Sebastián, Llanada Alavesa and Alto Deba, which together implemented 75.4% of R&D expenditure in the Basque Country, employed 14,592 individuals in FTE, which was 78.1% of personnel dedicated to R&D, and 9,647 researchers, 82.0% of the total researchers in the Autonomous Region
If you look at the female participation in R&D, the average for the Basque Country stood at 34.7%, with 6,474 women in equivalent-to-full-time positions. By region, Montaña Alavesa (58.8%), Donostia-San Sebastián (40.9%), Gran Bilbao (39.5%), Llanada Alavesa (36.6%), and Gernika-Bermeo (35.3%) all stood out above the average.
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tlf: 945 01 75 62
Further press releases on Technological Development and Scientific Research Statistics
Technological Development and Scientific Research Statistics Databank