Press Release 28/10/2014
The number of companies and employment in the ICT sector increased in the Basque Country in 2012
Companies in the ICT sector spent more on R&D, were more innovative and used technologies to a greater extent than those in other sectors
The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector included 2,082 companies and 21,600 employed individuals in the Basque Country in 2012, with increases with respect to the previous year of 1.3% and 0.4% respectively, according to EUSTAT data. This sector posted a turnover figure of 3,714.7 million euros, which was 2.5% down on the previous year, and generated wealth of 1,646.1 million euros in terms of value added, 0.5% less than in 2011.
In the ICT sector the percentage of innovating companies carrying out R&D far exceeded the other sectors
9.0% of companies in the ICT sector carried out R&D activities, a percentage far superior to the 1.1% of the total for all sectors. Furthermore, this sector, despite representing just 1.4% of companies, accounted for 11.3% of those implementing R&D and, with 66.8 million euros, carried out 6.4% of the total expenditure on internal R&D in the business sector.
With regards to personnel dedicated to R&D in this sector, in 2012 there were 1,257 individuals in equivalent-to-full-time positions (9.4% of those provided by all business sectors), of which 324 were women. Going into further detail with regards to employment in this sector, there were 656 researchers in equivalent-to-full-time positions, of which 184 were women.
Regarding innovation, as with R&D, there were significant differences between the total for all sectors and that for the ICT sector. In 2012, 27.8% of establishments in the ICT sector were innovators compared to 11.6% of the total for all sectors. If company size is taken into account, those with 10 or more employees recorded percentages of 56.6% in the first case and 28.6% for the total number of sectors.
Regarding expenditure on innovation, ICT establishments contributed 194.1 million euros, 7.5% of total company expenditure. Of this expenditure, 149.8 million corresponded to establishments of 10 or more employees, which was 6.9% of the total spent by companies of this size.
The ICT sector also destined a greater proportion of resources towards R&D+i than the other sectors, and it is worth noting the figures spent both on innovation and on R&D with regards to the turnover figure (innovation and internal R&D intensity ratios). Specifically, innovation intensity in this sector was 4.6 compared to 1.6 over the economic sectors as a whole. In the case of internal R&D, the ratio was 2.2 for the ICT sector and 0.9 for the economy as a whole.
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 52.1% and those that carried out sales accounted for 8.3% compared to 18.0% and 4.6% 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 242.5 million euros out of a total of 20,971.2 million, imports stood at 298.7 million out of the 15,824.6 million of total imports, accounting for 1.2% and 1.9% respectively.
Amongst the most common products in these exchanges, Electronic Components (47.8%) and Other ICT Products (31.7%) stood out in exports and Other ICT Products (34.6%), Electronic Components (26.9%) and Audio and Video Equipment (19.3%) 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 and innovation intensity was higher in the Basque Country, in e-commerce the percentage of companies making purchases was higher in Spain as a whole, while the percentage of those making sales was slightly higher in the Basque Country. Regarding the use of ICT technologies the percentages obtained were very similar.
Methodological note:
The ICT 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. Eustat website. Methodology file: ICT sector
The series has been revised using the best statistics supplied by the surveys on services and with the new base based on ESA-2010.
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
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