Press Release 19/11/2014
Expenditure on R&D in the Basque Country fell by 4.1% in 2013
Research personnel in full-time employment increased by 0.6% in relation to 2012
In 2013 1,316.8 million euros were invested in Technological Development and Scientific Research activities (R&D) in the Basque Country, 4.1% less than the previous year, according to data provided by EUSTAT.
By implementation sectors, this expenditure is divided amongst the Business Sector, with 992.6 million euros; Higher Education, 239.4 million euros; and Public Administration, 84.7 million euros. Hence, with respect to the previous year, there was a 4.7%, 2.3%, and 2.1% decrease respectively in the three sectors.
In relation to GDP, expenditure on R&D in the Basque Country was 1.99% of GDP in 2013, which is higher than the provisional data published by the INE for Spain, which stood at 1.24%, and it is in line with the European average. According to the first estimation performed by Eurostat, expenditure as a percentage of GDP was 2.02% for the EU-28.
The number of individuals employed consisted of 18,452 people in full-time work, which is a notable decrease in employment lost of 1.2% with respect to the previous year. This is a considerably lower figure than the losses for the economy as a whole, which amounted to 3%. By implementation sectors, 13,183 individuals corresponded to the Business Sector (71.5% of the total), 4,084 to Higher Education (22.1%) and 1,185 to Public Administration (6.4%).
Of these working individuals, 11,843 were researchers in full-time positions, which represents a 0.6% increase with regards to the previous year. Of these researchers, 7,944 were employed in the Business sector, 3,275 in Higher Education and 624 in Public Administration.
35.6% of R&D personnel were women
6,570 individuals, 35.6% of R&D personnel in full-time work, were women, with the highest percentages of female presence in Public Administration and Higher Education with 54.0% and 51.7%, respectively, whilst for Business this percentage stood at 28.9%.
75.4% of expenditure on R&D in the Basque Country was implemented by the business sector
When looking at expenditure on R&D, it is necessary to consider the origin of the funds used on R&D as well as who is going to carry out this expenditure.
Thus, from the point of view of who funded R&D expenditure, similar percentages to previous years were maintained. Private financing, via companies, set aside 751.5 million euros for research, 57.1% of the total; 460.1 million came from public funding, 34.9% of the total, and 22.4 million came from higher education, 1.7% of the total, with 79.4 million coming from foreign sources, 6.0%, and 3.4 million, or 0.3%, from various non-profit organisations.
In terms of who carried out expenditure on R&D, the majority, 75.4% (992.6 million euros) was implemented by companies, whereas 18.2% (239.4 million) corresponded to Higher Education and the remaining 6.4% (84.7 million) was carried out by various bodies dependent on the Administration.
Compared to the previous year, the Business sector of the Basque Country, although still the sector that is making the greatest efforts in research tasks, registered a drop of 4 tenths in its percentage of participation, whilst Higher Education and Public Administration saw their percentages increase by 3 tenths and 1 tenth respectively.
This expenditure structure of the Basque Country maintained a significant difference with the Spanish average in 2013, where Business carried out 53.4% of expenditure on R&D, Higher Education 27.9% and the Public Administration 18.7%. Regarding the EU-28 average, there are also differences, but they are not quite as marked.
With regards to the expenditure implemented by the Business Sector on R&D by sectors of activity, 43.1% of expenditure was concentrated within the industrial sector, whilst the services sector accounted for 54.2%, and the remaining 2.7% was implemented by construction and the primary sector. These percentages are very similar to the ones obtained the previous year. Focusing on industrial companies, special mention should be made of the fact that the activity branches of Transport Material (10.5%), Other Machinery (6.6%) and Metal Items (5.0%) are those that implemented the most internal expenditure on R&D. Within services companies, those included in R&D Activities (34.7%) and Other Business Activities (11.9%) dedicated the most resources to internal R&D expenditure.
As regards the importance of Technology Centres in the Basque Science, Technology and Innovation Network, the expenditure they implemented in 2013 stood at 194.7 million euros, 14.8% of the total, and they employed 2,747 individuals in full-time positions, 14.9% of the total. With regards to the 2012 figures, this meant a decrease in expenditure of 12.7% and a decrease in employment of 4.5%.
METHODOLOGICAL NOTE: The indicator for expenditure on internal R&D in relation to GDP has been recalculated for the entire series according to estimated GDP using the new methodology of the European System of National and Regional Accounts-ESA 2010, with 2010 as its basis. The data for the European Union have also been recalculated based on the 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
Further press releases on Technological Development and Scientific Research Statistics
Technological Development and Scientific Research Statistics Databank