Press Release 28/11/2014
Biotechnology R&D expenditure increased by 7.5% in the Basque Country in 2013
Expenditure on Biotechnology R&D accounted for 7% of total R&D expenditure and was funded by the Public Administration by just over 60%
In 2013, internal expenditure on R&D for activities related to biotechnology grew by 7.5% with respect to 2012, according to data provided by EUSTAT. The total amount grew by 92.0 million euros and accounted for 7.0% of total internal expenditure on R&D, 0.8 percent higher than the previous year (6.2%).
Employed personnel stood at 1,793 employees, which represents 1,183 people in equivalent-to-full-time positions, having grown 9.3% compared to last year. Employed personnel represents 6.4% of total R&D personnel. As in previous years, women are particularly noteworthy in this field, as they represent 60.1% of the total full-time personnel employed in biotechnology. Researchers also account for 903 employees, up 11.5% with respect to the 810 in 2012.
A total of 75 entities carried out research activities in biotechnology in 2013, of which 65 belonged to the Business sector. Moreover, this activity was the main or exclusive activity of 51 of these 75 entities since more than half of their internal expenditure was earmarked for biotechnology R&D.
Internal expenditure was up 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 (59.5%), and this proportion was higher than the same figure in 2012 (58.1%).
The other sectors, higher education (33.4%) and public administration (7.1%), carried out 40.5% of the remaining expenditure for 2013, a percentage that stood at 41.9% in 2012.
The public administration financed 60.5% of biotechnology R&D activity
According to the origin of the funds, internal R&D activities relating to biotechnology in 2013 were funded mainly by the Public Administration (60.5%) and Business (29.4%). The remainder was financed via funds originating from overseas (6.7%), from Higher Education (2.1%) and Private Non-Profit Institutions (1.3%).
As regards the areas of application for the products obtained as a result of biotechnology research, Human Health (74.0%) and Nutrition (8.1%) both stood out. The remaining areas: The remaining 17.9% was divided in similar percentages between Animal Health & Aquaculture, Environment, Industry, Agriculture and Forestry Production.
On the other hand, amongst the obstacles that inhibited the advancement of research and marketing activities relating to biotechnology products and processes in 2013, Access to Capital (99.3%) and Time/Cost for carrying out R&D (88.0%) were, as in previous years, 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 R+D biotechnology in the Basque Country