Press Release 20/11/2015
Expenditure on R&D in the Basque Country fell by 2.1% in 2014
The number of individuals employed full time rose by 1.4% and exceeded 18,500 people
In 2014, 1,289.8 million euros were invested in Technological Development and Scientific Research Activities (R&D) in the Basque Country, 2.1% less than the previous year, according to EUSTAT data.
The number of people employed full time was 18,535, which was an increase of 1.4% compared with the previous year, whilst the number of researchers, 12,030, increased by 0.6%.
In relation to GDP, expenditure on R&D in the Basque Country was 1.93% of the GDP in 2014, which, compared with provisional data released by Eustat, puts us 60% ahead of Spain, where the percentage is 1.20%, and about 5% below the EU-28 average of 2.03%.
75.1% of expenditure on R&D in the Basque Country was implemented by the business sector
In terms of who carried out expenditure on R&D, the majority, 75.1% (968.5 million euros) was implemented by companies, whereas 18.4% (237.8 million) corresponded to Higher Education and the remaining 6.5% (83.5 million) was carried out by various bodies dependent on the Administration. These figures indicate that, compared with the previous year, there was a 2.4%, 1.5%, and 0.7% decrease in expenditure respectively in the three sectors.
From the point of view of who funded R&D expenditure, similar percentages to previous years were maintained. Private financing, via companies, set aside 731.5 million euros for research, 56.7% of the total; 419.9 million came from public funding, 32.6% of the total, and 36.8 million came from higher education, 2.9% of the total, with 99.0 million coming from foreign sources, 7.7%, and 2.5 million, or 0.2%, from various non-profit organisations.
The number of individuals employed full time was 18,535, which, when broken down by implementation sector, consists of 13,841 people in Businesses (72.7% of the total), 3,934 in Higher Education (21.2%) and 1,120 in Public Administration (6.0%). Over the last 8 years, the total number of individuals employed has increased since 2006 by 4.5% a year, and the number of researchers grew by 5.0% a year.
35.2% of R&D personnel were women
6,518 individuals, 35.2% of R&D personnel in full-time work, were women, with the highest percentages of female presence in Public Administration and Higher Education with 56.6% and 49.9%, respectively, whilst for Business this percentage stood at 29.1%.
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 three tenths in its percentage of participation down to 75.1%, whilst Higher Education and Public Administration saw their percentages increase by 2 tenths and 1 tenth respectively, putting them at 18.4% and 6.5% in 2014 respectively. This pattern, which sees a decrease in participation in the business sector in favour of the other two sectors, has been in play since 2006, even though the business sector clearly still accounts for most participation, taking in more than three quarters of total expenditure on R&D.
This expenditure structure of the Basque Country maintained a significant difference with the Spanish average in 2014, where Business carried out 52.7% of expenditure on R&D, Higher Education 28.3% and the Public Administration 18.9%. 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, 41.9% of expenditure was concentrated within the industrial sector, whilst the services sector accounted for 55.1%, and the remaining 3.0% was implemented by construction and the primary sector. These percentages are very similar to the ones obtained the previous year.
As regards the importance of Technology Centres in the Basque Science, Technology and Innovation Network, the expenditure they implemented in 2014 stood at 189.6 million euros, 14.7% of the total, and they employed 2,685 individuals in full-time positions, 14.5% of the total.
By Province, expenditure on R&D fell by 2.8% in Gipuzkoa, 1.7% by Álava and 1.6% in Bizkaia. In relation to GDP, Gipuzkoa continues to significantly exceed the European average, reaching 2.31%, whilst Bizkaia and Álava reached 1.79% and 1.56% respectively. It can be added that both the Basque Country and its three provinces were above the Spanish average (1.20%) published by Eurostat.
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tlf: 945 01 75 62
Further press releases on Statistics on scientific research and technological development activities - R&D
Statistics on scientific research and technological development activities - R&D. Databank