Press Release 30/12/2015
Expenditure on Biotechnology R&D in the Basque Country increased to 86.7 million euros in 2014
Expenditure on Biotechnology R&D accounted for 6.7% of total R&D expenditure and 61.3% was funded by the Public Administration
In 2014, internal expenditure on R&D for activities related to Biotechnology increased to 86.7 million euros, and accounted for 6.7% of total internal expenditure on R&D according to Eustat data. Employed personnel stood at 1,772 individuals, which represents 1,184 people in equivalent-to-full-time positions, and 6.4% of people employed in R&D.
Equivalent-to-full-time employment registered a slightly positive change (0.1%), reaching 1,184 individuals. However, expenditure fell by 5.8% compared with the previous year.
As demonstrated in previous years, women are particularly noteworthy in this field, as they represent 58.9% of the total full-time staff employed in Biotechnology. The number of research personnel did not experience major changes either, with 909 individuals employed full-time.
A total of 76 entities carried out research activities in Biotechnology in 2014, of which 66 belonged to the Business Sector. Moreover, 53 of these 76 entities earmarked more than half their internal expenditure for Biotechnology R&D.
Businesses were responsible for more than 60% of internal expenditure
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 (60.5%), and this proportion was slightly higher than the same figure in 2013 (59.5%).
The other sectors, Higher Education (33.3%) and Public Administration (6.2%), carried out 39.5% of the remaining expenditure for 2014, a percentage that stood at 40.5% in 2013.
The public administration financed 61.3% of Biotechnology R&D activity
According to the origin of the funds, internal R&D activities relating to Biotechnology in 2014 were funded mainly by the Public Administration (61.3%) and Business (26.3%). The remainder was financed via funds originating from overseas (9.8%), from Higher Education (2.1%) and Private Non-profit Institutions (0.5%).
As regards the areas of application for the products obtained as a result of Biotechnology research, Human Health (76.5%) and Nutrition (7.7%) both stood out. The remaining 15.8% was divided in similar percentages between the other areas - Environment, Industry, Animal Health & Aquaculture and Agriculture & 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 2014, Time/Cost (88.2%) and Access to Capital for carrying out R&D (86.8%) were both important factors.
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 statistics for R&D in biotechnology in the Basque Country