Press Release 16/12/2019

STATISTICS FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY R&D. 2018

Expenditure on biotechnology R&D in the Basque Country increased by 20.7% in 2018

Expenditure on biotechnology R&D accounted for 7.9% of total R&D expenditure and 51.7% was funded by the Public Administration

In 2018, expenditure on internal R&D for activities related to biotechnology increased to 112.5 million euros, 20.7% higher than in 2017, according to Eustat data. This expenditure accounted for 7.9% of the total expenditure on internal R&D.

The number of people employed rose to 2,237, 1,442 of whom were in full-time equivalent jobs, accounting for 7.5% of staff in Full-time Equivalent Jobs in R&D. These statistics, both for biotechnology expenditure and for employees in full-time equivalent jobs, were the highest in the historical series.

Compared to the previous year, the number of people employed in Full-time Equivalent Jobs increased by 7.2%. For its part, research staff accounted for 1,088 people in Full-time Equivalent Jobs and also increased, in this case by 5.5%.

As demonstrated in previous years, women were particularly noteworthy in this branch of R&D, as they represented 57.5% of the total full-time staff employed in biotechnology in 2018.

A total of 89 entities, 84 of them companies, carried out research activities in biotechnology in 2018. Moreover, of this total, 70 earmarked more than half of their expenditure for internal biotechnology R&D.

66.2% of expenditure on internal biotechnology R&D came from the Business sector

As in previous years, the Business sector was the sector that presented the highest percentage of total expenditure on internal R&D activities relating to biotechnology (66.2%), and this proportion was 3.2 percentage points higher than the same figure in 2017 (63.0%).

The other sectors, Higher Education (28.3%) and Public Administration (5.5%), carried out 33.8% of the remaining expenditure for 2018, a percentage that stood at 37.0% in 2017.

The public administration financed 51.7% of internal biotechnology R&D activity

According to the origin of the funds, internal R&D activities relating to biotechnology in 2018 were funded mainly by the Public Administration (51.7%) and Business (35.9%). The remainder was financed via funds originating from overseas (9.3%), from Higher Education (2.3%) and Private Non-Profit Institutions (0.8%).

As regards the areas of application for the products obtained as a result of biotechnology research, Human Health (77.7%) and Nutrition (8.2%) both stood out. The remaining 14.1% was divided in similar percentages between the other areas - Environment, Industry, Animal Health & Aquaculture and Agriculture & Forestry Production.

Access to capital and time/cost stood out as the main obstacles for carrying out internal R&D activities in biotechnology

Finally, the perception remained of the obstacles that inhibited the advancement of research and development activities in biotechnology in 2018. Access to capital and time/cost stood out as the main obstacles, with 90% and 87% respectively. In third place were regulatory requirements with 78%.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel: 945 01 75 62