Press Release 29/07/2022

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SECTOR (ICT) STATISTICS. 2020

70% of companies in the ICT sector in the Basque Country engaged in e-commerce in 2020, compared to 26.9% of the total for all sectors

Innovation, R+D and e-commerce stand out in the ICT sector compared to other sectors

Companies belonging to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in the Basque Country stood out against companies as a whole in terms of the use of e-commerce in 2020, reaching 70.1%, compared to 26.9% of the total for all sectors, according to Eustat data.

Furthermore, this sector recorded positive data for another year running, with increases in both the number of companies, up 2%, and employment, up 1% compared to 2019. Since 2010, the first year of the available historical series, the number of companies included in the ICT sector has increased by 32.1%, while the number of jobs has risen by 9.0%.

Specifically, in 2020, 2,763 companies and 24,225 jobs were registered in this sector, the highest figures since 2010, with an average company size of 8.8 people.

As for the turnover figure, it decreased by 4.7% compared to the previous year and the value added dropped by 10.6%.

In 2020, the ICT sector accounted for 2.4% of jobs and 1.8% of companies in the Basque economy. Likewise, it represented 2.5% of total value added (1,629 million), and reached a turnover of 4,068, 5 million euros.

Companies in the ICT sector carried out more R&D+i activities than in all the other sectors

The ICT sector, despite representing just 1.9% of the total companies in the Basque Country, accounted for 13.8% of those implementing R&D and, with 87 million euros, carried out 7.6% of the total expenditure on internal R&D in the business sector. Additionally, 7.3% of companies in the ICT sector carried out internal R&D activities, a percentage far higher than the 1.0% of the total for all sectors.

In 2020, there were 1,549 people working in R&D in “full-time equivalent positions” of whom 24.8% (385) were women. These 1,549 people working in R&D in the ICT sector account for 11.2% of personnel in the business sector dedicated to R&D, 7.9% if the comparison is made with respect to total R&D personnel.

Regarding innovation, as with R&D, there were significant differences between the total for all sectors and that of the ICT sector. In 2020, 35.2% of establishments in the ICT sector were innovators compared to 18.6% of the total for all sectors. If company size is considered, those with “10 or more employees” recorded percentages of 53.1% in the first case and 31.4% for the total number of sectors.

Regarding expenditure on innovation, ICT establishments contributed 223.6 million euros, 8.0% of total expenditure for all sectors. Of this expenditure, 161.3 million corresponded to establishments with “10 or more employees”, which represented 6.8% of the total spent by companies of this size.

The ICT sector also allocated a greater proportion of resources towards R&D+i than the other sectors, as indicated by the figures spent both on innovation and on internal R&D with regard to the turnover figure (innovation and internal R&D intensity ratios). Specifically, innovation intensity in this sector was 4.2 compared to 1.8 over the economic sectors as a whole. In the case of internal R&D, the ratio was 2.2 for the ICT sector and 0.9 for all sectors.

E-commerce was more widespread in the ICT sector than in the total for all sectors

The use of ICT technology is extremely commonplace amongst the companies in this sector, to the point that internet and email access reached almost 100%, compared to percentages slightly above 90% for the total of all sectors. Furthermore, websites in the ICT sector amounted to 75.3% and 56.4% of the total for all sectors.

E-commerce was significantly more developed than in the other sectors. The establishments that made purchases via this method in the ICT sector accounted for 68.9% and those that carried out sales accounted for 11.0%, compared to 24.0% and 7.6%, respectively, for the total of all sectors. Hence, in 2020, 70.1% of ICT establishments engaged in e-commerce, whereas it represented 26.9% of the total for all sectors.

Meanwhile, the impact of the ICT sector on the foreign trade of goods remained at insignificant levels: exports accounted for 338.9 million euros out of a total of 21,124.2 million and imports stood at 515.8 million out of 15,868, 4 million total imports, accounting for 1.6% and 3.3% respectively.

The most common products traded in terms of exports were Other ICT Products (38.5%) and Electronic Components (38.1%). In terms of imports, the most common products were, once again, Telecommunications equipment (33.8%), Other ICT Products (30.1%) and Electronic Components (21.1%)

Methodological note:

The ICT sector is made up of manufacturing industries and of services whose primary activity is linked to the development, production, commercialisation, and intensive use of Information and Communication Technologies, characterised by high rates of innovation, technological progress, and productivity. Accordingly, it has a considerable impact on economic activity. Eustat website. Methodology file: ICT sector

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