Press Release 15/11/2024

STATISTICS ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT - R&D ACTIVITIES 2023

Expenditure on R&D in the Basque Country in 2023 exceeded 2,000 million euros for the first time, following growth of 11.6%

The Basque Autonomous Administration funded 25.4% of the total R&D undertaken.

Expenditure on internal R&D (Research and Technological Development) in the Basque Country in 2023 exceeded 2,000 million euros for the first time (specifically 2,002 million) according to Eustat data. This figure was reached following an increase of 11.6% and represents expenditure of 208 million more than in the previous year.

In relation to GDP, expenditure on internal R+D in the Basque Country reached 2.16% in 2023, surpassing the 2.07 obtained a year previously, in 2022. In order to compare this data with the last available data from the European Union 27 (EU-27) and Spain, we have to use the data corresponding to 2022, where in the EU-27 it accounted for 2.27% of its GDP and in Spain 1.44%.

At the provincial level, in 2023, 45.5% of total expenditure on internal R&D in the Basque Country was carried out in Bizkaia, 42.6% in Gipuzkoa and 11.9% in Álava. In relation to the GDP of each province, it should be noted that this expenditure represented 2.76% of GDP in Gipuzkoa, 1.94% in Bizkaia and 1.60% in Álava.

Internal R&D provided employment for 23,300 people in Full-Time Equivalent Jobs in 2023, following a rise of 7.1% in respect of the previous year. Likewise, the number of research staff, 16,305 people in Full-Time Equivalent Jobs, also increased by 7.1%. As was the case with expenditure, both figures (total number of people in Full-Time Equivalent Jobs and research staff) constituted record figures.

77.2% of expenditure on internal R&D in the Basque Country was implemented by the corporate sector

In terms of the sector that carried out internal R&D expenditure, the majority, 77.2% (1,545.7 million euros) was implemented by Companies, whereas 16.4% (328.3 million) corresponded to Higher Education and the remaining 6.4% (128.5 million) was carried out by various Bodies dependent on the Administration. In relation to the previous year, Companies increased their R&D expenditure by 11.6%, Bodies dependent on the Administration by 10.9% and Higher Education by 11.5%.

In terms of funding internal R&D expenditure, Companies spent 1,111 million euros on research, 10.7% more than in 2022. This figure accounts for 55.5% of total funding, although their share of total funding was down 0.4 percentage points in respect of the previous year. Even so, companies remained the primary source of funding. Public funding contributed 681 million, following an increase of 11.9% compared to the previous year, and represented 34.0% of total expenditure on internal R&D.

The remaining funding sources corresponded to the Higher Education sector, 35.5 million; Private Non-Profit Institutions, 15.2 million; and Overseas, 159.9 million, these three amounts representing the remaining 10.5% of total expenditure.

As regards the origin of public funding, the contribution from the Autonomous Administration predominated (508.9 million), up 6.8% on the previous year, representing 74.7% of total funding by the public administration in 2023 and 25.4% of total R&D carried out in the Basque Country.

For its part, the Central Administration (135.6 million) increased its funding by 29.5% this year, bringing its share to 19.9% of total funding by the Public Administrations. Finally, the provincial and local administrations’ share (36.5 million) stood at 5.4%, their contribution also increasing in relation to the previous year, up 34.7%.

There were 23,300 people working full-time in R&D, following an increase of 7.1%, corresponding to the following implementation sectors: 16,452 people in Companies, an increase of 6.7% and representing 70.6% of the total, 5,345 in Higher Education (+7.4% and 22.9% of the total), and 1,502 in Public Administration (+11.7% and 6.4% of the total). As regards their professional category, the number of research staff rose to 16,305 people, following an increase of 7.1%; technical staff accounted for 5,287 people, up 9.8%; and, lastly, there were 1,708 people employed as auxiliary staff, 0.6% more than a year ago.

37.3% of R&D personnel were women in 2023

In 2023, 37.3% of all R&D personnel in full-time employment were women. There were a total of 8,688 women working in R&D, following an increase of 8.2% in relation to 2022. Their weight in the total number of personnel rose by four tenths from the previous 36.9% and, from a more long-term perspective, their weight increased by 3.9 percentage points in relation to 2010 and as much as 10.7 points compared to 2000.

Considering the sector implementing R&D, it can be observed that there were higher numbers of women in the Corporate and Higher Education sectors: 5,116 and 2,688 women, respectively, compared to 884 women in the Public Administration sector. However, in relative terms, in the Public Administration women represented 58.8% of all staff, compared to 50.3% in Higher Education and 31.1% in the Corporate sector.

Note: Eustat would like to thank all the companies and institutions that have collaborated in preparing this survey, the information for which was gathered between April and October 2024, for their efforts. Without their collaboration it would not have been possible.

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