Press Release 14/11/2025

STATISTICS ON SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT - R&D ACTIVITIES 2024

Expenditure on R&D increased by 5.6% to stand at 2,114 million euros in the Basque Country

66.5% of R&D personnel carried out research in the field of Engineering and technology

Expenditure on internal R&D (Research and Technological Development) in 2024 reached a total of 2,114.2 million euros in the Basque Country, according to Eustat data. This figure represents an increase of 111.7 million euros compared to the previous year, consolidating the trend of sustained growth in R&D expenditure over the last decade and enabling a new record high in the expenditure series to be reached in 2024.

In relation to GDP, expenditure on internal R&D in the Basque Country reached 2.15% in 2024, the same percentage as in the previous year, 2023. In order to be able to compare this data with the latest available data for the European Union 27 (EU27) and Spain, we have to use the data corresponding to 2023, where in the EU27 it accounted for 2.22% of its GDP and in Spain 1.49%. In the Basque Country, this figure was 2.15%.

At provincial level, expenditure on R&D represented 2.74% of GDP in Gipuzkoa, 1.94% in Bizkaia and 1.59% in Álava. In 2024, 45.9% of total expenditure on internal R&D in the Basque Country was carried out in Bizkaia (969.4 million euros), 42.4% in Gipuzkoa (895.6 million) and 11.8% in Álava (249.2 million).

76.5% 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, 76.5% (1,617.2 million euros), was implemented by Companies and Private Non-Profit Institutions, whereas 16.7% (353.2 million) corresponded to Higher Education and the remaining 6.8% (143.7 million) was carried out by various Bodies dependent on the Administration. In relation to the previous year, the Public Administration increased their R&D expenditure by 11.9%, Higher Education by 7.6% and Companies and Private Non-Profit Institutions by 4.6%.

By province, there were differences in terms of the sectors responsible for the expenditure. When it came to the Corporate and Private Non-Profit Institutions sector, Gipuzkoa accounted for the highest expenditure (720.6 million euros), followed by Bizkaia (708.4 million euros) and Álava (188.2 million). However, in the Public Administration and Higher Education sectors, Bizkaia had the highest expenditure, with 78.4 and 186.2 million euros, compared to 46 and 129 million, respectively, in Gipuzkoa. Meanwhile, in Álava, the Public Administration sector spent 19.4 million on R&D and the Higher Education sector spent 41.6 million euros.

If we look at the last decade, total expenditure on internal R&D rose by 66% compared to 2015, when it reached 1,273.2 million euros. Of particular note was the corporate sector, which saw growth of 70.1% (starting from 951 million in 2015). The Administration also increased its investment by 64.3%, while Higher Education spent 50.5% more over these ten years.

The distribution of expenditure by sector saw no significant changes. In 2015, Companies and Private Non-Profit Institutions accounted for 74.7% of the total, and in 2024 they consolidated their position, representing 76.5%. The Administration recorded hardly any change, going from 6.9% to 6.8%. However, Higher Education saw its weight decrease slightly, falling from 18.4% to 16.7%.

In terms of funding internal R&D expenditure, Companies spent 1,160.7 million euros on R&D, 4.5% more than in 2023 and as much as 63.7% more than in 2015. In 2024, funding from the Corporate sector accounted for 54.9% of total funding, 0.6 percentage points less than the previous year. Even so, it remained the primary source of funding.

Meanwhile, public funding contributed 740.5 million, following an increase of 8.5% compared to the previous year and 74.4% compared to 2015. It accounted for 35.0% of total expenditure on internal R&D in 2024.

The remaining funding sources corresponded to the Higher Education sector (36.7 million), the Private Non-Profit Institutions sector (14.5 million), and the Overseas sector (161.7 million), which, between them, represented the remaining 10.1% of expenditure.

As regards the origin of public funding, the contribution from the Autonomous Administration predominated (545.6 million), up 7.2% on the previous year, representing 73.7% of total funding by the public administration in 2024 and 25.8% of total R&D carried out.

For its part, the Central Administration (148.8 million) increased its funding by 9.8% this year, bringing its share to 20.1% of total funding by the Public Administrations. Finally, the Provincial Councils and local administrations’ share (46.1 million) stood at 6.2%, their contribution also increasing in relation to the previous year, up 26.2%.

The number of R&D personnel in Full-Time Equivalent Jobs stood at 24,409, following an increase of 4.8%. They corresponded to the following implementation sectors: 17,271 people were employed in the Companies and Private Non-Profit Institutions sector (an increase of 5.0%, representing 70.8% of the total), 5,469 in Higher Education (+2.3% and 22.4% of the total), and 1,669 in Public Administration (+11.1% and 6.8% of the total). As regards their professional category, the number of research staff rose to 17,296 people (70.9%), after increasing by 6.1%; technical staff accounted for 5,452 people (22.3%), following an increase of 3.1%; and, lastly, there were 1,662 people (6.8%) employed as auxiliary staff, 2.7% fewer than a year ago.

In terms of the scientific discipline in which the research was carried out, it was found that 66.5% of R&D personnel (expressed in Full-Time Equivalent Jobs) worked in the field of Engineering and technology. The other disciplines recorded lower percentages: Medical sciences (including pharmacy), 12.1%, Exact and natural sciences, 9.7%, and Social sciences and humanities, 8.7%. In the case of Agricultural sciences (including livestock, forestry and fishing), the proportion stood at just 3% of total personnel in Full-Time Equivalent Jobs.

Women accounted for 37.2% of R&D personnel

In 2024, 37.2% of all R&D personnel in full-time employment were women. There were a total of 9,073 women working in R&D, following an increase of 4.4% in relation to 2023, maintaining the same proportion as the previous year (37.3%).

Considering the sector implementing R&D, it can be observed that there were higher numbers of women in the Corporate and Higher Education sectors: 5,388 and 2,706 women, respectively, compared to 979 women in the Public Administration sector. However, in relative terms, in the Public Administration women represented 58.7% of all staff, compared to 49.5% in Higher Education and 31.2% 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 2025, 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