Investment in R+D+i grows in Spain

The data are highlighted in the Foundation's annual report COTEC, which was presented in Madrid at an event with Cristina Garmendia, president of the organization, Meritxell Batet, president of the Congress and Nadia Calviño, acting Minister of Economy and Business. The report indicates that investment in R+D+i amounted to 14,052 million euros in 2017, an increase of 6% compared to the previous year, which is growing for the third consecutive year. Despite the slight advances, they are not enough to recover the previous position that existed before the crisis, something that most European countries have achieved. R&D spending gained weight for the first time in 7 years in the entire Spanish productive structure, placing it at 1.20% of GDP, which COTEC has interpreted as a symptom of economic recovery. Even so, it also notes that the objective of achieving 2% of investment in R+D+i over GDP in 2020 is “impossible to achieve in practice”. This is because neither the public nor the private sector are able to reduce differences with the EU. According to the COTEC report, the Spanish “drop off” compared to Europe is very high (especially with respect to the countries that lead this field such as Germany, the United Kingdom or France) and coincides with the takeoff of investment in the most vibrant Asian countries such as China. Private sector investment accumulated three years of growth in 2017, but the commitment of European companies to research and development doubles that of Spanish companies. In the area of public research centers and universities, it contributed very little to the recovery of R&D in 2017 (the last year for which data are available).The main imbalances in Spanish R+D+iIn addition, “endemic” imbalances persist in Spanish education, where the premature abandonment rate is very high (the second highest in the European Union) and training levels are very polarized, many people are very well trained and many are very poorly trained, but there is no middle ground. The high number of university graduates and of these, those who choose science, engineering or technology could guarantee leaders in innovation. But unfortunately the Spanish labor market is not in a position to absorb the qualifications of higher education graduates.Investment in R+D+i by CommunitiesAs far as autonomous communities are concerned, most territories have not exceeded investment levels prior to the crisis, with only Murcia and the Balearic Islands having surpassed their historical records in R+D+i. Cantabria, Extremadura and Asturias are the ones with the greatest decline, while the Basque Country, Navarra, Madrid and Catalonia make higher than average investments. The COTEC report also shows the scarce public-private collaboration, since the public sector finances almost 90% of investment in R&D in the higher education sector, and also the low level of budget execution, because in 2018 one out of every two euros allocated to these policies was never spent.