The end of the creditors’ competition for the Girona Science Park – which will become UdG’s because there is no buyer interested in the production unit – has once again put on the table the controversial role of public credits in the development of science parks and technological
At the beginning of the 2000s, the central government activated these lines of credit – popularly called parquetazo – with the aim of promoting the construction of science and technology parks. Many universities took advantage of these grants, especially during the first decade of the 2000s (see graph). But immediately the centers began to have problems, since they were unable to return the loans within the established terms. “The Government stipulated that they had to be paid back in the short term and that made no sense because of the business model and the type of investment the parks needed”, says Josep Miquel Piqué, president of La Salle Technova. The construction costs, he recalls, were too high (they included the building but also the infrastructure and equipment of the laboratories) for the rents they received from the tenant companies. Despite this, universities continued to bet on the model. Between the years 2000 and 2014, they received credits worth 1,723 million euros.
In some cases, the investment was channeled directly through the university – which made it possible to dilute the debt with that of the institution as a whole – and in other cases the parks were promoted through foundations, the figure that has been most harmed by this system. In the sector, Piqué recalls, there was hope that this debt would be forgiven at some point, but the hard impact of the financial crisis clarified any hope.
“The last decade has been very hard. We have suffered a lot looking for formulas to refinance debt year after year. However, we are breathing a sigh of relief since the approval of a moratorium by the Central Government in 2021”, says Maria Terrades, director of the Barcelona Science Park, whose foundation has accumulated a debt of 150 million euros. Miquel Aran, manager of the Lleida Science Park, says the same thing. “We have been restless for many years because of our financial situation, but now we are better thanks to the moratorium”, says the manager of the consortium that operates the park.
Indeed, the Spanish Government approved in 2021 a regulation that allowed the maturity of credits to 25 years. And this has given a great respite to the four parks that still carry debts from the parquetazos. Among these are the Barcelona Science Park, which has refinanced 37 million euros, and the one in Lleida, which has refinanced 17 million. And the fact is that 23 years after the beginning of the program, 64 million of the 1,723 lent by the central government, which represents around 4% of the total, still has to be returned.
“This shows that short-term credit was not the right instrument. Either the long-term return should have been approved or a call for subsidies should have been launched”, indicate the officials consulted, who admit that the central government probably had no choice but to provide lines of credit.
Felipe Romera, president of the Association of Science and Technology Parks of Spain, believes that despite the large amounts of accumulated debt, the parquetazo policy has been the greatest innovation program in the history of Spain. “Thanks to the credits from the Spanish Government, it has contributed to R&D and the creation of highly qualified jobs”, he celebrates. According to data from the association, the turnover of the 64 associated parks has exceeded 2,000 million euros. In total, they host more than 8,000 companies, which employ 189,000 workers. The average occupancy of the spaces is 89%, which shows that, despite everything, the central government’s bet was not so badly headed.
