Spanish innovation took a leap forward in 2022. Investment in Research and Development (R&D) was 19,325 million euros, 12% more than the previous year, according to data published yesterday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). ).
In relation to GDP, investment was 1.44%, which represents an advance of three points, since in 2021 investment in R&D was 1.41% compared to the Spanish GDP as a whole. “The growth is very notable and reflects that the European recovery funds are beginning to have an effect on the ecosystem,” comments Xavier Ferràs, professor specialized in innovation at the Esade school.
Despite this acceleration, the percentage of 1.44% is still far from the average of the countries of the European Union, which is around 2%. In the Spanish case, it is the private sector that drives investment, with 56.4% of the total, followed by Public Administration and Higher Education.
The autonomous communities that invest the most are, in this order, Madrid, Catalonia, Andalusia, the Basque Country and Valencia. In the Catalan case, Ferràs celebrates the double-digit growth registered in recent years. “It is a gazelle community. In 2022, investment in R&D grew by 18% to reach 4.8 billion euros, and in the previous year it grew another 12%,” he points out. The situation contrasts with the areas with less investment, which were Ceuta, Melilla, La Rioja, Cantabria and Extremadura.
Regarding Spanish employment figures, a total of 263,407 people were involved in R&D activities, an increase of 5.6% compared to the previous year. Of this total, four out of every ten people were women and more than half (161,7000) worked in research positions.
