Spending Spanish R & D rises, but remains far from the european average

The investment in R & D gained weight in the Spanish economy for the first time in seven years, according to the closing data of 2017 published this Wednesday by the INE. However, only grows to a hundred in proportion to the GDP and is still far from the european average after the crisis.

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These outlays in research and development began to fall from 2010, when it registered the figure of 14.588 billion. They touched ground in 2014 on the 12.821 million, and began to grow the following year but always moving less than they did the Gross domestic Product, so that, although growing expenditure, its weight in the economy was reduced. Now, for the first time, go up your size and in 2017, is placed on the 1,20% of GDP, as compared to 1,19% from the previous year, still far of 1.40% which was played in 2009 and at a great distance from the eu average, located at 2.07%. Of course, in the light of these data looms very remote the possibility of achieving the 2% target for 2020 raised by the Government. The INE stresses that these statistics are still provisional.

The number of R & D expenditure amounted in 2017 to 14.052 million, 6% more than in the previous financial year. Of this, 54.9% are matched with investment companies; 27.1% with higher education and 17.8% with the public administration. 0.2% was spent by private institutions without profit. According to experts, the deal is far from the ideal because the private sector should fulfill about two-thirds of this investment.

R & D

Source: INE. THE COUNTRY

according To the INE data, private expenditure rose by 8.2%, and the public 3.3%. After years of being one of the items most battered in the Budgets, the R & D Administrations are finally abandoning austerity and leads a growth in line with GDP growth.

despite the improvement of the expenditure on GDP, according to figures from the foundation technological Cotec extracted from Eurostat, Spain accumulates still a delay very important Gobahis with regards to the European Union. It is together with Finland and Portugal, the only country that has not recovered to pre-crisis levels. While Spain adds a 5.8% fall in Europe, this game already has increased 22% compared to the levels prior to the Great Recession. In addition, Spain spends in this category are 42% less than the average of the EU GDP. Or what is the same: if in Spain is spent to 1.20% of GDP, in the EU the average stood at 2.07%. In 2008, at which time more approached the european average, the gap was 28 percentage points and not 42 as in the present.

China fires

as explained by the economist of Cotec, Aleix Pons, "in recent years, Spain has moved away from Europe, which in turn has increased its investment to China." For example, in Germany, where R & D represents 3% of the GDP, grew 8% in 2017 and 31% from 2009. The european average has gained 22% in the last decade. The problem is that even with these growth rates the continent of europe is falling behind: between 2009 and 2015, investment in China this concept has shot a 99%. This item is considered essential in order to take advantage of the technological revolution in the making.

Among the reasons that he blames the delay in Spanish, the experts generally point to the high number of small companies; the predominance of sectors with low qualification; a little university connected with business activity and a bench that does not normally finance projects based on intangible knowledge.

to add insult To injury, the promotion strategy of the Government does not end of work: on the one hand, the strong fiscal incentives existing only benefit to activities that already do R & D anyway. On the other hand, have raised the soft loans at the time that cut the direct subsidies. And neither the university nor the public sector they know or have the ability to operate receiving loans. So many of these aids end up unused.

"In the comparison in the R & D between Spain and Europe, attention is called to the fall in public investment. The recoil is built up on the public investment in Spain between 2009 and 2017 is 9.5%, four times more than the decline in private spending, 2.3%", stresses the note of Cotec.