The Spanish science and technology parks presented their business activity statistics of 2022 in Tenerife, highlighting the investment in R&D, which has already reached 1,539 million euros and represents approximately 9% of total R&D expenditure in Spain.
The Association of Science and Technology Parks of Spain (APTE) recently celebrated its second General Assembly of the year, where they disclosed the business activity statistics of the companies and entities located in the 50 Spanish science and technology parks distributed in 15 Autonomous Communities.
The investment in Research and Development (R&D) stands out in this year’s data. This investment was made by the entities located in the science and technology parks during 2022 and it reached €1,539 million, a figure that represents 9% of total R&D expenditure in Spain in 2021 (latest data available at the National Statistics Institute).
These data show the major contribution to private R&D that these entities make in the framework of the Spanish innovation ecosystem. Furthermore, the Spanish science and technology parks, following the Spanish Strategy of Science, Technology and Innovation, commit to doubling the public and private investment sum until reaching the European average investment sum by 2027, that is, going from 1.24% of Spain’s GDP in R&D&I in 2018 to 2.12% by 2027.
During the presentation of the business activity statistics, APTE reported that this year they modified the methodology of collecting statistical information to ensure greater control and better updating of the data, therefore APTE, starting this year, will produce a new statistics series on the activity of companies and entities located in the Spanish science and technology parks. It will be based on the following data:
- No. of companies and entities: 5,780
- Turnover: €25,148 million
- Employment: 150,624 workers
- R&D employment: 34,190 workers
- R&D investment: €1,539 million
- Foreign companies: 394
- Companies in incubation stages: 808
- Patents granted: 892
- Patents pending: 446
- Companies created in the parks: 261
- Companies installed in the parks: 528
Moreover, 810 companies led by women have been registered in the parks, which represent 15% of companies established in these parks. These data have been provided by 43 science and technology parks. On the other hand, out of the 38 parks that provided these data, 930 companies (22% of companies) declared having equality plans.
The main activity data, as well as the most relevant information on APTE member parks and their ecosystems, can be consulted in the APTE 2023 Directory.
APTE – Association of Science and Technology Parks of Spain
The Association of Science and Technology Parks of Spain (www.apte.org) was founded in 1989 as a non-profit association whose main goal is to cooperate through the empowerment and dissemination of science and technology parks, the renewal and diversification of productive activity, technological progress and economic development. It currently has 58 parks members distributed in Spain. 50 of them are Full members, that is, they are fully active; 1 of them is an Honour member and 7 of them are Collaborating members. In 2022 these parks hosted 5,780 entities that billed €25,148 million. These companies provide employment to over 150,624 people, of which 34,190 work in R&D.