R & D has a hard time overcoming the crisis in Spain

R & D has a hard time overcoming the crisis in Spain

Europe is the accelerator of innovation, while here the public sector investment is 13% below 2009

    Although the economic crisis began in 2008, the R & D & i sector (Research, Development and Innovation) comes later because there is a first drop in private spending in 2009, but public spending is not reduced until 2011. Cows fat of innovation occupied the year 2000 to 2008, beginning the millennium with an investment 50% higher than what the average of European countries, but reaching eight years later to 71%.

The report of the Cotec Foundation for Innovation (which takes data from the INE and Eurostat as a reference) reveals that public investment today stands 13% below pre-crisis levels , while private investment 5.8% below . Aleix Pons, director of Economy and Finance of Cotec, explains to this newspaper that currently "practically all European countries have recovered the investment prior to the crisis", but this is not the case of Spain.

     The EU as a whole has increased investment by 27% compared to 2009, while in Spain in the same period it has fallen by 9%. Surrounding countries have bet much more than us in this field. This is the case of the United Kingdom, with an investment 40% higher in 2016 than in 2009 , Germany with 38% more or even Italy with a rise of 12%.

But Spain still does not recover the levels prior to the crisis. The responsibility falls on both the low investment of the private sector and the public, but according to INE data of November 2016, companies have two years of positive growth in investment, although the average is still far from the European. "This may have to do with the business structure composed of SMEs for the most part, but it is the larger companies that invest the most in R & D," says Pons.

     However, the public sector reached its maximum level of investment in 2009, but since then there has been a cut of approximately 30%. "In addition, there is an additional cut because a part smaller than the budgeted one is being executed, that is to say, not everything that is available is being spent", affirms Cotec's director of Economy.

Not everything is negative

On the other hand, sources of the Secretary of State of Investigation, Development and Innovation assure to this newspaper that although there is "many things that to improve", in Spain it is made "very good science". "We have researchers with global impact in various areas and an important participation in many of the largest European and international facilities." Some of these aspects in which the public sector works are "progressive and stable long-term public financing , greater administrative flexibility and better contracts for researchers".

    From the Secretariat of State they emphasize that not everything is as negative as it is painted, although the figures are what they are. They affirm that although R & D expenditure increased for the second consecutive year in 2016, the weight of science decreased "due to the significant increase in the Spanish economy", which ended up placing it at 1.19% of GDP, far from 2% that the State set itself as an objective in 2020. "It is the responsibility of the Central Administration, the Autonomous Communities and the companies to increase investment in R & D", explain the same sources.

"The biggest challenge we face is to increase the weight of private investment . The EU states that to achieve a healthy R & D & I system, two thirds of the total investment must come from companies. In Japan, the US, South Korea or Germany private contribution is higher than 65%, even close to 80% in some cases, while in Spain it stands at 53%. Since 2012 we have opted for public-private collaboration and we have worked with insistence to bring the actors of the system closer, they say.

Competitive position

However, Ángel San Segundo, a professor at the EAE Business School, does not see it as positive. "The competitive position of Spain in the field of R & D & I is doubly worrisome because on the one hand it is far from the reference countries for our economy and on the other hand that distance tends to increase according to the available data," he says. Although the expert recognizes that in the last five years the R + D + i efforts of most of the countries that surround us hardly grew, "in Spain they not only did not stagnate but they decreased 9% accumulated", laments San Second.

Roundtrip scientists

According to INE data, there are currently 8,000 fewer researchers in Spain than before the crisis, but Spain is recovering. Since 2014 there has been an "important" increase in the number of scientists, but the fall of the hardest years of the crisis was so strong that recovery is hard.

The professor of the EAE Business School, Ángel San Segundo, reveals that according to the latest available data, Spain has 7.9 researchers per 1,000 employees, a figure below France (9.9) and United Kingdom (8.9) . But remember that when these figures are analyzed taking into account the origin of the researchers, Spain has a similar number and even higher in the public and higher education sectors. "It is in the private sector where we are below our environment and where our shortcomings are evident".

Sources from the Secretary of State explain that in 2016 there was an increase of 5,000 R & D workers compared to 2015, of which more than 4,000 were researchers. And they reveal that in 2018 the Government will stabilize up to 90% of the positions filled with temporary contracts.