The R&D investment of Spanish biotech companies increased by 13% in 2022, surpassing 2.5 billion euros

Asebio

19 April 2024

The total R&D investment figure across sectors active in Biotechnology in Spain, including Public Administration, Higher Education, Non-Profit Institutions, and Companies, amounted to 2.565 billion euros in 2022, according to data published by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) in the press release issued on April 17 with the data from the 'Statistics on the use of Biotechnology' for the year 2022. This figure reflects a positive trend in the sector and translates into a 13% increase compared to 2021.

Delving into the data, we see that Companies remain the largest sector for R&D investment, representing 47.78% of the total. Behind them are Public Administration (30.2%), Higher Education (21.6%), and Private Non-Profit Institutions (IPSFL), with 0.4%.

If we focus exclusively on Companies, we observe an 18% increase in R&D investment compared to 2021: 1.223 billion euros compared to 1.038 billion euros, respectively.

Regarding the source of funds, it is mainly from Companies, accounting for 44.4% of the total, followed by the Public Administration sector, with 40.1% of the total. When considering only Companies, 80.8% of the funds come from either the companies' own funds or from other companies within the same group.

Behind them, at a considerable distance, are Funds from Public Administration (i.e., regional or state grants and loans, for example, aid programs), representing 9.8%; followed by Funds from abroad (either foreign companies or aid programs from the European Union or foreign institutions), with 8.3%. It is worth noting that this distribution remained almost unchanged in 2022 compared to 2021.

Within the Companies sector, the personnel dedicated to R&D saw an increase of 12.71% in 2022 compared to 2021, rising from 11,500 professionals to almost reaching 13,000. The note emphasizes that the biotechnology sector continues to be a champion of diversity, as evidenced by the fact that women still represent nearly 60% of its R&D workforce.

Finally, human health and food continue to be the primary areas of application for biotechnology utilization, with the highest percentage of representation among companies: 48.7% of companies are dedicated to human health, and 32.4% to food.