R & D expenditure increased by 2.7% in 2015 compared to the previous year

Despite these data, investment fell 0.2% of GDP, according to INE data

   The internal expenditure in Research and Development (R & D) amounted to 13,172 million euros in 2015, which represented an increase of 2.7% over the previous year. However, this expense represented 1.22% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), compared to 1.24% in 2014 -0.2% less-, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE).

By sector of execution, the Business sector represented the highest percentage of total R & D spending, with 52.5% (which represented 0.64% of GDP). It was followed by the Higher Education sector, with 28.1% of total expenditure (0.34% of GDP).

  On the other hand, R & D expenditure in the Public Administration sector accounted for 19.1% of total expenditure (0.23% of GDP). The remaining 0.2% corresponded to the Non-Profit Private Institutions (IPSFL) sector. The three main sectors of execution increased their spending on R & D activities in 2015 compared to the previous year. In Public Administration, the increase was 4.6%, in Higher Education 2.7%, and in the Business sector 2.0%.

Likewise, in 2015 the R & D activities were financed, mainly by the Business sector (45.8%) and the Public Administration (40.9%). Funds from Foreigners (8.0%), Higher Education (4.3%) and Non-Profit Private Institutions (0.9%) completed the financing. By sectors of execution, R & D expenditure of the Public Administration and Higher Education was financed, mainly, by the Public Administration (by 82.3% and 71.8%, respectively). For its part, the financing of R & D expenditure in the Companies sector proceeded in 81.9% of the sector itself.

Regarding personnel employed in R & D, a total of 200,865.8 people were engaged in R & D activities, in full-time equivalent in 2015, which represented 11.2 per thousand of the total employed population. This represented an increase of 0.3% over the previous year. The group of researchers reached the figure of 122,437.0 people in full-time equivalence, which represented 6.9 per thousand of the total employed population.