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Expenditure on innovative activities in the reference year

Expenditure on innovative activities in the reference year Catalonia. 2020
Value Variation (%)
Companies with head offices in Catalonia
Companies with expenditure on innovative activities (1) 4,518 -29.2
Total expenditure on innovation (thousands of euros) (1) 3,978,177 -10.8
Innovation intensity (2) 3.2 14.5
Companies with establishments in Catalonia
Companies with expenditure on innovative activities in Catalonia (3) 4,797 -28.6
Expenditure on innovative activities in Catalonia (thousands of euros) (3) 4,512,494 -14.0
Units: Companies.
Source: Idescat, based on data of the Innovation in Companies Survey of INE.
(1) Regardless of where the innovative activity takes place.
(2) Expenditure on innovative activities / turnover (x100) by companies with expenditure on innovative activities in the reference year.
(3) Regardless of where the company's head office is located.
Expenditure on innovative activities in the reference year Spain. 2020
Value Variation (%)
Companies with expenditure on innovative activities 20,976 -21.5
Total expenditure on innovation (thousands of euros) 17,074,397 -11.9
Innovation intensity (1) 2.1 7.2
Units: Companies.
Source: Idescat, based on data of the Innovation in Companies Survey of INE.
(1) Expenditure on innovative activities / turnover (x100) by companies with expenditure on innovative activities in the reference year.

Last update: April 29, 2022.

Statistics IN

Methodological note

A product innovation is a new or improved good or service that differs significantly from the company’s previous goods or services and has been introduced to the market. The term product refers to both physical and digital goods and services.

A business process innovation is a new or improved business process for one or more business functions that differs significantly from the previous business process of the company and has been implemented in the company.

Information on product or business process innovation refers to those innovations made in the period of the reference year of the Survey or any of the previous two years.

Expenditure on innovative activities is measured for companies with headquarters in Catalonia, regardless of where they have carried out the innovation and for companies with innovative activities carried out in Catalonia, regardless of where their headquarters are located. The amount refers to the expenditure made in the reference year of the Survey.

The innovation intensity measures the relationship between expenditure on innovative activities and business production. It is calculated as the percentage of expenditure on innovation with respect to the total turnover in the reference year.

The Innovation in Companies Survey follows the recommendations of the Oslo Manual, which contains guidelines proposed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In 2018, a methodological change is introduced for the application of the new revision of the Oslo Manual 2018, which, among other things, again modifies the definition of innovative company and causes a break in the time series with respect to the results of previous years.

The population includes agricultural, industrial, construction and service companies with at least 10 salaried employees.

You can get more information about these statistics in the methodology.