Statistics on R&D Activities. 2024

The internal research and development expenditure in Catalonia amounted to 5,486.6 million euros in 2024, an increase of 2.1% compared to the previous year. This expenditure represents 1.73% of GDP. By sector of performance, 60.8% of the expenditure was incurred by the business sector (which is equivalent to 1.05% of GDP), followed by the higher education sector, which accounted for 20.5% of R&D expenditure (0.35% of GDP). The Public Administration sector accounted for 18.3% of expenditure (0.32% of GDP), while the private non-profit institutions (PNP) sector accounted for the remaining 0.4%.

Funding for internal R&D expenditure in Catalonia came mainly from the business sector (56.5%) and the Public Administration sector (30.8%). 8.4% of the expenditure was financed with funds from the rest of the world, 3.3% originated in the higher education sector, and the remaining 1.0% came from private non-profit institutions (PNPI). By sector of performance, Public Administration accounted for almost all of the funds to finance the internal R&D expenditure of the public administrations and the higher education sector (70.1% and 67.0%, respectively). In the business and PNPI sector, the funding for internal R&D expenditure came, for the most part, from the business sector (86.6% and 49.0%, respectively).

In terms of personnel, internal R&D activities in Catalonia employed a total of 66,008.2 people in full-time equivalent (FTE) employment, a figure that is 9.2% higher than in 2023. By occupation, 38,843.3 of those employed were researchers (58.8% of the total), 20,789.7 were technicians and the remaining 6,375.3 were internal R+D support staff.

Of the total staff in FTE employment assigned to these R&D activities, 43.2% were women, and the proportion of women among researchers was 40.1%. By sector of performance, the highest percentage of female participation corresponded to PNPI sector with 61.4%. In the sectors of Public Administration and higher education this percentage was lower (54.3% and 51.6%, respectively), but also higher than the percentage of male. In the case of companies, 1 out of 3 employed persons in R&D were women (34.0%).