More than a decade after the financial crisis, investment in research and development (R&D) in the Canary Islands, which in 2021 amounted to 238 million euros, is still 11.3% below the levels reached before 2008. Investments in R&D are fundamental to increase productivity, innovation and the reputation of economies.
According to the National Statistics Institute, the Canary Islands is the Spanish region with the lowest investment in R&D per capita in Spain, with 105.9 euros per capita in 2021, the last year with complete data. The highest is in the Basque Country, where a total of 765.5 euros per capita was invested in 2021.
Only investment in La Rioja (-24%) and Asturias (-14.3%) is even further away from the levels they reached before the financial crisis.
The reduction in R&D investment in the Canary Islands has also impacted employment, with 850 jobs focused on this activity lost in the archipelago since 2008. A decrease of 17.5% to just 4,000 jobs currently.
The effort in 2021 does not compensate for the fall
All this despite the fact that investment in R&D in the Canary Islands grew by 9.5% in 2021 compared to the previous year. And despite the fact that nationally, investment grew by 9.4%. The largest year-on-year growth since 2008, when it was 10%.
In 2021, Spain invested a total of 17.249 million euros, 1.481 million more than in 2020, which represents seven consecutive years of growth.
In fact, the gap with Europe in the R&D to GDP ratio, narrowed for the second consecutive year and is now at 0.84 points percentage, according to the Cotec Foundation for Innovation. The EU average was 2.27% compared to 1.43% in Spain. However, it is still far from the historical minimum of 0.52 points in 2008.
The experienced increase in R&D investment is linked to the European Next Generation funds for recovery, which began to be allocated precisely in 2021.
The COTEC Foundation warns that "even if Spain maintained a similar increase in the coming years, it would not be enough to reach the goal of 2.12%" in the R&D investment to GDP ratio, the target for 2027 by the Spanish Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy.
