Introduction
EUSKAL HERRIA, THE BASQUE COUNTRY| Euskady : a region in the Atlantic Pyrenees
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The Basque Country is a region that covers a surface area of 20,664 square kilometres at the western end of the Pyrenees. Today it consists of seven "herrialdes", or districts which, for political and administrative purposes, form part of two different European countries: Araba, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Nafarroa are in Spain, and Lapurdi, Zuberoa and Benafarroa are in France.
Three of the Basque Country's seven historic territories, Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, in the north of Spain, covering a total surface area of 7,233 square kilometres, are grouped together to form a political unit known as EUSKADI, or the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. With a population of more than 2.1 Million people, Euskadi gives a figure of around 300 inhabitants per square kilometre, higher than the EC average. Most people live in the larger urban areas in the northern zone.| R&D in Euskadi
The Science and Technology Plan 1997-2000 lays down policy guidelines in these two areas for the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The policy looks to strengthen the competitiveness of the region's science-technology-business system by providing explicit support for its industrial policy and additional backing for any moves designed to optimise the resources made available through the Plan, or from any other sources, to the agents in the system. To this end, the Plan itself facilitates leadership over all development activities affecting science and technology in the Basque Country. At present, the Basque Country sets aside a greater percentage of its budget for research than almost any other Spanish autonomous community. According to data for 1996, R&D expenditure totalled 59.191 million pesetas (355 MECU), with the lion's share going to scientific research in industrially-oriented engineering and technology. R&D is a priority activity in the Basque Country, which goes a long way to explaining the constant growth in the percentage of the regional GDP spent on research. In 1987, the Basque Country invested 0,7% of its GDP in R&D, a figure that had risen to 1,24% by 1996. This percentage locates Euskadi in the second place of R&D costs in comparison with other regions in Spain. Considering the investment on R&D by private organisations, according to data for 1996, in-house expenditure on R&D by Basque firms came to 43.315 million pesetas, which accounts for 0,91% of the Basque Country's GDP. |
| Data for 1996 | Euskadi | Spain | EU | USA | Japan |
| GERD per capita GERD/GAV (%) |
220 1,24 |
130 0,87 |
355 1,84 |
729 2,62 |
658 2,83 |
| Researchers (EDP) versus active popn. (%) |
4,0 | 3,0* | 4,9* | 7,4** | 9,2 |
| GERD Financed by: - companies(%) - public administration(%) - abroad/other sources(%) |
56,9 36,2 13,9 |
44,5* 43,6* 11,9* |
52,5* 39,1* 8,4* |
62,5 33,6 3,9 |
73,4 18,7 7,9 |
| GERD Executed by: - companies(%) - University(%) - Public Organisms (%) - Others(%) |
73,2 23,6 3,2 0,0 |
48,6 32,1 18,2 1,1 |
62,3 20,8 16,0 0,9 |
73,2 14,7 9,0 3,1 |
71,1 14,8 9,4 4,8 |
| * data of 1995 ** data of 1993 Sources: EUSTAT, OCDE |
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Research and Development in the Basque Country enjoys a high level of private financing. Basque businesses financed 59,9% of the total for the year, which puts the region on a par with countries like the United States (59,9%), Germany (60,5%) and Finland (59,9%), some way behind Ireland (67,4%) and in particular, Japan (72,3%) but still confortably above the Spanish average (44,5%). Public financing totalled 36,2%, while 3,8% of the funds come from abroad. |
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| Altogether, 9,175 people work in R&D in the Basque Country. Of this total, 6,200 are full-time research staff; 3,720 of these are researchers. |
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| The number of projects funded by the Commission during the IVth Framework Programme (205 projects, 503 participations) locates the Basque Country as the most important in Spain, with 10,6% of the total funds returned to Spain. The main participants are Companies, followed by the Technological Centres and Public Administrations. |
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| Euskadi leads the Quality in Spain
During the last years, the number of quality certifications has shown a great positive tendency in the Basque Country, as shown in the following graph. |
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With respect to the number of certificates per 100 companies, and in comparison with the 15 States of the European Union, Euskadi is in an intermediate position. This data has been gathered considering that the results only show tendencies regarding the low homogeneity in time of the references. However, with respect to the number of certificates to every 100 millions of GAV, Euskadi is in a leading position following only Ireland and the United Kingdom. |
| R&D and Institutions in Euskadi |
| Basque Government
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 Basque Parliament - The three Historic Territories each return 25 members to the Basque parliament, which makes the laws, approves the annual General Budget, elects its own Lehendakari, or President, and keeps a close watch on everything the Government does. |
| Provincial Councils
Euskadi Autonomous community is a type of confederation in which each of the three Historic Territories, Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, has its own administration, known as the Diputación Foral, or Provincial Council, and its own legislative body, the Juntas Generales, or General Assembly. |
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The Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country, known as the "Statute of Gernika", and the Historical Territories Law, which set out the internal distribution of duties and responsibilities within the Basque Autonomous Community, mean that the Provincial Councils, in conjunction with the Basque Government, have direct control over certain areas of government :
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| SPRI - Sociedad para la Promoción y Reconversión Industrial, S.A. (SPRI) was created in 1981. It acts as an industrial policy instrument of the Basque Government Departament of Industry, Agriculture & Fisheries. Its aim is to promote and support Basque industry as it strives to improve its competitiveness. |
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| UET - The purpose of this Programme (TECHNOLOGICAL STRATEGY UNIT) is to launch and manage a number of action plans stemming from the technology policy; special emphasis is made of the Management Practices for the Technology Plan drawn up by the Department of Industry, Agriculture and Fisheries of the Basque Government. |
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| Basque Country Innovation Relay Centre - The Innovation Relay Centre -IRC- comes under the umbrella provided by the "Innovation Programme" and provides the cornerstone needed by European infrastructures to disseminate scientific and technological knowledge. DGXIII has appointed SPRI to manage one of the 52 European Innovation Relay Centres, whose geographical scope of action is the Basque Country. |
| Other institutions
The available information about other Basque institutions is located in Euskadi.net |
