Community Research and Development Information Service - CORDIS

R&D and Innovation in Spain

ENCYT and the National Plan

ENCYT (National Science and Technology Strategy)

Spain has developed its National Science and Technology Strategy, which sets out the outlines of scientific and RTD policy. The strategy aims to place Spain in a leading position in both the production of new know-how and in its capacity to implement it by guaranteeing economic growth, environmental sustainability and wellbeing of citizens; being this commitment for innovation and research.

Accomplishing these objectives requires planning, accompanied by monitoring and evaluation, as well as an increased budget and a robust system of governance based on a strategic vision. On the basis of this vision it was defined the National Science and Technology Strategy (ENCYT), which contains the central priorities of the Spanish scientific policy, and will serve as the basis for future national and regional R&D Plans.

ENCYT has been designed with the full participation of the Spanish RTD system stakeholders and it is planned within a working-time horizon to 2015. The Strategy has three basic principles: to place R&D and innovation at the service of citizens, to convert it into a factor of business improvement and to promote it as an essential element in the generation of new knowledge.

The National R&D Plan

National Plan is the instrument for programming R&D and innovation by the State Administration. The Scientific Research and Technological Development Plan designed in the Science Act (Act No. 13/1986), it is now named as the National Scientific Research, Development and Technological Innovation Plan. This is the mechanism that sets medium-term objectives and priorities to research and innovation policy, and as well designs the instruments which ensure the objectives are met.

The Spanish Science and Technology System (SECYT) during the years when the National Plan was in force made clear that the new National 2008-2011 R&D Plan must incorporate major structural changes. In order to properly design this new plan a participative drafting process was put in place to bring in all the key players, in an exemplary way, along with those who had political responsibility and were implied on the management of the R+D+I projects .

From 2008 on, the aim of the National Plan has been to replace thematic-based model with the instrument-based one as a response of the Government to reach the strategic and operational objectives set in the National Science and Technology Strategy.