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The limited involvement of the private sector in research continues to be a challenge in Spain, as do the precarious working conditions of researchers and the lack of job opportunities in the business world. This is one of the main conclusions reached by the study ‘Human resources for research in Spain and Portugal’, carried out by the researchers Laura Cruz-Castro y Luis Sanz Menendez (CSIC), Tiago Santos Pereira (University of Coimbra) and Claudia Sarrico, (University of Minho). The study is part of the dossier ‘Research and innovation in Spain and Portugal’, of the Social Observatory of the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation.
According to this report, despite the improvements experienced in the total number of researchers in the country, Spain’s share of the total number of researchers in the EU-27 has decreased in the last ten years.
The main challenge is to increase the number of researchers working in the private sector: spending here on R&D and hiring researchers in the business world are interlinked and depend on the industrial structures of each country. In this sense, Spain is lagging behind its European partners, since most researchers still work in the public sector.
This is because, traditionally, the public research sector has been characterized by more stable working conditions. However, the increasing precariousness of postdoctoral research jobs in academia means that opportunities outside of academia may offer better prospects. Additionally, women are disproportionately affected by these conditions and many end up dropping out of academia.
Imbalances between supply and demand
The challenge of increasing the number of researchers employed in the private sector is evident when it is confirmed that business investment in R&D (EBRD) as a percentage of GDP in Spain is approximately half the EU-27 average. And even the EU-27 average, which represents 1.67% of GDP, is much lower than that of Europe’s main competitors, such as the United States (2.05%) and Japan (2.60%).
All of this reveals the importance of reinforcing demand-side policies to improve the knowledge base of the economy. This is especially important if it is considered in parallel with the results of higher education (graduates and doctorates), in which Spain has improved significantly. However, there is a risk that imbalances between the supply and demand of researchers will force highly qualified workers to emigrate if they cannot find professional development opportunities in their country.
This phenomenon already occurred, to a certain extent, after the global financial crisis of 2008. The recovery policies after the covid-19 pandemic, which has also affected the research and innovation system, will constitute an excellent opportunity to improve the demand for human resources in science and technology. These policies are essential to ensure that Spain does not continually face a brain drain.
The links between science and business
The dossier includes a second study entitled ‘Science-business links in Spain and Portugal: untapped innovation potential?’, prepared by Manuel Mira Godinho y Joana Mendonça (University of Lisbon), Jose Guimon (Autonomous University of Madrid) and Catherine Martinez (IPP-CSIC). This report shows that the links between science and business in Spain are weaker than in other more advanced economies of the European Union.
One way to measure the expected impact of academic research on innovation is to look at patents generated by universities and public research bodies.
It should be noted that, in Spain, the proportion of patents generated by the business sector is lower than the European average. In addition, Spain must face the challenge of the limited employability of doctorates in the private sector, since less than 6% of them work in private companies.
In conclusion, the study highlights that, in the coming years, collaboration between science and business, and public-private partnerships will be crucial for Spain to be able to efficiently absorb the new European funding flows that will be available in the framework of the recovery plan for Europe NextGenerationEU, of the European Commission.
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