Funds for research, development and innovation total 16,328 million euros, 22.8% more than last year
The preliminary draft of the 2023 General Budgets confirms the promised increase in investment in science. According to the yellow book presented this Thursday by the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, the allocation for research, development, innovation and digitization increased by 22.8% to reach 16,328 million euros.
The Government undertakes to allocate 3,029 million to programs for the promotion and coordination of scientific researchwhich means about 172 million more than last year. R+D+i projects will add a total of 450 million, the program to promote the transfer of knowledge from laboratories to companies will have 200 million and the promotion plan for the aerospace sector will have 300 million more.
The Ministry of Science and Innovationmeanwhile, will have a budget of €7.7 billion in 2023. Among the Ministry’s priorities with these funds is the purchase of scientific equipment for Spanish research centers, which have spent years denouncing the burden of obsolete equipment, and the Aid for R&D projects of national companies. Another of the big bets will be “the financing of the european space program and of specific aerospace projects“.
“Shield” financing
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The figures that reflect these budgets corroborate one of the great promises of the new Science Law. With the approval of this reform, the minister Diana Morant He promised to “shield” the financing of the sector, after more than a decade of crisis and cuts, and progressively increase investment in science. The goal is to reach 1.25% of GDP in public science in 2030. And reach up to 3% of GDP including the private sector. “Spanish science needs a shock plan after a decade of obsolescence. We need to give more stability to the generation of scientists clogged by the crisis,” explained the minister in a interview with THE NEWSPAPER.
This “commitment to science” has also been shared by the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, during the presentation of the ‘Santiago Ramón y Cajal Year of Research’, held last week in Madrid. During this meeting, Sánchez highlighted “the guarantee of growing and stable public funding in R&D&I”, the commitment to “reduce precariousness” among Spanish scientists and, above all, to draw up a plan that allows reverse the brain drain.