Spain has gone in the past decades through a process of administrative decentralization and it is divided into a number of regions called “Comunidades Autónomas” in English Autonomous Communities. The Automous Communities of Madrid is the leading one in Spain in terms of R&D investment in relation to the GDP, very close to the EU-25 average but still distant from the more innovative French and German regions, in which investment in research and development more than doubles that of the Automous Communities of Madrid.

In general, Spain’s situation is far below the EU-25 average and this distance with respect to the most dynamic European regions is more than 7 to 1. The Basque region and Catalonia are two of the other Autonomous Communities with investments that are closer to the EU-25 average.

More information:

• Regional R&D System in the Community of Madrid
• R&DR&D Indicators in the Community of Madrid
• Expenditure in R&D broken down by Autonomous Community (1990-2004)
• Expenditure in R&D per inhabitant in capital regions of the EU (1990-2003)