Press Release: Statistics on Biotechnology Use. Year 2024. Final results.

Main results

Internal R&D expenditure increased by 14.4% in 2024, reaching 3,144 million euros.
The full-time equivalent personnel dedicated to internal R&D activities in Biotechnology was 39,780.6. 59.7% were women.

More information

Expenditure in internal R&D activities related to Biotechnology reached 3,144 million euros in 2024, an increase of 14.4% as compared with the previous year. This expenditure represented 13.1% of the total spending on internal R&D activities.

By execution sector, expenditure in the Public Administration sector increased by 23.1%, while expenditure in the Business sector increased by 14.0%.

Regarding the total expenditure on internal R&D activities in Biotechnology, the Business sector showed the highest percentage (46.5% of the total). Behind them were Public Administration (30.9%), Higher Education (22.2%) and Private Non-Profit Institutions (IPSFL), with 0.4%.

Expenditure on internal R&D in Biotechnology by execution sector

Year 2024. Thousands of euros

Financing of Internal R&D

Internal R&D activities related to Biotechnology were financed in 2024, mainly by the Business (45.4% of the total) and the Public Administration sectors (38.6%).

Expenditure on internal R&D in Biotechnology by execution sector and financing

Year 2024. Thousands of euros

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Employment in internal R&D activities related to Biotechnology

In 2024, the full-time equivalent (FTE) personnel dedicated to internal R&D activities in Biotechnology was 39,780.6. 59.7% of the personnel were women.

The research staff consisted of 25,414.2 individuals as FTE personnel. 56.9% were women.

Personnel employed in internal R&D activities in Biotechnology by execution sector, occupation and gender

Year 2024. Full-time Equivalence

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Application areas of Biotechnology

Among the final application areas of products obtained from the use of different types of biotechnologies, Human Health and Food stood out, accounting for 52.1% and 30.2% of the total units, respectively.

Units with biotechnological activities, according to final application areas of Biotechnology

Year 2024. Percentage

Data by Autonomous Community

The Autonomous Communities with the highest expenditure on internal R&D activities in Biotechnology in 2024 were Cataluña (33.8% of the total), Comunidad de Madrid (24.4%) and Andalucía (9.2%).

Expenditure on internal R&D in Biotechnology by autonomous communities, according to execution sector

Year 2024. Thousands of euros

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    "9.2",
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    "8.4",
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    "9.9",
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    "1.5",
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(*) Rest of sectors: Public Administration, NPPI and Higher Education.
(.) Numeric data equal to zero not resulting from rounding.
(..) Data not available due to statistical confidentiality.

Data revisions and updates

The data published today are final. All results are available on INEBase.

In accordance with the Commission's Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/137, the INE has begun to work on incorporating the new National Classification of Economic Activities CNAE-2025 in all its statistical operations.

In the case of the Statistics on the use of biotechnology, the first publication of results with CNAE-2025 will take place in 2027.

Methodological note

The objective of the Statistics on the use of Biotechnology is to measure national efforts in biotechnology-related activities, in order to provide the necessary information for adequate decision-making in scientific-technological policy.

In this regard, the objective is to ascertain the type of biotechnology-related activities that are carried out in each of the sectors in which the economy is divided; the final application areas of the products obtained via the development of biotechnologies; and the economic and human resources appointed to the biotechnology-related productive and investigation activity in Spain.

Type of survey:: annual continuous survey.
Population scope:: the group of companies, public bodies, universities or higher education centres and private non-profit institutions (IPSFL) that use Biotechnology in their activities.
Geographical scope:: the entire national territory.
Reference period:: the calendar year.
Collection method:: mixed, involving sending questionnaires via postal mail and online completion.

For more information, you can access the methodology and the standardised methodological report.

INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information on Quality at INE and the Code of Best Practices.