Europe | Innovation: Important and Urgent

Summary

A recent European Commission report highlights the relevance of research and innovation policies are playing to lead two of the largest challenges that we are embarking upon globally: (social, environmental and economic) sustainability and digitization.

Key points

• Key points:
• In Spain, investment in research and development activities by Public Administrations is close to the European average (0.21% vs. 0.23% of GDP in 2017) and slightly lower with respect to higher education (0.33% vs. 0.46%). Investment in the private sector is the greatest ongoing challenge (0.67% vs. 1.37%).
• In the face of the tough situation brought about by COVID-19, the EU has set up a recovery fund worth some EUR 750 billion. It would be advisable that the process of allocating those resources follow four steps: Know, Understand, Decide and Act.
• The allocation of resources needs to go hand in hand with an adaptation of innovation policy in line with the characteristics of the area in question and the production chains, specialization and skills of the agents in the area.

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