The pandemic jolted Galicia’s research and development landscape. Its link to defeating COVID-19 became clear as European funds followed, aimed at boosting research spending. Last year Galicia invested 697.4 million euros in R&D, about 56 million more than 2020, with universities showing the strongest gains in resources for research, rising nearly 12 percent. This marked the highest growth for higher education in thirteen years, supported by a record 240 million euros allocated to university research projects.
According to the Cotec Innovation Foundation, the 2021 surge in R&D investment should be understood as exceptional and closely tied to European NextGenerationEU funds that were allocated in full during that year.
During the prior economic downturn, 2009, R&D faced heavy cuts. Between 2010 and 2014 university research spending fell by 13 percent. Recovery began around 2017, yet growth has been modest in recent years, with investment rising only 1.2 percent in 2019 and 2.3 percent in 2020.
NextGeneration funds, designed to drive postpandemic recovery, arrived and universities soon received more R&D funding. In 2021 there was another 26 million euros, a rise of almost 12 percent. Data from the National Institute of Statistics shows that Galician universities led the country in increasing research spending last year, excluding five communities that did not report data.
Galicia also posted higher than average growth for R&D across the region, with an 8.6 percent rise in the autonomous community as a whole.
While universities benefited most from innovation spending in 2021, more than half of the investments came from the private sector, contributing 353.4 million euros, an 8.4 percent increase from 2020, supported by European funds. Research promoted directly by public administrations outside universities rose by 2 percent to 100.4 million euros.
research staff
The larger R&D budget enabled more researchers to be hired. In Galicia, 7,461 professionals held R&D posts, up by 542 from the previous year. Among these, universities accounted for 3,396 positions, with 273 workers joining last year. The public administration employs 932 people in Galician society, and more than 3,000 work in the private sector.
R&D growth has spread across Spain, though with uneven momentum. For instance, research expenditure rose by 30 percent in Castilla y Leon and 19 percent in Extremadura.
Galicia sits in the middle, with an 8.6 percent increase and ranking ninth among rapidly growing communities.
Questions remain about whether the NextGeneration funds will sustain this momentum. R&D spending in Galicia as a share of GDP stands at 1.1 percent, below the national average of 1.4 percent. The Xunta aims to raise this to 2 percent of GDP by 2030, leaving a long path ahead.
Academic institutions urge continued investment
Galician universities note that 2021 marked the first year of NextGeneration funding and that spending increased again in 2022. They warn that the boost could end and call for ongoing support from the government.
Belén Rubio, Vice-Chancellor for Research, Transfer and Innovation at the University of Vigo, emphasizes the need for sustained funding from the Xunta and national authorities.
The regional research community has joined calls for continued European funds, which reached more than 24 million in 2021 and are projected to rise to 41.5 million in 2022.
The University of Santiago (USC) hopes to benefit from European funding in 2023 through its Interreg program. NextGeneration funding is expected to cover 2025/2026. USC officials stress that ongoing economic measures should be paired with short and medium term stabilization plans, including investments in training for research staff. Without a clear continuation path, today’s efforts risk losing their impact, hindering the overall growth of the research system.