Internal investment in R&D activities in biotechnology in Spain 2009-2020

In 2020, the total internal expenditure on research and development activities in biotechnology amounted to more than two billion euros in Spain, the highest value reported since 2009. Compared to this year, the local investment in R&D activities related to the biotech field increased by about 43 percent in the European country. As of 2020, the biotechnology industry production value represented approximately 1.1 percent of the Spanish GDP.

The biotechnology sector in Spain

The Spanish biotechnology industry has been expanding in recent years, with a production value of approximately 12 billion euros in 2020, reflecting a 93 percent increase in turnover since 2010, when this figure amounted to just over six billion euros. Alongside this trend, the number of employees working in internal R&D activities in biotechnology also increased since 2009, with around 30 thousand workers employed in the sector as of 2020.

Private capital increase

Spanish biotechnology firms raised approximately 183 million euros in private capital increases in 2021, marking the highest private capital increase since 2016, when it stood at 63 million euros. Among the companies that received private capital funding, Splicebio stood out, raising 50 million euros in 2021. The biotechnology company specializes in protein splicing for the development of gene therapies and ranked first among other biotech firms in terms of funding received.