Spanish innovation fails on the base: the agroindustrial sector registers 67% fewer patents than Europe | Economy | EUROtoday

Spain innovates, however protects that innovation little. That is without doubt one of the fundamental conclusions of the ninth version of the Observatory of Innovation in Large Consumption in Spainready and introduced this Tuesday by the Institut Cerdà, a non-public basis that advises firms and public establishments. The report places figures on a structural weak spot of the Spanish manufacturing system: the low era of patents in key sectors comparable to agriculture and the agri-food trade, far beneath European and, much more so, American requirements.

The information is eloquent. For each 1,000 million euros of turnover in 2024, Spanish firms within the agroindustrial area generated solely 2.2 patents. In the European Union as an entire, the determine rises to six.7, whereas within the United States it shoots as much as 26.9. Translated in relative phrases, Spain registers 67% fewer patents than the European common in these strategic sectors for mass consumption. The report doesn’t embody comparable figures for the distribution sector – one other of the pillars of the mass consumption sector, together with producers of mass consumption merchandise – because of the lack of homogeneous information in the remainder of the international locations. But even focusing solely on agriculture and trade, the hole is important.

In absolute phrases, the portrait reinforces the analysis. In 2024, Spain registered 171 patents linked to the agricultural sector, in comparison with 4,561 within the European Union and 9,921 within the United States. In trade, the distinction is much more pronounced: 254 nationwide patents, in comparison with 4,851 European and 26,263 American patents. The hole, the authors of the report warn, is because of the very construction of the enterprise material and the issue within the patenting course of.

The Spanish productive material is made up primarily of SMEs, a lot of them family-owned, with restricted monetary and human assets. Patenting will not be solely costly – charges, technical writing, authorized protection and worldwide extension can value tens of hundreds of euros – but in addition a protracted and sophisticated course of. For many firms, particularly in sectors with tight margins comparable to agri-food, the hassle doesn’t at all times repay.

“Companies often innovate, improve processes or develop new products, but choose not to patent because of the cost involved,” explains Miguel Hernández, common director of the Institut Cerdà. Some firms resort to industrial secrecy; Others prioritize attending to market shortly fairly than investing that cash in a license.

This weak spot contrasts with the energy of the nationwide scientific system. The relationship between scientific publications in R&D&i and patents within the agri-food chain exhibits a rising imbalance. In 2018, the 12 months through which the primary observatory was created, about 19 scientific publications have been registered for every patent. Today there are 32. That is, the manufacturing of educational data grows at a sooner charge than its translation into property rights.

The analysis doesn’t level to a scarcity of analysis, however to a disconnection between the college and the productive setting. Hernández insists that there are stable collaborations with expertise facilities and utilized analysis organizations, however, in line with the observatory, “one more step is missing” for this information to be systematically reworked into patentable innovation.

The hole in patent registration can also be linked to the low funding effort in innovation within the sector. In 2024, funding in R&D&I in your entire chain—agriculture, trade and distribution—was round 1.30% of gross worth added (GVA), properly beneath the common for all Spanish firms, which exceeds 2%. In the case of the agricultural sector, the funding effort is even decrease, round 0.36%, one of many lowest in your entire financial system, whereas the meals trade reaches roughly 1.9%, in step with different European international locations, however with out displaying an upward trajectory.

This funding additionally exhibits indicators of stagnation when the consequences of inflation are launched into the equation. That is, mass consumption firms are usually not dedicating proportionally extra assets to producing their very own data. Added to this weak spot is the dearth of financing, recognized as one of many fundamental brakes on innovation. According to the observatory, greater than 30% of enormous shopper firms level out the dearth of personal funds as a related barrier, and about one other 30% pointed to the issue in accessing exterior financing.