Valencia businesses face R&D investment gap despite innovation growth

Businesses in the Valencian Community are increasingly focusing on innovation to improve competitiveness, yet they continue to face a significant gap in research and development (R&D) investment compared to the Spanish national average.

According to the third edition of the LAB Observatory of R&D+i, technology, and entrepreneurship—conducted by the Fundación LAB Mediterráneo and Ivie—regional companies invested 1,858 million euros in R&D+i activities in 2024. This figure represents 1.25% of the regional GDP, falling short of the 1.38% Spanish average and significantly lower than the European Union's 2.54% average.

A unique characteristic of the Valencian business landscape is that companies allocate more resources to product and process innovation than to internal R&D activities. Specifically, 981 million euros were spent on innovation compared to 877 million euros on R&D. The study suggests that Valencian companies would need to invest an additional 370 million euros annually in R&D to match the national average. Additionally, the adoption of artificial intelligence remains limited, with only 16.1% of industrial companies in the region utilizing the technology.