Basque Country has registered a estimated investment in R&D&i of 2,005 million euros in 2023, 11.7% more than the previous year and 35% more than in 2020. However, “there is a lot to do”, according to the president of the Basque Innovation Agency-Innobasque, Manuel Salaverría . “There is still a long way to go to reach that desired position of leading innovation region in Europe“Thus, Manuel Salaverría has assured that to reach the 3% investment in R&D over GDP indicated by the European Union”we should be investing about 2.7 billion“.
Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga de Bilbao has been the scene of the 13th edition of the ‘Global Innovation Day’, the annual event on innovation organized by the Basque Innovation Agency, Innobasque. Its celebration has kicked off the celebration of the XXIV Week of Science, Technology and Innovation.
This edition has focused its attention on artificial intelligence, especially in generative artificial intelligence, a disruptive technology that has driven developments of great impact in organizations of all sizes and sectors in Euskadi, and has been organized in collaboration with the Basque Center for Artificial Intelligence, BAIC, and the Basque Center for Research in Applied Mathematics, BCAM,
At the opening of the event, the president of Innobasque, Manuel Salaverría, reviewed the state of innovation and Euskadi and confirmed that investment “continues to grow”with an investment in R&D&I estimated at 2,005 million in 2023, 11.7% more compared to 2022 and 35% more since 2020. At this point, he recalled that the main investment has been made by companies .
However, Salaverría has confirmed that there is still a long way to go for Euskadi to be a leading European region in innovation. “There is still a long way to go to reach that desired position.” As an example, the president of the Basque Innovation Agency pointed out that to reach 3% of investment in R&D over GDP “We should be investing around 2.7 billion. And if we wanted to reach the indications of the Draghi report to achieve this renaissance of Europe, we would have to reach 3.8 billion.”
Innovation, key to the future
For his part, the Minister of Industry, Energy Transition and Sustainability, Mikel Jauregi, He explained that for the Basque Government “innovation is key in the face of the challenges that the future presents us”, identifying in this sense two challenges: “the energy transition and the digital transformation”.
The Minister of Industry has also stressed the need to that innovation reaches all small and medium-sized companieswhich constitute 98% of the Basque business fabric. To do this, “the only answer is investment. Companies have to differentiate themselves in a competitive world and that is achieved with innovation, which is wealth and well-being.”
Precisely, companies have been protagonists of ‘Global Innovation Day 2024’ through six practical cases of implementation of artificial intelligence as a transforming engine of the business and social fabric. Representatives of Ariadna Grid, Eroski, Aita Menni Hospital, Santa Marina de Osakidetza Hospital, Tekniker and Trebe Language Technologies They have presented their developments.
In the expert presentations, the Basque Innovation Agency has invited the research professors Ikerbasque, Nicola Molinaro and Román Orúswho have starred in a talk titled ‘The power of language’. Besides, Iñaki Suárez, technology director of the Basque Artificial Intelligence Center (BAIC) and Jose Antonio Lozanoscientific director of the Basque Center for Applied Mathematics (BCAM) and professor at the UPV/EHU, have participated in the ‘Expert focus’ section.
The closing of the day was carried out by Leire Bilbao, general director of the Basque Innovation Agency, Innobasque, and Juan Ignacio Pérez Iglesias, Minister of Science, Universities and Innovation of the Basque Government.
#Euskadi #invests #million #RDI #reach #million #GDP
