Spain consolidates its position as a key player in the European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, with more than €3.4 billion of funds allocated to EU countries in Horizon Europe 2021-2023 competitive projects

An event was held on wednesday 4th of december in Brussels to review the evolution of the Spanish participation in the EU R&D&I FP, from their launch in 1984 to the present day, when Spain has consolidated its position as a Horizon Europe main player.

According to the latest available data for 2021-2023 calls, Spanish entities have reached their best results ever, reaching 11,7% of the funds allocated to EU countries and ranking third in the EU for the first time. Spain has also consolidated its position as a leader in collaborative R&D&I projects, with 16% of the total and is now second, in number of participations leading to Spain being present in one out of every three proposals funded by Horizon Europe (30% more than in Horizon 2020).

The Spain Science & Innovation event was attended by the Secretary for Innovation of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, Ms. Teresa Riesgo; CSIC Vice-President, Mr. Francisco Javier Moreno Fuentes; CDTI’s Director General, Mr. José Moisés Martín Carretero; FECYT’s Director General, Ms. Izaskun Lacunza, and Ms. Joanna Drake, Deputy Director General Planet, People and Science for Policy at DG Research and Innovation of the European Commission.

The main milestones in the evolution of the Spanish participation in EU R&D&I FP since their launch in 1984 were addressed and speakers walked us through this 40 years journey which has transformed Spain from a modest partner to a trusted leader. The authorities also underlined the obvious impact of EU FP in the Spanish R&I system and emphasised the Spanish administration's commitment to R&I.

Also, the Spanish leadership in different technological areas was underlined. Namely: Cluster 4: industry, Cluster 5: climate, Cluster 6: food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment, Wind energy, Renewable energy for heat and cold, construction, advanced materials, Processes4planet partnership, Made in Europe partnership, Satellite telecommunications, GNSS applications, Cloud-edge-IoT technologies, SESAR Air traffic, Multimodal transport, Logistics and infrastructure, and European innovation ecosystems.

This leadership capacity in different areas of Horizon Europe was reviewed through the eyes of four entities participating in European projects with very different profiles. From the largest research organisation, CSIC to two companies of different sizes, AQUALIA and ESTEYCO, through the UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE MADRID.
Different proposals for improvement from a participant perspective were also discussed with a view to FP10.

Evolution of the Spanish participation in EU R&D&I Framework Programmes
The fourth FP (1994-1998) marked a turning point by considerably increasing its budget and thematic content. Spain made a great effort to adapt its support structures to participants by launching, among others: the Spanish Office for Science and Technology (SOST) in Brussels, specialized training programmes for European project managers and grants for the preparation of proposals. This catapulted the Spanish participation in key areas such as biotechnology, health and information technologies.

The big leap in Spain's participation came during the Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013) through the launch of the Euroingenio programme. Ambitious objectives were set in terms of participation and leadership, an integrated participant support system was consolidated, and strategic actions were implemented. As a result, Spain led 10.7% of collaborative projects, reaching 8.3% of the funds allocated to EU countries. These figures have continued to improve. In Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe.