TECNALIA developed more than 4,200 technological solutions with 2,000 companies in 2022
- The research and technology development centre registered a turnover of €128 million last year, 6.7% more than in 2021
- These figures stem from TECNALIA’s R&D&I transfer strategy to companies, which aims to have a dual impact: economic and social, leading TECNALIA to collaborate throughout its 12-year history with 9,500 companies, 73% of which are SMEs, and its activity has generated €678 million of GDP in the Basque Country in 2022
- These results confirm TECNALIA’s leading position in R&D&I, and it is now developing the second stage of its Strategic Plan, which aims to boost economic and social impact through technological research and innovation, as agents in the transformation of companies and society to adapt to the challenges of the future, including smart manufacturing, digital transformation, energy transition, sustainable mobility, personalised health, the urban ecosystem and circular economy.
- To this end, TECNALIA is allocating €13 million to new developments, equipment and infrastructure, and will increase investment by 11.2%
- By 2023, the following are set to be the main technological challenges with growth potential: quantum computing, artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, sustainable mobility and hydrogen, with decarbonisation as a cross-cutting theme
Bilbao, 26th April 2023. TECNALIA research and technological development centre registered a turnover of €128 million in 2022, up almost 6.7% on the previous year, thus consolidating its leading position as a benchmark R&D&I centre for companies. In this way, TECNALIA has increased its activity with industry over the last financial year, developing more than 4,200 technological solutions with 2,000 companies.
These results were presented this morning by the Chairman of TECNALIA, Alex Belaustegui, and Managing Director, Jesús Valero, who stressed that “these figures stem from TECNALIA’s R&D&I transfer strategy to companies, which aims to have a dual impact: economic and social, leading TECNALIA to collaborate throughout its 12-year history with 9,500 companies, 73% of which are SMEs”. Its activity has generated €678 million of GDP in the Basque Country in 2022.
The Chairman mentioned that “TECNALIA is a tool at the service of companies and society, and 2022 has been a challenge for us and for businesses, which have shown resilience, ability to adapt and effort to face this new reality and one of the keys has undoubtedly been their innovative attitude”.
Employment, wealth and value for the environment
These figures are the result of the work of TECNALIA’s team of 1,500 experts, which in 2022 grew by 2.5% compared to the previous year, and which, through technological excellence, developed a total of 4,235 R&D&I technological solutions, 1.4% more than in 2021. This team is complemented by 35 strategic alliances with research centres and benchmark companies around the world, a network that has increased by 40% compared to 2021.
There is also a team of 90 people working in TECNALIA’s invested companies, which have created 29% more direct jobs in 2022. TECNALIA has become one of the main creators of quality employment in the area. It should also be noted that, for every job in the centre, another 6.88 jobs are maintained in the Basque Country, which is an increase of 9% compared to the previous year and a total of 9,706 jobs maintained on average.
In Intellectual Property Sales (VPI), the centre obtained revenue in excess of €8.1 million, which represents an increase of 62% with respect to 2021. TECNALIA also holds 740 patents in its portfolio and has a stake in 14 New Technology-Based Companies (NTBCs), achieving a turnover increase of 20%, reaching almost €8 million. These figures place TECNALIA among the best European technology centres in terms of return on Intellectual Property Sales. For the fifth consecutive year, TECNALIA is once again one of the top organisations in Spain in terms of the number of European patent applications. More specifically, it is the fourth private Spanish organisation in European patent applications.
It is precisely in Europe that TECNALIA has established itself as the leading private-state organisation in contracting, participating and project leading within the European Commission’s Horizon Europe programme and is ranked 15th out of 1,822 European research organisations. In the two years of the programme, it has gained 94 projects, of which it has led 16. In these projects, TECNALIA collaborates with 118 companies from all over Spain.
Challenges for 2023
TECNALIA is now developing the second stage of its Strategic Plan, which aims to boost economic and social impact through technological research and innovation, as agents in the transformation of companies and society to adapt to the challenges of the future, including smart manufacturing, digital transformation, energy transition, sustainable mobility, personalised health, the urban ecosystem and circular economy. In addition, this financial year it has allocated €13 million to new investments, equipment and infrastructure, which is an increase in investment of 11.2%.
The following are identified as the main technological challenges with growth potential for 2023: quantum computing, artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, sustainable mobility and hydrogen, with decarbonisation as a cross-cutting theme.
In industry, collaboration with companies such as Sidenor, Tubos Reunidos, Arcelor-Mittal, Ibarmia and Furesa stands out, to advance towards the decarbonisation of industry through more intelligent, efficient, sustainable and environmentally friendly processes.
Another of the major trends of the future is increasingly sustainable mobility, involving a deep transformation of the urban environment, which TECNALIA is tackling with the following projects: Aerotaxi Concept Integrity, currently in the industrialisation phase with Umiles Next, which in 2022 has carried out its first open field tests in France and Spain; the smart, connected, zero-emission bus being developed with Irizar and currently being tested in Zaragoza; vehicle automation with companies such as Renault and Alsa; and the MUBIL mobility hub in Gipuzkoa, where TECNALIA will have a sustainable mobility and energy transition building.
As for energy, 2022 saw the launch of the new version of HarshLab, Europe’s largest floating test laboratory for the offshore industry, where companies can test materials and solutions in a real environment to improve their competitiveness.
As regards hydrogen, a pioneering laboratory for testing and assessing components and materials for the generation and storage of this energy vector is scheduled to start up in San Sebastián this year.
The new great emerging technology is quantum computing, in which TECNALIA is creating new technical developments to take advantage of the properties of quantum mechanics and implement hybrid classical-quantum Artificial Intelligence models, focusing quantum optimisation algorithms and machine-learning, collaborating with companies such as Quantum Mads and Ibermática.
In the field of urban ecosystem, TECNALIA has applied its knowledge of additive manufacturing in construction, digital twins for buildings, circularity of resources for the construction of buildings, and energy efficiency in building to projects such as the one developed with Inkolan, creating an intelligent data model to contribute to the development of Smart City services and initiatives.
In the field of health, TECNALIA’s work in precision medicine stands out and, together with the University of the Basque Country, it has launched the first multifunctional 3D bioprinter in the Basque Country for the pharmaceutical industry, which will enable the development of personalised therapies in the paediatric field, in healthy ageing and in the field of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering through additive manufacturing technology.
TECNALIA has also launched its own business acceleration programme, DeepTech4Impact, which will give a technological boost to new companies through thematic calls. It stands out because of its focus on startups based on sophisticated technology (deep tech), by offering them all the centre’s technological development capabilities, as well as a long-term partner relationship, sharing risks and rewards.
As well as the economic impact of all these projects, TECNALIA also has a social impact, as revealed in the “Social Impact of TECNALIA: Contribution to Change Beyond R&D&I” report, drawn up by Belgian consultancy firm IDEA in 2022. It concludes that TECNALIA, in addition to its R&D&I activity, contributes to bringing about the change that is needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, through activities that, together with the administrations, companies and society, help to guide the future, as well as to stimulate and accelerate the changes that are needed to achieve them.
About TECNALIA
TECNALIA is the largest applied research and technological development centre in Spain, a European benchmark and member of the Basque Research and Technology Alliance. We work with companies and institutions to increase their competitiveness, quality of life of people and achieve sustainable growth. We do so thanks to people who are passionate about technology and committed to building a better society. The main scopes of action are: smart manufacturing, digital transformation, energy transition, sustainable mobility, personalised health, urban ecosystem and circular economy.
In the latest brand awareness and positioning study carried out by the European Research Survey (ERS) in 2022, TECNALIA tops the list regarding R&D&I brand awareness.
*Photo caption from left to right: Alex Belaustegui (TECNALIA’s Chairman) and Jesús Valero (Managing Director)
