In Spain and Portugal, only 6% of PhD holders work in the business sector. There is a broad margin for improvement in the relationship between science and business.

The European Union set a target for the business sector to invest 2% of GDP in R&D. How is the convergence of Spain and Portugal towards this goal progressing?

Andrew W. Wyckoff, the OECD’s current director of Science, Technology and Innovation, reviews the major challenges posed by the digital transformation in the economic, social and educational sphere. 

How has science developed in Spain and Portugal and how has it influenced the construction of the Iberian nations?  The two books reviewed here analyse the subject.

One of the great current challenges in research is process integrity and the reliability of results. What reforms are taking place in this area?

International excellence, strong support for innovation and transfer and bringing science closer to society. CaixaResearch Institute symbolises the commitment of the ”la Caixa” Foundation to supporting biomedical research.

Successful experiences such as the Patient Innovation Platform confirm that the future of innovation in health involves connecting patients, carers and other agents from the care sector.

What is society’s opinion regarding the possible impacts of science and technology? Establishing citizen participation mechanisms is necessary to generate confidence and detect points for improvement.

How should science be evaluated? Does the possibility exist of using other criteria beyond bibliometric impacts, which value different facets of the social impact of research?

Challenge-Driven Innovation is a research funding programme that is pioneering in Europe due to its multidisciplinary, intersectoral and challenge-oriented focus.

Portugal, together with Denmark, is an exception within the framework of the EU-27 and has percentages of women scientists and engineers that slightly exceed the European average.

The model of governmental support for business R&D differs between Spain and Portugal, with a predominance of direct support in the case of Spain and indirect in that of Portugal.

While the participation of female PhD holders in Portugal is situated above the EU‑27 average in all fields of knowledge considered, in Spain the participation of female PhD holders is situated below the European average in the fields of art, humanities and social sciences.

In 2019, the percentage of total public spending assigned to R&D was 1.24% in Spain and 0.82% in Portugal, both below the EU-27 average.

In Spain and Portugal, the proportion of innovative companies, and the degree to which these collaborate with other companies and organisations, is below the EU-27 average.

Does Portugal attract more talent than Spain? In 2020, the attraction of international talent was situated below the European average (18.7%) in the case of Spain (17.2%) and above the average (29.1%) in that of Portugal.

Despite growth in the last 10 years, the relative position of Spain and Portugal, with regard to patent applications, is a long way behind that of countries that are leaders in innovation.

Spain stands at the head of the countries of the EU-27 in the global computation of digital society indicators (connectivity, Internet use, etc). Portugal, however, is situated at the tail end.

Spain and Portugal are situated above the European average in percentage of women researchers in all sectors considered, although the lowest participation corresponds to the business sector and the highest, to the governmental sector.

Who publishes most: men or women? The percentage of women that publish in the STEM areas in Spain and Portugal is higher than the European average, which reflects that the proportion of women researchers in the academic sector, in turn, exceeds the European average.

Who invents most: men or women?  The proportion in Spain is one in every five inventors and in Portugal, one in every four. Do they exceed the European average?

Spain is among the leading countries in environmental innovation, while Portugal is in an intermediate position.