81.3 per cent of R&D expenditure in 2007 was made by businesses, 15.2% by the academic world and the remaining 3.5% by a range of public institutions.

The Basque R&D effort is due largely of the nature of the production system. Industry is a major component of this system, and most businesses involved are acutely aware of the continuing need to innovate in technology.

Most money and time in R&D terms is spent on engineering and technology, which absorb 72.17% of all funding and 70.80% of R&D personnel.

In industry, research tends to concentrate mainly on machinery, transport materials and metal goods. Indeed they account for 18% of all current R&D expenditure in the private sector.

In the services sector, firms offering R&D services as their principal activity spend most (up to 41% of all in-house business expenditure) on R&D.