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Spain plans to raise spending on research and development (R&D) from its current level of 0.8-0.9 per cent of gross national product (GNP) to 1.2 per cent over the next four years.

Rajoy: wants more private investment. Credit: AP

This could mean a 10 per cent increase in the government's science budget next year, say officials. The increased funding is promised in a national plan on R&D, outlined to the Senate recently by the minister of education and culture, Mariano Rajoy.

The plan is due to be approved by the cabinet in October. Government officials say the increased effort will be achieved through “slow and sustained increases” in public investment in research, and will be “reviewed annually”.

Rajoy told the Senate that the government is keen to encourage more private investment in research, to strengthen the international nature of Spanish science, and to enhance the scientific and technological culture of society.

He said that special emphasis will be put on recruitment and employment issues, including long-term contracts for experienced researchers at research institutes, and support for postdocs to become involved in entrepreneurial activities.

Spain's current level of R&D spending is well bbelow the average of 2.2 per cent of GNP for countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. And public spending is still higher than that in the private sector.

The national plan will take account of proposals from Spain's regions, and covers basic and applied research. It has been divided for funding and administrative purposes into one basic research area with no immediate practical applications, and nine scientific and technological areas, including biomedicine, biotechnology, information and communication technologies. There are also 12 sectors considered of special interest to the government, such as defence, energy, space and aeronautics.

Fernando Aldana, director of the Office for Science and Technology, admits that initially more than half of public R&D spending will remaain devoted to defence. But he says that the level “will decrease progressively” in favour of civil research. He would like to see total R&D spending in Spain reach 1.5 per cent of GNP in the next decade, with 60 per cent of the investment coming from the private sector.

Although the way the extra money is to be spent is still being discussed, Aldana says that basic research disciplines to be given priority will include astrophysics, particle physics and thermonuclear physics.

He says these relate to areas in which Spain has already made significant contributions to major international projects, including the Gran Telescopio de Canarias, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, and the Stellerator TJ-II nuclear fusion reactor at the Spanish Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology Research.

Aldana says that private investment will be essential if the government's targets are to be met. Tax relief for corporate R&D programmes will thherefore be included in the strategy. He points out that Spain imports 157 billion pesetas (US$1 billion) worth of technology annually, but exports only Pts 24 billion worth.

Francisco José Rubia-Vila, director of research of the Community of Madrid, welcomes the planned increase in public spending. He says it should allow the “integration of postdocs trained abroad as well as a renewal of infrastructure” and is also confident that private investment will be stimulated.

Francisco Medina-Mena, an electronics researcher at the University of Seville, agrees with the attempt to involve industrial sectors in defining research objectives.

Aldana says one of the novelties of the plan is the “identification of strategic actions involving different sectors”. Priorities will be identified for each industrial sector, and scientists will be able to draw on these when putting forward requests for funding.

But others warn that increased funding alone will not improve the functioning of the system. Jes´ Marttínez-Frías, a geologist at the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid, says there is a need to break down barriers between institutions with responsibility for science. “The functions of each must be defined with clarity and transparency.”

He also says that there should be closer coordination with international scientific bodies to avoid excessively ‘domestic’ policies.