Science and technology in Spain relates to the set of policies, plans and programs carried out by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation [1] and other organizations aimed at research, development and innovation (R&D&I), as well as the reinforcement Spanish scientific and technological infrastructures and facilities such as universities and commercial laboratories.
Spain has become the ninth scientific power in the world with 2.5% of the total number of scientific publications, thus surpassing Russia in the world ranking of scientific production [2] and surpassing Switzerland and Australia in scientific quality.
Law 13/1986 on the "Promotion and General Coordination of Scientific and Technical Research" placed science for the first time on the Spanish political agenda, laying the foundations for research, as well as its financing, organization and coordination between the State and the autonomous regions. [3] That regulation also led to the birth of the national research plan as an "instrument for financing science". [3] It also meant that public research organizations could create companies, as a solution to the lack of companies that encouraged new technologies and the disconnection of the science-technology system with the productive system. [4]
It is regulated by Law 14/2011, of 1 June 2011, on "Science, Technology and Innovation", which entered into force six months after its publication. [5] According to the Ninth Final Provision of the Law, some of its provisions have the character of basic legislation. [6] [7] This provides a mechanism for national, regional and corporative entities to cooperate and optimise their resources. [8]
Article 21 of the Law contemplates the pre-doctoral contract. [9]
In 2020, the Ministry published the prior consultation on the reform of the Science Law. Through the 2021 Budget Law, the legal figure of the state agency was reintroduced for the State Research Agency [10] (AEI) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), which had been transformed into an autonomous body in 2015. [11] State agencies have greater independence for the management of their budget. A new Science Law is expected to be approved in 2022.
In 2020, Spain will invest 1.24% of its GDP in scientific research, well below the European average of 2.12%. [12]
Up to 2020, eight editions of the National R&D&I Plan have been published, covering the period from 1988 to 1991 to 2007–2020, currently in force. [13]
Each year a Work Program of the National R&D&I Plan is approved, which serves as a short-term programming tool, and is managed by the Ministries of Science and Innovation (MICINN); Industry, Tourism and Trade; Education (MEFP); and Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs (MARM).
At the end of 2020 the Spanish Government officially presented its Digital Plan 2025 which focussed on the recovery, transformation and resilience of scientific endeavour as a significant contributor to the Spanish economy. The Minister of Digital Development Carme Artigas has announced that starting from late 2022 the country proposes to set up a secure environment where a wide range of companies will be able to test their risky AI systems for socially sensitive areas such as law enforcement, medical diagnostics or educational intervention. [14] The rules proposed by the European Commission in 2021 will be applied with strict oversight in compliance with Spain's National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (ENIA). [15]
"Nanoinventum" is a project led by the University of Barcelona to incorporate science and nanotechnology principles into elementary school level curriculums. The main objective is to help young people become familiar with scientific language and to cultivate a passion for nanotechnology and science in general. [16]
Public Research Organizations (OPI) carry out a large part of the R&D&I activities that are financed with public funds and usually manage some of the programs included in the National Plans.
The following OPI's are attached to the Ministry of Science and Innovation:
The following OPI's are attached to other ministerial departments:
The Advisory Committee for Singular Infrastructures (until 2006 called the Advisory Committee for Large Scientific Facilities, CAGIC) [17] distinguishes between two types of Scientific and Technological Facilities: Large Scientific Facilities (GIC) and Medium Size Facilities (ITM). Their recognition as such is the responsibility of the Interministerial Commission for Science and Technology (CICYT).
Singular Scientific and Technical Infrastructure (ICTS) refers to a facility that is unique or exceptional in Spain, that requires a relatively high investment cost, and that its importance in research or development justifies its availability.
At present, the following facilities are recognized as Spanish ICTS (outdated list): [18]
In addition, these are ICTS located in Spain, but with international participation:
A Medium Size Installation is defined as an Installation that is unique in Spain, requiring an investment cost of between 3 and 8 million euros and a maintenance cost of more than half a million euros per year.
Spain participates in several international scientific programs and organizations. The benefit obtained from this participation is twofold: on the one hand, Spanish scientists can use the facilities for the development of their projects; on the other hand, the business network has the opportunity to make important business contracts.
Some of the facilities in which Spain participates are:
In 2020 Pablo Jarillo-Herrero was awarded the Wolf Prize in Physics, considered the prelude to the Nobel Prize. [19] In 2009 Juan Ignacio Cirac was nominated for the same prestigious award for his research in quantum computing and quantum optics. [20]
Among the Spanish contributions to chemistry are the research of Francisco Mojica that led to the birth of the CRISPR gene editing technique, a term he personally coined. Mariano Barbacid is one of the most internationally recognized biochemists, among his contributions is that he managed to isolate the human H-ras oncogene in bladder carcinoma. This was an incredible breakthrough in the study of the molecular basis of cancer. He currently directs the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO).
In 2020, Spain ranked seventh in the world in terms of scientific impact in Mathematics. [21] Internationally, centers such as the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (ICMAT), founded in 2007, and the Basque Center for Applied Mathematics (BCAM), founded in 2008, stand out. Carlos Beltrán solved Smale's Problem number 17, finding a probabilistic algorithm with polynomial complexity, and published his solution in 2009. [22]
Michael Servetus described in the 16th century the pulmonary circulation of the blood. Francisco Romero in 1801 performed the first heart operation. [23] [24]
Spain has a Nobel Prize in Medicine, Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1906), pioneer in the description of the functioning of the nervous system. Others were on the verge of being nominated, such as Jaime Ferrán y Clúa, discoverer of the cholera vaccine, which put an end to the epidemic that devastated Spain in the 19th century. He would later develop vaccines for tetanus, typhoid, tuberculosis and rabies. [25] Also nominated were José Gómez Ocaña and August Pi i Sunyer. [26] In the 19th century, the Balmis Expedition was the first international health expedition in history, with the aim of bringing the smallpox vaccine to all continents, a disease that was causing thousands of deaths of children worldwide. In 1921, surgeon Fidel Pagés developed the epidural anesthesia technique. The engineer Manuel Jalón Corominas invented the disposable hypodermic needle. Today Pedro Cavadas is internationally recognized for his milestones in transplant surgery.
The galleon, a Spanish invention, enabled the birth of the Spanish Empire and its conquest of the seas. [27] Narcís Monturiol, inventor of air-independent propulsion, and Isaac Peral were among the creators of the submarine. Juan de la Cierva invented the articulated rotor and the autogyro, precursor of the helicopter. In 1907, Leonardo Torres Quevedo (1852–1936) started up the world's first aerial lift for passengers on Mount Ulía in San Sebastián. [28]
In the biotechnology sector, institutions such as the National Biotechnology Center, companies such as PharmaMar and Zendal and researchers such as Mariano Esteban stand out.
Spain currently has generation II nuclear reactors, with the most advanced countries developing the generation IV reactor. [29] It can be said that the father of nuclear energy in Spain was José María Otero de Navascués. [30] Today the Center for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research (CIEMAT) is the main Spanish research center in this area, which has the TJ-II stellarator, and is planning a successor, the TJ-III. Pablo Rodríguez Fernández is a leading researcher in the race for nuclear fusion. [31] Granada is a candidate to host IFMIF-DONES from 2030 onwards. [32] [33] [34]
Ramón Verea (1833–1899) created the first mechanical calculator capable of direct multiplication.
Leonardo Torres Quevedo (1852–1936) created moderm wireless remote-control operation principles [35] [36] and analog calculating machines that could solve algebraic equations. [37] In 1912, he built an automaton for playing chess endgames, El Ajedrecista, which has been considered the first computer game in history. [38] He also introduced the idea of floating-point arithmetic to computers for the first time. [39] [40]
José García Santesmases (1907–1989) built the first analog computer and the first Spanish-made microprocessor. In 1967 he launched the Factor-P, the first computer manufactured in Spain. [41]
In 2016 and 2017 BQ became the third best-selling smartphone brand in Spain, with phones designed in the country. [42] [43] Towards the end of the 1990s and early 2000s several companies manufactured laptops in Spain, most notably Airis [44] and Inves. [45] By 2021, Primux, Slimbook, Vant and Mountain already designed and assembled their computers in Spain. [46] [47]
Between 1987 and 2009 there was a large microchip factory in Tres Cantos, but it closed due to the difficulty of competing with the Asian market. [48] Currently there are Spanish companies with microchip production capacity on a smaller scale, but which also have design capacity, such as Televés, a pioneer in Europe in the use of DIE electronic components (electronic components without encapsulation) [49] and which also has the capacity to manufacture MMIC circuits, [50] Ikor, and Anafocus, dedicated to the manufacture of CMOS image sensors.
Between 1983 and 1992, Spain became one of the largest producers of video games, in what is called the golden age of the Spanish video game. Today FX Interactive, heir of Dinamic Software, is among the most prominent companies.
At the end of the 1990s IRC-Hispano was the reference as a social community in the Hispanic world. Other software companies that have achieved great repercussion are the search engine Olé, Terra Networks or Tuenti. Today, Wallapop, Fotocasa, Cabify and Rakuten TV stand out.
The evolution of astronomical navigation, thanks to the contributions of astronomers such as Alonso de Santa Cruz, Juan Arias de Loyola and Jorge Juan y Santacilia was also key to Spain's preponderance in the oceans.
Since 1968 the National Institute for Aerospace Technology has concatenated scientific satellite programs, starting with the Intasat Program, continuing with the Minisat program which was a qualitative leap in the 90's, and continuing up to the current Small Satellite Constellation Program. Many of the instruments used in space missions to Mars and asteroids are developed at the Astrobiology Center (CAB). Among the major contributors in the space area are Emilio Herrera, inventor of the stratonautical space suit, predecessor of the space suit; Enrique Trillas, promoter of space science programs; and Pedro Duque, the first Spanish astronaut.
In Spain there are many science and technology parks, all of them are usually grouped in the Association of Science and Technology Parks of Spain (APTE).
The international R&D&I programs in which Spain participates are usually focused on the European area, and the most important are the following:
The Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) is a public foundation under the Ministry of Science and Innovation, [51] whose mission is to foster science and innovation, promoting their integration and approach to society. The National Museum of Science and Technology (MUNCYT) is dedicated to conservation and to popular science and technology. It has two sites, one in Alcobendas and the other in A Coruña.
Leonardo Torres Quevedo was a Spanish civil engineer, mathematician, and inventor of the late 19th century and early 20th century. A member of the Royal Spanish Academy since 1920, he was also a corresponding member of the French Academy of Sciences, among other institutions. Torres was a prolific and versatile innovator in various fields of engineering, including mechanics, aeronautics and automatics. One of his greatest achievements was El Ajedrecista of 1912, an electromagnetic device capable of playing a limited form of chess that demonstrated the capability of machines to be programmed to follow specified rules (heuristics) and marked the beginnings of research into the development of artificial intelligence.
The Spanish National Research Council is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Its main objective is to develop and promote research that will help bring about scientific and technological progress, and it is prepared to collaborate with Spanish and foreign entities in order to achieve this aim.
Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias y Tecnologías is Mexico's entity in charge of the promotion of scientific and technological activities, setting government policies for these matters, and granting scholarships for postgraduate studies. It is the equivalent of the US's National Science Foundation and Argentina's CONICET. It is officially designated as a decentralized public agency of Mexico's federal government. CONAHCYT was founded in 1970.
The University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, also known as the ULPGC is a Spanish university located in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the capital city of Gran Canaria island. It is the university with the most students in the Canary Islands. It consists of five campuses: four in Gran Canaria and one in the island of Lanzarote, with Tafira being the largest. The University was created in 1989 after many years of petitions from the people of Gran Canaria. The university was incorporated through the University Reorganization Act of 1989. ULPGC was created as the aggregation of the teaching centres of former "Universidad Politécnica de Canarias", focused on engineering, and the centres from neighbouring Universidad de La Laguna that were located in Las Palmas province.
Vanguardia de la Ciencia was a Spanish science podcast and radio program which was broadcast on the shortwave band by Radio Exterior de España, one of the stations of Radio Nacional de España (RNE). The program aired weekly, without interruption, from April 1995 until June 2007. It was available for download as mp3-files from the web pages of RNE from September 2003. The program was created by Ángel Rodríguez Lozano. A total of 98 programs are still available online. In addition to Vanguardia de la Ciencia, Lozano also hosted another popular science radio program and podcast, El Sueño de Arquímedes.
Carlos Martínez Alonso, was born in Villasimpliz, in the province of León, on January 9, 1950. In 1974 he obtained a chemistry degree from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid. Four years later, in 1978, he obtained a Ph.D. in immunology by the same university. He was appointed President of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) from 2004 to 2008, and Secretary of State for Research in the Ministry of Science and Innovation from early 2008 to December 2009.
The University of Málaga is a public university ranked 23 among all Spanish universities and 683 in the world. It was established in 1972 and has, as of 2016, 30,203 Bachelor students and 2576 on a Master's program, 1255 tenured and 1056 temporary teachers. The UMA offers 65 degree courses and 6 double degrees, over 21 doctoral programmes, 64 master's Degrees, and 100 courses throughout the academic year. Education takes place in 18 centres by appointed teachers from 81 departments. The great majority of the teaching is organised within the two campuses, although classes also take place in locations spread around the city centre, as well as in Ronda and Antequera.
Margarita Salas Falgueras, 1st Marchioness of Canero was a Spanish scientist, medical researcher, and author in the fields of biochemistry and molecular genetics.
IMDEA is a project founded by the Madrid Regional Government, included in the IV Regional Plan of Scientific Research and Technological Innovation 2005-2008 (PRICIT), for the purpose of setting up advanced research centers and higher education and training in the Community of Madrid. Between 2006 and 2008 the project created nine IMDEA Institutes of which two were closed.
The presence of science and technology in Spain dates back to Spain's prehistoric period. It is taken to include firstly an account of the historical development of these fields of study, and secondly a description of the current institutional and regulatory framework for continuing this development into the future.
Carmen Vela Olmo is a Spanish entrepreneur, researcher and former Secretary of State of Investigation, Development and Innovation.
The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of the Republic of Cuba, also known as CITMA, is the Cuban government ministry which oversees state politics in matters of science, technology, environment and the usage of nuclear energy. Its headquarter is in a building of Calle Línea, a street of central Havana next to the Malecón, and part of Vedado, a ward of the municipal borough of Plaza de la Revolución.
In Spain, the national 2011 "Ley de la Ciencia, la Tecnología y la Innovación" requires open access publishing for research that has been produced with public funding. The first peer-reviewed open access Spanish journal, Relieve, began in 1995. Publishers CSIC Press and Hipatia Press belong to the international Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association.
The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICINN) is the department of the Government of Spain responsible for developing and implementing the government policy on scientific research, technological development and innovation in all sectors. In particular, MICINN is responsible for the exercise of research, technological development and innovation competencies in space matters, including representation and participation in European Union and International organizations.
The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Universities, known in its early years as Secretary of State for Universities and Research, is the second highest office of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of the Government of Spain. The Secretary of State is appointed by the Monarch at the request the Science Minister.
Víctor Iván Vargas Blanco is Costa Rican plasma and nuclear fusion physicist. He is renowned for his work in plasma physics and nuclear fusion. Currently, as a professor and tenured researcher at the Costa Rica Institute of Technology, he heads the Plasma Laboratory for Fusion Energy and Applications that he founded in 2011.
Lina Gálvez Muñoz is a Spanish economic historian and politician, and member of the European Parliament since 2019. She was Minister of Knowledge, Research and University of the Regional Government of Andalusia from 2018 to 2019. She is an expert in feminist economics and member of Economists Without Borders.
The history of science and technology in Argentina covers scientific policies and discoveries made in the country.
The Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation is the Ministry of State of Chile in charge of structuring, promoting, coordinating and promoting science, humanities and technological development activities in all their stages, to contribute to the sustainable development and social welfare of the country. It was created as a replacement for the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research, which was in charge of the Ministry of Education. The current minister of the ministry is Silvia Díaz, who was appointed by Gabriel Boric on September 6, 2022.
The Agencia Espacial Española is an agency of the Spanish government responsible for the Spanish space program. The agency was officially announced on 27 May 2021 and it became operational in 20 April 2023.
In 1912 Leonardo Torres Quevedo ... devised the first computer game ... The machine played a KRK chess endgame, playing rook and king against a person playing a lone king.