The Basque Country Technology Park continues to grow and now has 660 companies located on its 6 campuses, where more than 23,000 people work

The turnover of all Parke companies grew by 14% and exceeded 7.3 billion euros in 2023 after increasing this figure by 900 million euros compared to the previous year.

The presence of women continues to increase in all areas and more than half of the companies with a staff of 50 people or more already have an Equality Plan and 22% of the 660 companies located in Parke are run by women.

The Basque Country Technology Park is continuing its expansion process and is already home to 660 scientific-technological companies, with a combined turnover of 7,381 million euros in 2023 and employing 23,032 people. These figures, which have been included in the Annual Activity Report of the Basque Country Technology Park, consolidate the position of this entity at the forefront of the Basque Science and Technology ecosystem.

The growth of business activity at the Basque Country Technology Park has also been significant in terms of the presence of women in the scientific-technological network. Currently, 65% of companies with a workforce of more than 50 people have an Equality Plan, which is a clear boost to the strategic commitment of the Technology Park in this area.

The general activity data show that the combined turnover of the 660 companies increased by almost 14% with respect to the previous year (901 million euros more), to 7,381 million euros, and that a joint R&D expenditure of 660 million euros was recorded. In addition, 1,275 professionals were added to the companies’ workforces (an increase of 5.8%), bringing the total number of employees to more than 23,000, most of them in highly skilled jobs.

In this area of the workforce, it is worth noting that the greatest increase was recorded among people with vocational training qualifications (up 14%), who now total almost 6,000 professionals compared to the 12,600 with university degrees, and which consolidates the Technology Park’s commitment to bringing companies closer to Vocational Training, with initiatives such as FP/Parke. People with doctorates (2,044) and other qualifications (2,352) make up the rest of the workforce.

There are also more and more professionals dedicated to R&D (30% of the workforce) and the process of rejuvenation of the workforce is continuing: more than half of the new recruits were under 30 years of age. This group, in fact, is currently made up of 4,300 people.

By gender, although men continue to outnumber women, there has been a slight decrease in the percentage difference between the two sexes, which stands at 60% male employment compared to 40% female. Of the 660 companies located in Parke, a total of 145, or 22% of the total, are run by women. It is worth noting that, according to the latest report by AED (Association of Businesswomen and Women Managers of Bizkaia), women occupying the position of CEO/General Management in all Basque companies with 50 or more people represent 11%, which shows the dimension of this figure in the companies of the Technology Park.

By sectors of activity, Biosciences have come to occupy first place in terms of the number of companies (127), just above ICT (126). This sector, however, continues to lead the list in terms of workforce (5,186 people employed) and turnover (2,182 million euros). R&D is the sector with the second highest number of professionals (4,221), while the Aeronautics sector is the sector with the second highest turnover (2,084 million euros).

Other relevant sectors are the Energy and Environment sector, which is the fastest growing in absolute terms in terms of number of companies, with 12 more companies; the Electronics sector, with a turnover of 1,085 million euros and 2,334 employees; and Engineering, with a turnover of 443 million euros and a workforce of 2,364 people.

Finally, among other activity data, it should be noted that the companies in the Basque Country Technology Park applied for 116 national patents in 2023, of which 61 were granted.

In addition, 17 companies are partners or have signed the 2030 Agenda – the most ambitious action plan in favour of people, the planet and prosperity until 2030 -, committing themselves to contribute to sustainable development in their activity.