In an appearance before the Parliament of Navarra, the regional president, María Chivite, detailed that the region contemplates the development of up to 71 initiatives linked to sectors prioritised by the Sustainable Strategy for Smart Specialisation (S4). This includes the implementation of activities in business areas as important as electric and connected mobility, healthy and sustainable food, the green energy industry, personalised medicine, sustainable tourism and the audiovisual industry.
‘In recent years, Navarre has managed to place itself among the 100 most innovative European regions, being the third Spanish community with a strong performance in innovation,’ Chivite explained in her speech to the regional legislature. Specifically, she attributed the good figures obtained in the field of R&D&I to the high number of technology and research centres installed in the region. She also attributed it to the business innovation ratio, which in Navarre stands at 4.55 per 1,000 companies, compared to the meagre 2.93 recorded in the rest of Spain.
Chivite also mentioned other factors that drive the differentiation and competitiveness of the ‘innovative ecosystem of Navarre’. She cited, for example, tax deductions for investment in innovation; or the development of the IRIS digital innovation hub. Of the latter, she said that ‘it is an obligatory reference point for companies, as it facilitates their digital transition, the promotion of innovation and the attraction of investment and talent’.
The President of Navarre also referred to the recent report by the COTEC Foundation entitled ‘Map of Talent’ (which we recently mentioned in this news item). From this study, she highlighted, above all, ‘the high flows of foreign direct investment (FDI)’ that the region receives, as well as its leadership in terms of the presence of foreign students in its universities. In the same study, on the other hand, the region is above the national average in technological employment, to such an extent that it already represents 10.1% of its total productive structure. Therefore, and in view of all these data, ‘Navarre is a national benchmark in innovation’, concluded the President, María Chivite, while expressing the willingness of her Executive to continue to make progress in this field of action.
Source: navarra.es
Important Additional Note. Anyone who would like to find out more about the enormous potential that Navarre has in the field of innovation applied, for example, to the renewable energy sector, can access the report that we recently produced at Invest in Navarra by clicking on the following link.