The European Commission, through the Joint Research Center (JRC), has published the 2025 edition of The EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, the report that analyses the R +D investment of the top 800 European companies and the 2,000 global companies, based on data from 2024.

According to this report, 26 Spanish companies appear in the European ranking, five more than the previous year. The 21 companies present in 2024 remain and 17 improve positions. The case of ACCIONA stands out, which, with a 476% increase in investment in R+D, climbs from 355th to 109th place. Inditex, Global Dominion Access, Faes Farma, Redeia and Atrys Health also join. Only five Spanish companies are among the top 2,000 in the world ranking.

From a sectoral reading, the JRC report allows us to focus on construction: 8 of the 26 Spanish companies in the ranking have activity linked to the sector, an indicator that shows both the existing potential for improvement and the progressive progress that is taking place in terms of innovation.

The report also shows an under-representation of Spanish companies: despite contributing nearly 5% of European private investment in R+D, they only represent 3.3% of the EU ranking, a difference that, according to the analysis of the Cotec Foundation, does not fully reflect the reality of the business fabric.