TECNALIA developed more than 4,700 R&D&I projects for nearly 2,000 companies in 2025
- The applied research and technological development centre has reinforced its collaboration with Basque industry with almost 5,000 technological solutions through R&D&I transfer to companies in a complicated situation for them, marked by geopolitical uncertainty
- As a result of this strategy, which aims to have an impact on both economic and social aspects, TECNALIA closed 2025 with turnover of €156 million, which is up 5.4% on 2024, thus continuing the upward trend of recent years
- Its activity generated €914 million of GDP in the Basque Country in 2025. For every Euro invested in TECNALIA by Basque institutions, a GDP of €34.10 is generated.
- This year, the centre plans to invest €24 million - 20% more than in 2024 - to update and expand infrastructures for smart manufacturing, mobility and digitalisation to adapt them to the challenges of the future
Donostia-San Sebastián, 13 May 2026. The applied research and technological development centre TECNALIA has increased its activity by 3.1% in 2025 with respect to 2024, with the development of 4,759 technological solutions for 1,962 companies. TECNALIA is aware that this commitment by companies is taking place in a period of geopolitical uncertainty and volatility that affects their daily activity and, therefore, makes it more difficult to invest in R&D&I in an extremely complicated period.
These figures form part of the balance of the technology centre's activity in 2025, which was announced this morning by the Chairman of TECNALIA, Alex Belaustegui, and its Managing Director, Jesús Valero. As Valero explained, "2025 was a year that unfolded in a complex context marked by an unstable international geopolitical situation that has affected companies; even so, we have achieved record results that help us to reindustrialise, promote talent, anticipate challenges and maximise the impact of Basque industry".
Thanks to this vision based on R&D&I transfer to companies in order to have an impact on both economic and social aspects, TECNALIA closed the 2025 financial year with turnover of €156 million, which is up 5.4% with respect to the previous year. As for its impact on the environment, its activity generated €914 million of GDP in the Basque Country in 2025. For every Euro invested in TECNALIA by Basque institutions, a GDP of €34.10 is generated.
TECNALIA currently has a team of 1,512 experts, 43% of whom are women. Furthermore, 45% of the positions of responsibility are occupied by women, which contributes to the creation of quality employment and equality in the Basque Country. Indeed, TECNALIA has been recognised as one of the 100 best companies to work for in Spain, (ranking compiled by Actualidad Económica). It should also be noted that, for every job in the centre, another 9.16 jobs are maintained in the Basque Country, which represents a total average of 13,258 jobs in 2025.
Intellectual property and patents
- In the Intellectual Property Sales section, TECNALIA has consolidated its position in two organisations in Europe in return for intellectual property sales. As a result, it has earned revenue of more than €6 million in this section. It has created three deeptech start-ups (new technology-based companies) and participated in 21, which have achieved turnover of €8.75 million.
- Moreover, TECNALIA has 645 patents and 388 software registrations in its portfolio, with a total of 24 European patents in 2025, and a success rate of 91% in European patent applications granted since 2012.
- In Europe, TECNALIA has consolidated its leadership as Spain’s top private organisation in contracting, participation and project leadership within the European Commission’s Horizon Europe programme and it is ranked 21st out of 3,179 European research organisations participating in the Horizon Europe programme. On the other hand, the TECNALIA brand continues to be consolidated.
- In the latest brand awareness and positioning study carried out by the European Research Survey (ERS) in 2025, TECNALIA continues to top the list in terms of R&D&I brand awareness.
2025 Milestones
TECNALIA maintains a strategic alignment with the Basque Government through numerous initiatives that promote plans for industry, food and gastronomy, energy transition, digitalisation, health, etc. and has a high level of participation in the executive's key projects, reinforcing the role of the centre as a driving force for innovation and impact for the country.
As Jesús Valero explained, "in 2025, our focus was on addressing the major industrial challenges, with an emphasis on all the areas in which we work, from mobility, health, advanced manufacturing, energy transition, digital transformation, which are key areas for the coming years. All of this has been integrated into the 2025-2027 Strategic Plan, in which our greatest challenge is to continue anticipating changes and promoting technological projects and challenges in order to act as an actor of transformation".
Therefore, the technology centre focuses its commitment on 14 strategic areas that revolve around the major challenges faced by the Basque Government for industry: energy transition and digital transformation, achieving more sustainable mobility, achieving a friendlier urban ecosystem and a population with better ageing, among others.
TECNALIA's main milestones in 2025 include:
- In the field of sustainable and smart mobility, work has begun on a building located on the Mubil Park in Donostia-San Sebastian, which will have three laboratories devoted to air mobility and clean propulsion technologies, such as renewable hydrogen. At the same time, a pioneering laboratory has been set up, devoted solely to the development of technology for hydrogen generation, transport, storage, distribution, use and safety.
- It has also expanded its large-scale fire testing capacity for international markets by achieving accreditation for the standards of countries such as Canada, making it the only European laboratory with this capability.
- After the summer, the Quantum Lab, the first laboratory to design and manufacture quantum sensors from a technology based on synthetic diamonds, was launched.
- Another milestone was the opening of the 'Proactive Factory Lab', an advanced manufacturing laboratory designed to anticipate problems by integrating new production models to improve productivity, flexibility and energy efficiency. This year will see the consolidation of 'The Proactive Factory', the new smart factory of the future, a new factory model that represents a production ecosystem capable of learning to anticipate and act, combining awareness, flexibility and collaboration to maximise business productivity by 18-25% on a sustainable basis and generate operational savings of around 15%.
Strategic Plan and challenges for 2026
For the 2026 financial year, TECNALIA foresees an investment plan of €24 million, up 20% on the previous financial year, devoted to new strategic equipment and infrastructures, updating existing infrastructures to adapt them to the challenges that the new strategic centres of excellence require and to the expansion of facilities devoted to smart manufacturing, mobility and their digitalisation.
The Strategic Plan 2025-2027, which aims to promote TECNALIA's role as an actor of transformation for companies and to help them adapt to the challenges of the future through the following axes: boosting reindustrialisation, promoting excellent talent, anticipating the problems of the industrial sector and maximising economic and social impact, transforming technological research into prosperity, shall continue to be developed.
As the Chairman summarised, "our objective this year is clear: anticipate and accelerate technology transfer to companies, attract and develop excellent talent and reinforce our ability to anticipate in cutting-edge areas, such as energy, mobility, circularity, digitalisation, health or advanced manufacturing".
To do so, its strategy is built on two pillars: the promotion of strategic focuses of excellence, such as flexible automation, cybersecurity, digitalisation of electricity grids, generation and distribution of hydrogen, smartisation of construction or technologies for the manufacture of medicines, among others; and the development of critical technologies, such as artificial intelligence, quantum, intelligent robotics and advanced materials.
As the Chairman of TECNALIA, Alex Belaustegui, explained, "our priority is to increase our impact on the GDP, on the industrial sector and its turnover and on jobs created. At the same time, we are looking to grow in our activity with companies, because we are a tool at the service of organisations and society, and we must enhance the economic and social impact through technological research and innovation, as actors of transformation for companies and society to adapt to the challenges of the future".
About TECNALIA
TECNALIA is the largest applied research and technological development centre in Spain, a European benchmark and member of the Basque Research and Technology Alliance. It works with companies and institutions to improve their competitiveness, people's quality of life and achieve sustainable growth, thanks to a team of more than 1,500 people committed to building a better world through technological research and innovation. Its main areas of action are: smart manufacturing, digital transformation, energy transition, sustainable mobility, health and food, urban ecosystem and circular economy.
TECNALIA’s mission is to transform technological research into prosperity while its vision is to anticipate the future as the leading actors of transformation in companies and society, adapting them to the challenges of an ever-faster evolving world. This is why TECNALIA's research has a real impact on society and generates benefits in the form of quality of life and progress.
In the latest brand awareness and positioning study carried out by the European Research Survey (ERS) in 2025, TECNALIA tops the list regarding R&D and Innovation brand awareness.