The Spanish deep science ecosystem: a driver of industrial innovation

The disconnect, which we have just pointed out in the introduction, between installed technical capacity and market price, constitutes the fundamental arbitrage. 

Barcelona leads European funding in deep tech, including deep science, between 2019 and 2024 with €544 million raised. These data demonstrate a window of opportunity for those who act in the coming years.

The Spanish deep tech spin-off ecosystem continues to demonstrate steady, if moderate, growth.

According to data. from the report "The ecosystem of deep tech spin-offs in Spain 2025", by Mobile World Capital Barcelona, Spain registers 1,007 active spin-offs in 2025, which reflects a growth of 3.6% year-on-year. 

The leading institutions in creation include the Polytechnic University of Madrid (8.7%), the CSIC (8.5%), the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (5.3%), the University of Alicante (4.8%) and Santiago de Compostela (3.2%). 

In the last decade, the European deep tech ecosystem has grown by 504%, from an investment of 2.5 billion in 2015 to 15.1 billion in 2024. 

As for the sectoral distribution, it focuses on: 

• Biotechnology (19.8%). 
• Information and Communication Technologies (17.4%). 
• Health (16.7%). 
• Energía e industria (14,9%)

These companies have transitioned from academic output to investable asset class, with an average turnover in 2024  of 1.67 million and an average employment of 10 highly qualified professionals, above the European average for SMEs.

This means that these companies already have a structure that an investment fund can understand and buy. 

The most relevant structural arbitrage lies in the pre-money valuation differential between Spanish and European scientific spin-offs.

Spanish deep science companies continue to attract smaller investment volumes than ventures in countries such as: United Kingdom (€4.2 billion) France (€3 billion) Germany (€2.7 billion) 

And yet, they have comparable technical capabilities in biotechnology, advanced materials or quantum computing. 

One of Spain's most important competitive advantages remains talent costs. PhD and postdoctoral salaries typically range between €30,000 and €45,000 annually, compared with €50,000 to €70,000 in ecosystems such as Munich, Cambridge, and Paris-Saclay. 

This differential of up to 40% also occurs in total operating costs, and can generate higher margins in research-intensive technological development phases.

Current entry valuations remain attractive, and the first signs of international interest are already visible through increased deal flow  from European growth-stage funds targeting Spanish scientific spin-offs.

An European Deep Tech Report 2025 positions Spain as one of Europe's most promising emerging ecosystems. 

While it is true that London, Paris, Munich, Cambridge and Stockholm dominate in terms of total investment volume and number of unicorns, the Spanish ecosystem, as we are seeing, has a specific momentum. Barcelona emerged as Europe's leading deep tech funding hub between 2019 and 2024. 

The ecosystem still presents several identifiable gaps A limited: 

• Limited number of deep tech unicorns. 
• Total funding levels below those of European leaders. 
• A relatively young exit market. 

Nevertheless, Spain's scientific spin-off ecosystem has generated €1.4 billion in annual revenue and more than 10,000 highly skilled jobs, demonstrating meaningful commercial traction..

Spain's combination of scientific density and installed research capacity represents another major competitive advantage. 

It is not a question of producing more science from scratch; the opportunity lies in better monetizing existing research excellence..

Spain possesses scientific infrastructure and research output comparable to those found in established global innovation hubs. However, according to studies from the Elcano Royal Institute, the country still operates within a measurable technology transfer gap.

Scientific output—including publications, Q1 research, and fundamental discoveries—remains strong, but commercialization through startups, products, and patents has not progressed at the same pace seen in other leading ecosystems.  

Specifically, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) ranks among the world's leading public research institutions, producing approximately 15,000 publications annually. It holds particular strengths in advanced materials, photonics, biotechnology, and quantum computing. 

For their part, the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) and the Autonomous University of Madrid  (UAM) contribute substantial scientific capacity across life sciences, physics, and engineering. 

The objective is therefore not more research production, but more effective conversion of existing knowledge into scalable intellectual property

Spain's technological leadership is supported by a world-class research infrastructure that offer superior execution capacity at radically more competitive costs. 

Some of the most relevant examples are listed below:lgunos de los ejemplos más relevantes: 

• • ALBA synchrotron: Advanced materials characterization infrastructure with strong accessibility and lower saturation compared to other European facilities 
  • Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BCN-CNS): One of Europe's leading high-performance computing environments supporting AI, simulation, and industrial deep tech projects. 
  • Quantum Spain: A national initiative coordinating quantum computing capabilities and infrastructure across a unified ecosystem. 

These assets demonstrate that Spain is not only generating frontier science but also building the infrastructure required to translate scientific discovery into industrial competitiveness. 

One of the most important factors in transforming science into scalable businesses is the design of effective transfer mechanisms.

Several examples illustrate this process: 

• • Multiverse Computing: A Spanish quantum computing success story that evolved from academic research into a  Series A funding -backed company with industrial applications.
  • Science for Industry (S4I): A structured approach to the creation of spin-offs that professionalizes the science-business connection, with conversion metrics, more efficient incorporation times than traditional technology transfer office (TTO) models.
  • Specialized event ecosystems: Platforms such as Transfiere, Barcelona Deep Tech Summit, LifeTech Summit, Horizon Deep Tech, and MeetECHSpain create valuable connections among researchers, investors, and corporations. 

Spain's spin-off creation timelines are increasingly competitive compared with countries such as Germany and the Netherlands, reflecting the steady maturation of the scientific entrepreneurship pipeline..

Spain has built a hybrid financing ecosystem combining public instruments with specialized private capital. 

While particularly effective at early stages, scaling remains one of the ecosystem's biggest challenges.

Spain offers a range of funding programs designed specifically for innovation. 

For example, NEOTEC sets aside up to €250,000 in seed phases, the CDTI offers specific lines for deep science, and INNVIERTE facilitates public-private co-investment.

At the European level, there are other ways to obtain financing such as EIC Accelerator, Horizon Europe, EIT, InvestEU and the European Investment Bank (EIB). These solutions complement the funding stack available for scientific spin-offs. 

Specialized seed capital helps validate technology, gain early commercial traction and access infrastructures such as ALBA or BSC that we have addressed before. 

In addition, one of its great contributions is mentoring, support in technology transfer and IP management, complementing public capital and taking advantage of the operating costs of the Spanish market.

Capital is mainly concentrated in Madrid, Barcelona and the Basque Country, which, added to the lack of specialized Series B+ funds, forces many startups to seek international investment in order to grow. 

As a solution, early syndication (participation of several investors in an initial round of financing), corporate venture and the support of actors such as Bolboreta Innova Group, which combine seed capital, mentoring and access to scientific infrastructures, are used. 

These transformative agents facilitate scale-up without projects having to rely exclusively on foreign funds.

Spain deploys a complementary regional talent map, although mainly concentrated in 4 regions. 

Madrid concentrates biomedicine and health tech , supported by hospital infrastructure and centres such as CINIO that facilitate clinical integration and early validation.

Catalonia leads the way in advanced materials, photonics and ICT, with the driving effect of Mobile World Capital and assets such as ALBA, BSC and Barcelona Tech City that favour corporate acceleration and connection.

An asque Country stands out in clean energy, advanced IoT manufacturing, with a strong industrial link and orientation to productive application. 

The Valencian Community combines photonics, energy and technified agribusiness. Its field of development positions it as an emerging node in technologies applied to the primary and industrial sector.

The Spanish deep science ecosystem faces a unique window of opportunity during 2025-2027. 

Several factors converge simultaneously: 

1. European funds are looking for alternatives to saturated hubs. In this sense, the European Deep Tech Initiative positions Spain as a net recipient of H2020/Horizon Europe. 
2. Post-2022 industrial reshoring is looking for local, close and reliable solutions.
3. Technological and regulatory maturity in areas such as quantum computing, advanced materials or synthetic biology, reach a level where their industrial application is viable. 
4. European technological sovereignty. According to Draghi Report 2024Europe needs to gain autonomy in semiconductors, batteries, biotechs and AI. 

Spain combines capital, talent, infrastructure and a favourable regulatory context at a crucial time when Europe is looking for  alternatives to competitive nodes with excess demand.. 

This is where the critical window of investment and technology transfer is created. 

Spain combines cheaper PhD talent than Switzerland, the United Kingdom or Germany, access to scientific infrastructure without saturation and favorable regulatory frameworks in biotechnology and energy. 

In addition, more and more international corporations are investing in Spanish startups, and the first founders to sell their companies are reinvesting the capital in new companies, creating a cycle that reinforces the experience and the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

To capitalize on Spain's deep science ecosystem, investors and founders should evaluate opportunities through three simple filters: 

• Thesis matching: is the focus of the project aligned with the scientific capacity installed in Spain?

• Access to infrastructure: is supercomputing, specialized laboratories or infrastructures such as ALBA, BSC or partner clinics required?
• Financial alignment: does the investment cycle coincide with the available hybrid instruments, public and private?

The key question is whether Spain will consolidate its position or lose momentum. 

Two opposing forces are shaping the future: 

1. Consolidation through new specialized funds and exits that recycle capital.
2. Erosion due to saturation of senior talent and convergence in European valuations. 

Success will depend on the ability of the ecosystem to evolve from a provider of scientific talent into a global intellectual property hubfor intellectual property creation and commercialization. 

The opportunity lies in entering before the market fully prices the value of Spanish science. 

With the right support—including technology transfer programs, seed capital, and strategic accompaniment from organizations such as Bolboreta Innova Group—investors and entrepreneurs can position themselves at the forefront of European deep science.

In this way, they will be able to position themselves as European leaders in deep science and accelerate the transformation of scientific knowledge into real industrial impact.