Intangible assets and competitiveness of Spain’s manufacturing industry: An international comparison
Fecha: enero 2024
Joaquín Maudos
Intangibles investment
SEFO, Spanish and International Economic & Financial Outlook, V. 13 N.º 1 (January 2024)
The EU and Spanish governments’ strategic commitment to reindustrialisation, setting the target of having 20% of GDP come from manufacturing, requires increased competitiveness and, by extension, further progress on digital transformation. Digitalisation is underpinned by investment in intangible assets such as R&D, software, branding, design, employee training and organisational capital. In Spain, the intensity of the manufacturing sector’s investment in intangible assets is practically half of the European average (10.7% vs. 20% of GVA), a worrying trait that is repeated all across the various areas of manufacturing activity. In addition, at least since the financial crisis of 2008, the gap in investment intensity separating Spain from the EU has widened. As a result, if the Spanish manufacturing industry is to gain competitiveness at the international level, it must commit strongly to digitalisation, which requires closing the gap in investment intensity in intangibles relative to its competitors. In that context, the NGEU funds, whose aims include digitalisation, with specific financing for several strategic investment plans within the industrial sector, are a major opportunity.