ERIK Network Members
Membership Application Form
MURCIA
GEOGRAPHY AND DEMOGRAPHY
The Region of Murcia is located on the Mediterranean arc with over 250 km. of Mediterranean coast. Murcia covers an area of 11,317 sq. km. on the south-east of Spain.The Region of Murcia has a population of 1,226,993 inhabitants (2.93% of Spain and 0.3% of the European Union. The density is 108.4 inhabitants per sq.km.(Spain 82).
INFRASTRUCTURES
The Region of Murcia is directly communicated with all of Spain and Europe by motorway. The Mediterranean Motorway connects with France. Going inland from Murcia, the motorway connects with Madrid, Portugal and the north of Spain.
ECONOMY
The Gross Domestic Product of the Region in 2001 was estimated at 15,427 million euros. This means a 53,8% of acumulated increase with respect to 1995 (10,030) . Per capita GDP is around 12.000 euros. In industry, businesses are generally small or medium-sized and family-owned (only in the industrial area of Cartagena there are large companies in the metalworking, shipbuilding, oil-refining and chemicals sectors).

In agriculture, the family farm is the norm, with smallholdings being most common. Peaches, apricots, peppers and tomatoes are the mainstay of the vegetable-canning industry. The services sector stands out as the most important in the regional economy (more than 65% of value-added in 2000). The economy of the Region of Murcia is clearly export oriented. Murcia exported to the UE goods for 2,593 million euros in 2002.

LABOUR MARKET
 The sectorial employment distribution rate is agriculture (11.3%), manufacturing (17.7%), construction (11.6%) and service (59.4%). The total number of employees is 458,100; the employment rate is 55,33% (the female employment rate is 43,57% and the male one is 69,52%). Unemployment rate is 11,85.
DATA RELATED TO REGIONAL STRUCTURAL FUNDS MECHANISMS
 Tre Region is ERDF objective 1 and the total amount of ERDF funding for the current programme period (2000- 2006) is 68.7 mill EUR.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
The total R&D spending in the region (in % of GDP) is 0,74 (0,96 in Spain), out of which 0,41 corresponds to Public Sector (0,12 Government and 0,29 University) and 0,32 corresponds to Private Sector. A network of 7 technological centres offer their services to the different industrial sectors for developing their projects in innovation, technical training and technical assistance.

The University of Murcia is 700 years old. There are two other Universities in the Region of Murcia, the Politecnical University of Cartagena and the Catholic University of Murcia. More than 40,.000 University students are enrolled in the Region of Murcia. Over 12% of the active population hold a university degree, and 70% of the active population have professional training.

DATA RELATED TO REGIONAL PROGRAMME OF INNOVATIVE ACTIONS
 The region RPIA was Consolidation of the Region of Murcia in a economy based on knowledge and technological innovation. The objectives of the RPIA were the development of: the foundations of innovation in SME’s; new tools that favour technology transfer; better coordination and integration within the system “science-technology-business.

To achieve these goals, several actions have been established: Characterisation of pre-innovative companies (total cost: 90,152 euros); Mobility of Technology Experts (901,518 euros); New Tools for Quality and Design (601,012 euros); Introduction of innovative culture in companies (150,253 euros); Proactive strategies for transfer of technology in less developed industrial fabrics (450,759 euros); Introduction of the Business Technology Plan in the Region of Murcia as a management tool (601,012 euros); Forums for defining the technology requirements of the regional indusrial sector (300,506 euros); System of technological indicators adapted to less industralised regions (180,304 euros); Knowledge Management Network of the Technology Centres of the Region of Murcia (751,265 euros); Technical Assistance (79,033 euros). The total cost of the programme was 4,10 million euro out of which, 2.72 million were public funding (2.11 by ERDF), and 1.38 correspond to private sector.
The regione activated (with a total cost of Euro 2,136,300) a second PRAI with new related actions:

  • Voucher scheme for R+D+I activities. Vouchers for corporate R+D+I have been created to educate firms about the need for innovation information and to develop and stimulate technology transfer processes.

  • Promotion of technology-based firms. In this action, the aim was to support and consolidate methodology for TBFs (technology-based innovative firms).

  • Valorization of technologies developed by regional universities. The action aimed at pro-actively transferring some fifty finished developments by research groups to the industrial world.

  • Information Platform of the Regional Innovation System. This cluster of several smaller actions concentrated on creating a dynamic tool allowing companies from the Region of Murcia to become familiar with their local technological environment

  • Innovation unit for water resources. it aimed to set up a technical hydraulic engineering department to develop water management and treatment technologies.