Public Finance of R&D and the Obstacles to Innovation: The Case of Spain

Abstract

This paper examines the importance of public financing in R&D for Spanish companies and the correlation that exists between this kind of finance and the obstacles they encounter when innovating. For this, we have used a series of data obtained from the Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC) database for the year 2014. The number of observations used in this study is 7.071 and the models that are being developed are the Logit and Tobit models. From the analysis of these models, we conclude that the main obstacles that are relevant for the firms are related to the cost and knowledge factors, such as the lack of funding from outside sources or the excessive cost of innovation. However, market factors are not considered important for the companies, which always find a reason to innovate. Last but not least, we suggest which firms have the best chance of receiving public finance and make some reflections about the Spanish economy.