Economic contribution of the Valencian Community’s design-intensive sectors

Design, in all its forms, is a strategic factor for companies, as it facilitates the assimilation of new technologies and so has a positive impact on various economic variables, including sales, profitability, exports and productivity. The purpose of this report is to quantify the economic contribution of design-intensive sectors in the Valencian Community and compare it with the equivalent figure for Spain as a whole. This is the first ever attempt to measure the relative importance of design-intensive sectors in the Valencian economy, both in terms of value added and in terms of employment. Additionally, the report uses enterprise-level data to analyze the characteristics of design-intensive Valencian firms, comparing them both with non-design-intensive Valencian firms and with design-intensive firms in Spain as a whole. The analysis centres on variables of interest such as average company size, profitability, productivity and export orientation.