R&D&I, Technology and Entrepreneurship Observatory in the Valencian Community 2025

In 2024, Fundación LAB Mediterráneo, in collaboration with the Ivie, launched the LAB Observatory for R&D&I, Technology and Entrepreneurship in the Valencian Community. The observatory was created to monitor over time the position of the Valencian economy in the national and international context across the areas that guide Fundación LAB’s activities. In 2025, this initiative continues with the aim of updating the Observatory and tracking developments in innovation, research, entrepreneurship and technology in the Valencian Community. The Observatory is intended to serve as a tool for designing public and private initiatives that support the transition towards a knowledge- and technology-based productive model.

At the core of the Observatory is an updated system of indicators organized around five areas. The first provides an overview of the Valencian economy through ten key indicators. The remaining four focus on the main pillars of Fundación LAB’s activities: Research and Development; Intangibles and Business Innovation; Technology and Digitalization; and Entrepreneurship and Human Capital.

The Observatory monitors a total of 50 indicators—ten in each area—with data for the Valencian Community benchmarked against Spain and selected Spanish regions, including Andalusia, Catalonia, the Community of Madrid and the Basque Country. For some indicators, comparisons are also made with the European Union average and countries such as Germany, France, Italy and Portugal.

As part of this initiative, the project includes the first phase of the report Digital Economy in the Valencian Community, which aims to provide a deeper analysis of the different dimensions of business digitalization in the region. The study applies a methodology based on web scraping and artificial intelligence techniques to assess firms’ digital presence and capabilities. It also identifies the main digital gaps, analyses the patterns that help explain the state of the digital economy, and compares the economic and financial characteristics of digitally active firms with those of companies that lack a digital presence.