In an event that included speeches by José Luis Curbelo, general director of Orkestra-Basque Institute of Competitiveness, José María Muñoa, president of Eusko Ikaskuntza and Joseba Ruiz de Alegría, president of GAIA, who highlighted the contributions of the study and emphasized the commitment of their respective institutions to the promotion of the cluster.
This study is part of a research project promoted by Orkestra - Basque Institute of Competitiveness and Eusko Ikaskuntza with the aim of examining when and how companies, sectors and the Basque economy as a whole have created and developed their competitive advantage, in order to assess to what extent these advantages can be sustainable over time.
The publication, prepared by researchers from Orkestra, the University of the Basque Country and the University of Salamanca and supported by GAIA (Association of Electronic and Information Technology Industries of the Basque Country), focuses on the analysis of the Electronics, Computing and Telecommunications Cluster of the Basque Country, a cluster with special relevance in the recent evolution of the Basque economy.
In this respect, the Basque Country (CAPV) boasts one of the highest concentrations of electronics, IT, and telecommunications industries in all of Spain. The sector's revenue accounts for 15% of the Basque industrial GDP and 5% of the total GDP, and the Cluster Association's forecasts are optimistic, predicting it will represent 25% of industrial GDP in the coming years. Furthermore, the ICT Cluster in the Basque Country has the fundamental characteristic of providing the key technologies for the modernization of virtually all other sectors. Therefore, this study, with its detailed presentation of how the cluster has developed, also allows us to gain a comprehensive overview of the Basque Country's economic modernization.
Aitziber Elola, a researcher at Orkestra and co-author of the report, explained that the cluster owes its existence to very specific historical factors, especially the presence of industrial demand, a skilled workforce, and entrepreneurial initiative. Key to GAIA's growth has been, on the one hand, the significant influence of the government through specific initiatives in training a skilled workforce, promoting telecommunications infrastructure, and implementing economic policies that encourage the integration of ICTs into the business sector. On the other hand, the report highlights the existence of a culture of collaboration and collective learning, as well as a network of relationships that fosters creativity and innovation.
Thus, although the origins of the electronics industry in the Basque Country date back to the mid-twentieth century, the creation of this cluster was the result of a collective learning and cooperation strategy undertaken in the eighties by the Basque Government (SPRI), companies in the sector, universities and technology centers.
Elola has also highlighted aspects such as the presence of high-quality and specialized inputs (labor and R&D infrastructure), vigorous competition among local rivals, easy access to suppliers in related areas, demanding local customers, and unusual local demand in highly specialized segments (electricity sector, banking, etc.), an aspect that stands out on numerous occasions throughout the analysis and that has contributed to the cluster's remarkable adaptation and growth capacity.
