Laura Cruz Castro e Luis Sanz Menéndez, CSIC Institute of Public Goods and Policies, Madrid, Spain; Tiago Santos Pereira, Centre for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra, Portugal; Cláudia Sarrico, School of Economics and Management, University of Minho and Centre for Research in Higher Education Policies, Portugal;
People who work in research are a pillar of the system. Are the working conditions of this sector favourable in Portugal and Spain or are they forcing a brain drain?
Portugal, together with Denmark, is an exception within the framework of the EU-27 and has percentages of women scientists and engineers that slightly exceed the European average.
While the participation of female PhD holders in Portugal is situated above the EU‑27 average in all fields of knowledge considered, in Spain the participation of female PhD holders is situated below the European average in the fields of art, humanities and social sciences.
In Portugal and Spain, the proportion of innovative companies, and the degree to which these collaborate with other companies and organisations, is below the EU-27 average
Despite growth in the last 10 years, the relative position of Portugal and Spain, with regard to patent applications, is a long way behind that of countries that are leaders in innovation.
Does Portugal attract more talent than Spain? In 2020, the attraction of international talent was situated above the European average (18.7%) in the case of Portugal (29.1%) and below the average (17.2%) in the case of Spain
Portugal and Spain are situated above the European average in percentage of women researchers in all sectors considered, although the lowest participation corresponds to the business sector and the highest, to the governmental sector.
Spain stands at the head of the countries of the EU-27 in the global computation of digital society indicators (connectivity, Internet use, etc). Portugal, however, is situated at the tail end.
Who publishes most: men or women? The percentage of women who publish in the STEM areas in Portugal and Spain is higher than the European average, which reflects how the proportion of women researchers in the academic sector exceeds, in turn, the European average.