The Basque Country, among the five leading regions in deep-tech spin-outs incubation 

• The Mobile World Capital report “The Deep-Tech Spin-Out Ecosystem in Spain 2025” places the Basque Country in fifth position for the incubation of companies coming from universities and research centres, accounting for 7.4% of the national total. 

• In the region, the spin-out ecosystem records an annual turnover of more than 119 million euros and generates 1,566 high-value jobs 

• Spin-offs originating from universities and research centres in the Basque Country specialise in fields such as Biotechnology (20%), ICT (18.7%), Energy and Resources (17.3%), and Industry 4.0 (17.3%)  

20/November/2025

The Basque Country ranks fifth in the generation of deep-tech spin-outs, according to the report “The Deep-Tech Spin-OutEcosystem in Spain 2025” produced by Mobile World Capital Barcelona. The study highlights the region’s role as one of the driving forces behind the incubation of companies emerging from universities and research centres, with a total of 75 active spin-offs. 

The Basque spin-off ecosystem generates 1,566 high-value jobs and an annual turnover exceeding 119 million euros. These companies specialise in strategic sectors such as Biotechnology, Information and Communication Technologies, Energy and Resources, and Industry 4.0, areas that reflect the region’s scientific and industrial strengths 

At national level, the report reveals that the number of deep-tech spin-outs has grown by 3.6% over the past year, reaching 1,007 active companies, with a combined turnover of 1.4 billion euros and 13,456 high-value jobs. 

These findings were presented at an event organised by the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), BIC Gipuzkoa and Mobile World Capital Barcelona, through its programme The Collider, held in the Ada Lovelace Auditorium of the Faculty of Computer Science (Donostia). The event featured contributions from Ane Miren de Ariño Ochoa, Director of Entrepreneurship and Internationalisation of the Basque Government; Aitzol Ezeiza, Director of Entrepreneurship, Employability and Knowledge Transfer at the Gipuzkoa Campus (UPV/EHU); and Albert Mascarell, Director of the Technology Transfer Area at Mobile World Capital Barcelona. 

During the event, Albert Mascarell underlined the significance of the Basque Country on the national innovation map: “Research centres and universities are increasingly the birthplace of companies that generate innovative, science-based solutions for such strategic sectors as health, energy and biotechnology, among others. The Basque Country is one of the main driving forces behind this new model of entrepreneurship, which enriches its innovation ecosystem”. 

For her part, Ane Miren de Ariño Ochoa stressed “the institutional commitment to technology transfer as a catalyst for transforming our industry towards a technologically cutting-edge, more dynamic and competitive model, capable of creating quality employment for future generations. All of this is aligned with the Industry Plan – Euskadi 2030 that we launched this year.” 

Aitzol Ezeiza, Director of Entrepreneurship, Employability and Transfer at the Gipuzkoa Campus of the EHU, also highlighted the importance of universities within the ecosystem. The University of the Basque Country is the leading institution in the region in terms of spin-out creation: “The EHU stands out for its production of technological research and its close collaboration with local stakeholders, and one of the manifestations of this activity is the creation of technology-based spin-outs. An example of these synergies is Multiverse Computing, which began its journey within the Entreprenari Programme, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Entreprenari is the joint programme between BIC Gipuzkoa and EHU that supports research groups in identifying transferable results and in the valorisation and validation of technologies with the potential to become spin-outs, thus strengthening the link between technological activity and the creation of new companies”. 

The event also included a roundtable featuring several spin-outs that illustrate the Basque Country’s capacity to generate innovative solutions: SURPHASE, HEVEA3D, SORBMETRICS and NEMAHEALTH (Catalonia). The latter two have taken part in Mobile World Capital Barcelona’s The Collider programme, which promotes technology transfer by supporting scientific projects in their transition to the market.