The Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) is the leading public agency dedicated to scientific research in the country. It ranked as the 5th top governmental scientific institution worldwide (and 32nd overall) in the 2018 SCImago Institutions Rankings. Spain was ranked 30th in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, down from 29th in 2019.

Higher education institutions (administered at the regional, NUTS2 level) perform about a 60% of the basic research in the country. Likewise, the contribution of the private sector to R&D expenditures is much lower than in other EU and OECD countries.

Since 2006, the Mobile World Congress has taken place in Barcelona.