| Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades | |
 | |
_01.jpg) Headquarters of the Ministry of Science | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | April 5, 1979; 46 years ago (1979-04-05) (as Ministry of Universities and Research) |
| Preceding agencies |
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| Type | Ministry |
| Jurisdiction | Government of Spain |
| Headquarters | Paseo de la Castellana, 162 Madrid,Spain |
| Employees | 23,475 (2023)[note 1][1] |
| Annual budget | € 7.7 billion, 2023[2] |
| Minister responsible |
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| Agency executives |
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| Website | Ministry of Science (in spanish) |
TheMinistry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU) is thedepartment of theGovernment of Spain responsible for developing and implementing the government policy onscientific research,technological development andinnovation in all sectors. In particular, MICIU is responsible for research, technological development and innovation competencies inspace matters, including representation and participation inEuropean Union and International organizations. It is also responsible for the university policy.[3]
Unlike other government areas such aseducation orhealth, in Spain theGeneral State Administration and theregions share the responsibilities in the promotion of scientific and technical research, with the State being responsible for general coordination in this area. In this regard, theConstitutional Court has reiterated its doctrine in relation to State coordination, denying that it can reach such a degree of specificity and development that it leaves the powers of the Spanish regions empty of content, and a balance of powers must be guaranteed.[4] This coordination is carried out through the Scientific, Technological and Innovation Policy Council (CPCTI).[5]
MICIU is headed by the Minister of Science, who is appointed by theMonarch on the advice of thePrime Minister. The Minister is assisted by five main officials, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Universities, the Secretary-General for Research, the Secretary-General for Universities, the Secretary-General for Innovation and the Ministry's Under-Secretary. The current Minister isDiana Morant since 2021.[6][7]
At the very beginning, like many of the current ministries, the Ministry of Science responsibilities were integrated in theMinistry of Development when it was created in 1832.
The first attempt of separating the responsibilities on education and science from the Development Ministry happened in 1886. This year, in order to give more autonomy to the education matters it was passed the Royal Decree of May 7, 1886,[8] which divided the mentioned ministry into two ministries: Ministry of Public Instruction and Sciences, Letters and Fine Arts —with competencies on public and private education, education staff, inspection and promotion of knowledge, promotion of sciences, promotion of writing andfine arts,archives,libraries andmuseums, the economic and infrastructure issues on these matters,astronomy,statistics,meteorology andmetrology,astronomical observatories, population movements andcensuses— and the Ministry of Public Works, Agriculture, Industry and Trade —with competences over public investments ininfrastructure andtransport,agriculture,fishing,food,industry andcommerce—. However, this royal decree that divided the Development Ministry into two ministries did not come to pass, as the necessary credits were not approved by theCortes.
Fourteen years later and inspired by the decree of 1886, the Budget Act of 1900 approved the necessary credit to split theMinistry of Development into two new ministries, and the science responsibilities were transferred to the newMinistry of Public Instruction and Fine Arts which assumed the competencies provided for in the decree of 1886.[9]
In 1907, theCount of Gimeno, Minister of Education, created the Board for the Extension of Studies and Scientific Research (JAE). This new institution was heir to the principles of theInstitución Libre de Enseñanza, and with it was intended to end Spanish isolation and link with European science and culture, as well as prepare the personnel in charge of carrying out the necessary reforms in the areas of science, culture and education. In this way, the effort to reform, to regenerate the country, became a national enterprise, independent of the political swings, in which intellectuals of different ideology were involved.
The JAE created dozens of laboratories, research centers and gave hundreds of scholarships for research abroad as well as connecting intellectuals fromSpain and the rest ofEurope. Since its inception was chaired by the Medicine Nobel Prize winnerSantiago Ramón y Cajal.[10]
During theCivil War, Franco created the Technical Board of the State (1936–38) to rule the country and the science responsibilities were assumed by the Commission of Culture and Education. With the Civil War over and the Ministry of Education restored, the science responsibilities were maintained in the Education Ministry. In 1939 it was created theSpanish National Research Council (CSIC) which assumed the research centers and laboratories from the Board for the Extension of Studies and Scientific Research, from the Foundation for Scientific Research and Reform Studies and from theInstitute of Spain. MinisterJosé Ibáñez Martín was its first President.
Without permanent staff, the first years of the CSIC was limited to consultative responsibilities to the Government, but in 1945 it was approved the first permanent scientific positions, limited to technical research and agriculture.[11]
The last years of the dictatorship were the most relevant to science. In 1966,[12] the Ministry of National Education was renamed Ministry of Education and Science being this one the first time that the word "science" appeared in a Ministry and remained like that until 1979 when for the first time the responsibilities on universities and research got their own ministry named Ministry of Universities and Research.
This new ministry assumed the functions of theSecretary of State for Universities and Research that had been created in 1977[13] within the Ministry of Education and Science, and other administrative bodies of scientific competence, as well as some bodies dependent on theOffice of the Prime Minister.[14] In 1980 theNational Museum of Science and Technology was created and in 1986 theCarlos III Health Institute and the Center for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research.
Without reaching two years of life, the Ministry was merged again with the Education Ministry and, with different denominations, remained so until in 2000, when the PremierJosé María Aznar, created the Ministry of Science and Technology that grouped the competences on scientific research of the Ministry of Education, and the competences on technological development of the Ministry of Industry and Energy, including telecommunications; retaining the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport the universities responsibilities.[15]
After four years without much success, the ministry was reinstated in the Education Ministry by Prime MinisterJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero who recovered the old name of Ministry of Education and Science. However, in his second term Zapatero again granted ministerial rank to scientific competencies with the Ministry of Science and Innovation in order to depend less "on the construction and more outstanding services of knowledge, invest more in science and technology, help to companies to innovate and coordinate universities and research centers». However, the dependence on construction did not stop and with the outbreak of theproperty bubble and the2008 financial crisis made the following government, led byMariano Rajoy, in an effort to reduce public spending, reduced the size of theAdministration merging the Ministry of Science and Innovation with theMinistry of Economy.[16] During the premiership of Rajoy, theState Research Agency was created.
Already with a better economic situation, the new government ofPedro Sánchez recovered the Department of Science including not only the scientific and innovation competencies, but also recovering for this Ministry the responsibilities on universities that the Ministry already had under the premiership ofAdolfo Suarez, naming as Science Minister astronautPedro Duque.[17]
In 2020, the department lost its power over universities due to the creation of theDepartment of Universities. In November 2023, and after years of insistence by the scientific and university community, the University Ministry was abolished and its functions returned to this department.[18]
The Department of Science and Innovation is structured in the following bodies:[3]
Office name:
| Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Party | Government | Prime Minister (Tenure) | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | Duration | ||||||||
.jpg) | Luis González Seara (1936–2016) | 6 April 1979 | 27 February 1981 | 1 year and 327 days | UCD | Suárez III | Adolfo Suárez.jpg) (1976–1981) | [19] [20] | ||
.jpg) | Juan Antonio Ortega y Díaz-Ambrona (born 1939) | 27 February 1981 | 7 March 1981 | 8 days | UCD | Calvo-Sotelo | Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo.jpg) (1981–1982) | [21] [22] | ||
| Office disestablished during this interval.[a] | ||||||||||
.jpg) | Anna Birulés (born 1954) | 28 April 2000 | 10 July 2002 | 2 years and 73 days | Independent | Aznar II | José María Aznar.jpg) (1996–2004) | [23] [24] | ||
.jpg) | Josep Piqué (1955–2023) | 10 July 2002 | 4 September 2003 | 1 year and 56 days | PP | [25] [26] | ||||
.jpg) | Juan Costa (born 1965) | 4 September 2003 | 18 April 2004 | 227 days | PP | [27] [28] | ||||
| Office disestablished during this interval.[b] | ||||||||||
.jpg) | Cristina Garmendia (born 1962) | 14 April 2008 | 22 December 2011 | 3 years and 252 days | Independent | Zapatero II | José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero .jpg) (2004–2011) | [29] [30] | ||
| Office disestablished during this interval.[c] | ||||||||||
.jpg) | Pedro Duque (born 1963) | 7 June 2018 | 13 January 2020 | 3 years and 35 days | Independent | Sánchez I | Pedro Sánchez.jpg) (2018–present) | [31] [32] [33] | ||
| 13 January 2020 | 12 July 2021 | Sánchez II | ||||||||
.jpg) | Diana Morant (born 1980) | 12 July 2021 | 21 November 2023 | 4 years and 137 days | PSOE | [34] [35] | ||||
| 21 November 2023 | Incumbent | Sánchez III | ||||||||