Catalan companies are innovative. They account for one fourth of the Spanish business expenditure in innovative activities. In particular Catalonia plays an important role in innovation done by SME's. Design and creativity have always been important issues in fields such as industry, art or fashion. Foreign multinationals have taken advantage of this trait and have established in Catalonia their design centers. The automotive industry is a clear example: Catalonia is increasingly becoming one of Europe's major design centres in the sector.

As for research and development, Catalonia stands out in pharma, health and ICT's. The four largest Spanish pharmaceutical companies were founded and have their head offices in Catalonia and seven of the world's ten main pharmaceutical companies are established in the area. 30% of total Spanish biomedical research is done in Catalonia, where a large net of hospitals and Universities have leading clinical research groups at an international level. ICT companies in Catalonia (EDS, Hewlet Packard, IBM, Indra, Microsoft, Sony, Telefonica, T-Systems, Yahoo! Research) are considered the most innovative in Spain.

In order to foster business innovation and research, Catalonia boasts a network of Science and Technology Parks, mainly concentrated in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area: Barcelona Science Park (PCB), Barcelona Biomedical Research Park  (PRBB), UAB Science and Technology Park (BIOCAMPUS), Institute of Biomedical Research August Pi i Sunyer  (IDIBAPS), etc. Moreover, Catalonia has more than 80 technology centres providing R&D services for businesses, as well as support in defining their innovation strategies or identifying specific improvements in their business methods. Main Research Centres are: Catalan Telecommunications Technology Centre (CTTC), Institute of Photonic Sciences  (ICFO), Catalan Institute of Chemical Research (ICIQ), Nanotechnology Catalan Institute (ICN) , International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE). Catalan Supercomputing Centre (CESCA) and the Synchrotron Light Facility (ALBA) currently under construction are other large infrastructures.

Catalan System of Technology transfer includes Technology Springboard Network, Technological Innovation Network, Technology Centres Network and Technology Dissemination Centres Network. 

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