Ministry of Science (Spain)

The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU) is the department of the Government of Spain responsible for developing and implementing the government policy on scientific research, technological development and innovation in all sectors. In particular, MICIU is responsible for the exercise of research, technological development and innovation competencies in space matters, including representation and participation in European Union and International organizations. It is also responsible for the university policy.

MICIU is headed by the Minister of Science, who is appointed by the Monarch at request of the Prime 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 is Diana Morant.

The first predecessor of this ministry was established during the regency of Maria Christina of Austria with the creation of the Ministry of Public Instruction and Fine Arts, formed by Royal Decree of the April 18, 1900. The first minister was Antonio García Alix. This ministry included an area for the "promotion of science".

Origins
At the very beginning, like many of the current ministries, the Ministry of Science responsibilities were integrated in the Ministry 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, 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 and fine arts, archives, libraries and museums, the economic and infrastructure issues on these matters, astronomy, statistics, meteorology and metrology, astronomical observatories, population movements and censuses— and the Ministry of Public Works, Agriculture, Industry and Trade —with competences over public investments in infrastructure and transport, agriculture, fishing, food, industry and commerce—. 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 the Cortes.

Ministry of Public Instruction
Fourteen years later and inspired by the decree of 1886, the Budget Act of 1900 approved the necessary credit to split the Ministry of Development into two new ministries, and the science responsibilities were transferred to the new Ministry of Public Instruction and Fine Arts which assumed the competencies provided for in the decree of 1886.

In 1907, the Count 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 the Institución 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 from Spain and the rest of Europe. Since its inception was chaired by the Medicine Nobel Prize winner Santiago Ramón y Cajal.

Dictatorship and CSIC
During the Civil 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 the Spanish 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 the Institute of Spain. Minister José 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.

The last years of the dictatorship were the most relevant to science. In 1966, 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.

Democracy
This new ministry assumed the functions of the Secretary of State for Universities and Research that had been created in 1977 within the Ministry of Education and Science, and other administrative bodies of scientific competence, as well as some bodies dependent on the Office of the Prime Minister. In 1980 the National Museum of Science and Technology was created and in 1986 the Carlos 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 Premier José 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.

After four years without much success, the ministry was reinstated in the Education Ministry by Prime Minister José 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 the property bubble and the subsequent economic crisis made the following government, led by Mariano Rajoy, in an effort to reduce public spending, reduced the size of the Administration merging the Ministry of Science and Innovation with the Ministry of Economy. During the premiership of Rajoy, the State Research Agency was created.

Already with a better economic situation, the new government of Pedro 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 of Adolfo Suarez, naming as Science Minister astronaut Pedro Duque.

In 2020, the department lost its power over universities due to the creation of the Department 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.

Organization chart
The Department of Science and Innovation is structured in the following bodies:


 * The Secretariat of State for Science, Innovation and Universities
 * The General Secretariat for Research
 * The Technical Cabinet
 * The Deputy Directorate-General for Consortiums, Organizations and International Scientific Infrastructures
 * The Deputy Directorate-General for Large Scientific-Technical Facilities
 * The Deputy Directorate-General for Public Research Organizations and Entities
 * The General Secretariat for Universities
 * The Technical Cabinet
 * The Deputy Directorate-General for Institutional Relations, Programs and Quality in Universities
 * The Deputy Directorate-General for University Professors Training and Management of Aid Programs
 * The Deputy Directorate-General for Degrees and University Planning
 * The General Secretariat for Innovation
 * The Technical Cabinet
 * The Deputy Directorate-General for Innovation Promotion
 * The Deputy Directorate-General for Innovation Policies
 * The Deputy Directorate-General for Aerospace Policy and Strategy
 * The Special Commissioner for Vanguard Health.
 * The Technical Division for Vanguard Health
 * The Directorate-General for Planning, Coordination and Knowledge Transfer
 * The Deputy Directorate-General for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation
 * The Deputy Directorate-General for Transfer
 * The Deputy Directorate-General for Institutional Relations and International Coordination
 * The Undersecretariat of Science, Innovation and Universities
 * The Technical General Secretariat
 * The Deputy Technical General Secretariat
 * The Deputy Directorate-General for Administrative Appeals and Court Relations
 * The División for Citizen Services and Publications
 * The División for Transparency and Data Protection
 * The Technical Cabinet
 * The Deputy Directorate-General for Human Resources and Inspection of Services
 * The Administrative Office
 * The Deputy Directorate-General for Economic Management
 * The Budget Office
 * The Deputy Directorate-General for European Funds for Research, Innovation and Universities
 * The IT Division

Agencies

 * The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
 * The State Research Agency (AEI).
 * The Spanish Space Agency (AEE).
 * The Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII).
 * The Research Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology (CIEMAT).
 * The Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics (IAC).
 * The National Museum of Science and Technology (MUNCYT).
 * The Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI).
 * The Institute of Spain.
 * The University Council.
 * The University Policy General Conference.
 * The State University Student Council.
 * The College of Spain in Paris.
 * The Menéndez Pelayo International University (UIMP).
 * The National University of Distance Education (UNED)
 * The National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA).
 * The Spanish Service for the Internationalization of Education (SEPIE).

List of officeholders
Office name:
 * Ministry of Universities and Research (1979–1981)
 * Ministry of Science and Technology (2000–2004)
 * Ministry of Science and Innovation (2008–2011; 2020–2023)
 * Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (2018–2020; 2023–present)

Notes and references

 * Official website of Ministry of Science