*3.1. Global Temporal Trend*

Figure 2 shows the evolution of the articles cited by patents in the period studied. The trend from 1998 to 2008 is very similar, i.e., it seems clear that the greater the research funding, the greater the number of works cited by patents. From this date the trends are different, but it must be clarified that the research does not have an immediate impact on the industry, this trend can be evaluated in the long term, so we can consider that the data up to 10 years ago, should they be representative.

**Figure 2.** Publications cited by international patents and R&D funding in Spain.
