This article offers a brief look at the position of Spanish businesses in an international context with regards to R&D and innovation, as well as at the design of economic policies aimed at promoting research and innovation. It also examines the problem involved in differentiating between R&D and innovation, and in establishing the typologies. In this context, the efforts made by the OECD to define and build indicators for R&D and innovation to aid international comparisons are commented on. As a whole, the text offers a fairly complete summary of the current state of R&D and innovation with regard to businesses in Spain.