Canary Islands reorganizes its Ministry of Universities, Science, Innovation, and Culture

The Government of the Canary Islands has approved Decree 151/2026, of October 19, which approves the Organic Regulation of the Ministry of Universities, Science, Innovation, and Culture and creates the Committee for the Canarian Strategy for Science, Technology, and Innovation. The provision is published in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (Boletín Oficial de Canarias) no. 213, of October 23, 2026, starting on page 38138, and entered into force on the day of its publication.

The regulation bears the signature of the President of the Government, Fernando Clavijo Batlle, and the ministers of Presidency, Public Administrations, Justice, and Security, Nieves Lady Barreto Hernández, and of Universities, Science, Innovation, and Culture, Migdalia María Machín Tavío, following a joint proposal by both and after the Executive’s deliberation in its meeting on October 19. It develops the mandate of Decree 123/2023, of July 17, which required each department to submit its own organic structure, and adapts its content to the Canarian Science Law 5/2026, of July 16.

The regulation is organized into three titles and 35 articles, and replaces the inherited organizational framework: it expressly repeals Decree 9/2020, of February 20, which approved the Organic Regulation of the Ministry of Economy, Knowledge, and Employment, as well as Chapter I and Article 18 of the annex of Decree 48/2005, of April 5, regarding the Canarian Information Society Forum and the Canarian Telecommunications Observatory.

Eight superior bodies and a resized general directorate

Article 3 establishes the structure of the department into eight superior bodies, with two vice-ministries and one agency with the rank of vice-ministry:

• Vice-Ministry of Universities and Research.
• Vice-Ministry of Culture and Cultural Heritage.
• Canarian Agency for Research, Innovation, and Information Society, with the rank of Vice-Ministry.
• Technical General Secretariat.
• General Directorate of Universities.
• General Directorate of Planning, Innovation, and University Quality.
• General Directorate of Culture and Cultural Heritage.
• General Directorate of Cultural Innovation and Creative Industries.

The most visible change affects the former General Directorate of Universities and Research, which is renamed the General Directorate of Universities in the modification of Article 8 of Decree 123/2023. The general directorates of Universities and of Planning, Innovation, and University Quality will depend on the Vice-Ministry of Universities and Research; the two cultural general directorates will depend on the Vice-Ministry of Culture and Cultural Heritage; and the Agency and the Technical General Secretariat remain under the direct dependency of the head of the department.

An interdepartmental committee to steer the R&D&i strategy

Article 2 creates the Committee of the Canarian Strategy for Science, Technology, and Innovation as an interdepartmental collegiate body with functions of strategic direction, coordination, and monitoring of the governance of the Canarian Strategy for Science, Technology, and Innovation, the Canarian Plan for Research, Development, and Innovation, and any other planning instrument approved by the Government. Its composition is:

• Presidency: the head of the department.
• Vice-presidency: the head of the Canarian Agency for Research, Innovation, and Information Society.
• One person representing the Department competent in treasury matters and another from the Presidency of the Government.
• One person from each of the remaining Government departments.
• One person from each autonomous body with programs under expenditure policy 46 “Research, development, and innovation” and, in any case, the Canarian Health Service, the Canarian Institute for Agricultural Research, and the Canarian Institute of Statistics.
• A Secretariat appointed by the Presidency from among the Agency’s staff, with voice but without vote.

Agreements will be published on the institutional portal and the Transparency Portal, and technical working groups may be established for multilevel governance with the quadruple helix—administration, scientific community, productive sector, and civil society. Attendance at meetings will not entitle participants to compensation for service.

Fifteen collegiate bodies and the transfer of the Students’ Council

The regulation integrates fifteen collegiate bodies into the department, divided by subject areas: the Departmental Planning Committee as a transversal body; the University Council of the Canary Islands, the Inter-University Coordinating Commission, and the Students’ Council of Higher Education of the Canary Islands in universities; the Canarian Advisory Council for Science, Technology, and Innovation, the new Strategy Committee, the Canarian Observatory of Telecommunications and the Information Society, and the Canarian Research Ethics Committee in science and innovation; and seven bodies in culture and cultural heritage, including the Cultural Heritage Council, the Canarian Council of Culture, and the Observatory of Historical Ensembles.

The first additional provision transfers the organic and functional affiliation of the Students’ Council of Higher Education of the Canary Islands to the department, which until now depended on the education department, and the third final provision rewrites article 1.2 of Decree 160/2018 to link it to the department competent in university education and fund it from its budget.

Distribution of competencies and funds for the research sector

Articles 7 to 10 detail the competencies of the head of the department in universities, science, audiovisual communication, and culture. In universities, they assume university policy, the proposal of the financing model to Parliament, and the authorization of new universities; in science, the proposal of strategies and plans to the Government and the supervision of their execution.

The Canarian Agency for Research, Innovation and Information Society concentrates the management of grants for the training of research personnel, doctoral theses and postdoctoral work, mobility of research and technological personnel, the incorporation of researchers into companies, scientific infrastructures, and the promotion of artificial intelligence. The regulation also provides for the promotion of scientific, technological, mathematical, and engineering vocations among women and girls.

The new competency map arrives with the research sector awaiting the implementation of the Canarian Science Law 5/2026, of July 16, and with the Executive obliged to coordinate all departments that finance R&D+i through spending policy 46. The regulation also enables the department to issue internal application provisions and keeps existing delegations of competencies in force as long as the delegating body retains ownership.

Source: Official Gazette of the Canary Islands, no. 213, of October 23, 2026, section I. General provisions, page 38138 (official reference: Decree 151/2026, of October 19).