Taking the recent theories of economic growth as a starting point, this paper tries to show the importance and diversity of the role played by technological capital in the production of several industries. To that end, a panel with the data of nine EU countries during the period 1975-1992 has been constructed from which we have then estimated an extended production function for twelve industries. Among the main contributions of this study, emphasis should be placed on the adoption of a sectorial approach for the estimation of a model by using data for Spain, as well as for another eight EU countries. In addition, unit roots and cointegration tests have also been used so as to validate the estimations by means of panel data techniques, in this way trying to avoid, the possibility that the regressions might be spureous. The results obtained confirm that for most manufacturing sectors the traditional production function must be extended and technological capital introduced, a variable whose contribution to the growth of production differs ostensibly among sectors.

Key words: R+D, extended production functions, economic growth, panel data, unit roots, cointegration.
JEL classification: D-240.