The latest Eurostat survey on science and technology focuses on R&D and internationalisation. The results show that:
- foreign ownership of inventions is high in the new member states and in Luxembourg;
- ownership of inventions made abroad is high in small open countries (Luxembourg, Malta, Cyprus) and in Switzerland;
- share of foreign funds in the total expenditure on R&D is particularly high in Latvia, Austria, Greece and the UK;
- in countries where the proportion of foreign funding is low, the funds seem to be attributed to small businesses;
- the UK, Germany and France have the most foreign students in higher education.
The survey thus shows that measuring internationalisation of R&D is already possible using the existing data sources on R&D expenditure, R&D expenditure in foreign affiliates, education and on the number of patent applications to the European Patent Office.
Attracting foreign investment in R&D can help the EU-25 in achieving Europe's ambitious Lisbon goals as investment in R&D has a positive effect on productivity and economic growth.
