EU business R&D funding growth higher than in US

Statistics show that corporate investment in research and development (R&D) has grown in the EU for the third year running, surpassing the growth rate for private sector funding in the United States. 

The EU 2008 Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, published on 15 October, shows that the rate of EU business R&D investment growth increased by 8.8%, up from last year’s figure of 7.4%. At the same time, the rate of investment growth for US companies dropped sharply from 13.3% to 8.6%. 

“EU companies are almost closing the gap in R&D growth rates compared to all non-EU companies,” the Commission said in a statement.

“In particular, companies in the energy field are rapidly increasing their R&D investments, responding to the need to make more efficient use of limited resources,” said Research Commissioner Janez Poto?nik. 

However, the commissioner deplored that the total share of the bloc’s corporate R&D “remains at 1% of GDP [nearly 2% in the US], amidst signs that EU companies are making an increasing share of their R&D investments outside Europe”. According to him, increased efforts are needed to build a single European research market to attract more business R&D and reach the Lisbon objectives. 

Indeed, the EU is aiming to spend 3% of its GDP on research and development activities, with 2% coming from the private sector.

The scoreboard comprises the world’s top 1,000 EU based R&D investors and the top 1,000 non-EU based companies. The US-based companies Microsoft, General Motors and Pfizer are the world’s top three investors.

In the EU-only ranking, Nokia, Volkswagen and Daimler occupy the top positions. They also made the world top-ten, in fifth, ninth and tenth position respectively.

Regarding sectoral trends in business investment, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, technology hardware and equipment, and automobiles and parts account for more than half of the world’s R&D. 

Meanwhile, the oil and gas production sector showed the highest one-year growth rate, at 22.9%. 

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