First preliminary results: Research & Development in the EU

In 20041 the EU25 spent nearly 200 billion euro on Research & Development (R&D). R&D intensity (i.e. expenditure as a percentage of GDP) in the EU25 stood at 1.90% compared to 1.92% in 2003. R&D intensity remained significantly lower in the EU25 than in other major economies. In 2003, R&D expenditure was 2.59% of GDP in the United States1, 3.15% in Japan, while it was 1.31% in China. R&D expenditure2 in the EU25 rose by 1.3% in real terms on average per year between 2001 and 2004, compared to -0.1% in the United States and +1.8% in Japan between 2001 and 2003. In 2003 the business sector financed 54% of total EU25 R&D expenditure, while the shares of the business sector in the United States and Japan were 63% and 75% respectively. The EU goals in Research and Development, as set by the Lisbon summit strategy, are to achieve by 2010 a R&D intensity of at least 3% for the EU as a whole, and to have two thirds of R&D expenditure financed by the business sector. More information you can find here.

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