Stand-by research and development

Europe’s expenditure for research and development (Research and Development, R&D) is stable at 1.85% of GDP. The EU is distant from the strategic goals set out by the Lisbon Strategy that provides for 3% of GDP investment in this area by 2010. A Eurostat survey issued September 8 reports radical differences among Member States, whereby a number of Countries register severe delays worsened by investments slowdown brought about by the economic crisis.The German “engine”. Eurostat’s 2009 “Science, Technology and Innovation in Europe” publication (based on available and updated data), measures a wide range of indicators at national and EU level that include among others R&D expenditure and personnel, patents, innovation and other indicators related to high-tech and knowledge intensive sectors of the economy. It states, “In 2007, the EU27 spent 229 billion euro on Research & Development1 (R&D). R&D expenditure has remained “stable compared with 2006”, while in 2001 it equalled 1.86%. This slowdown is explained with the fact that those countries that entered the EU in 2004 are marked by lower investments. Comparing data from extra-European countries, in 2007 some 270 billion euro were invested in the U.S.A in 2007, amounting to 2.67% of GDP. On the other hand Germany (62 bn euro), France (39 bn) and the United Kingdom (37 bn) accounted together for 60% of total R&D expenditure in the EU27 in 2007, followed by Italy (16 bn), Spain (13), Sweden (11), and The Netherlands.Nordic countries rank first. According to Eurostat, “Highest R&D intensity was registered in the Nordic Member States, Austria and Germany”. In fact, the charts presented by the Commission’s statistics bureau reveal that R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP (R&D intensity) was highest in Sweden (3.60%), Finland (3.47), Austria (2,56), Denmark (2.55) and Germany (2.54), and lowest in Cyprus (0.45%), Slovakia (0.46%), Bulgaria (0.48%) and Romania (0.53%). In Turkey, the largest EU candidate state, the threshold of R&D investments accounts for 0.70% of GDP. “The highest increases in R&D intensity between 2001 and 2007 were found in Austria (from 2.07% of GDP to 2.56%), Estonia (from 0.71% to 1.14%) and Portugal (from 0.80% to 1.18%). Research and enterprise. As relates to jobs in this sector, Eurostat estimates 2.3 million persons working full-time were involved in R&D3 in the EU27 in 2007 representing 1.6% of total employment in 2007 . Also in this case Northern Countries prevail: Finland, Sweden, Luxembourg, Denmark, Austria. According to the survey approximately 40% of enterprises from industry and services with at least 10 employees in the EU27 were involved in some form of innovation activity. The highest proportion of enterprises involved in innovation activities in this period was recorded in Germany (63% of enterprises), followed by Belgium (52%), Austria and Finland (both 51%) and Luxembourg (49%). The lowest rates were observed in Latvia (16%), Bulgaria and Hungary (both 20%), Romania (21%) and Lithuania (22%). Lisbon Strategy: distant objectives The Lisbon Strategy, held March 2000 in Portugal’s capital and adopted by the European Council intends to transform the European Union into “the world’ most competitive economy” based on knowledge and quality development. Its goals included full employment by 2010 (the severe recession that marked the past two years was unpredictable). The same deadline regards States’ 3% GDP commitment for education, research and development. The Strategy was changed and re-launched at half way in 2005. It is based on three “pillars”: the economic pillar, highlighting “the need for ongoing feedback on Information Society developments and on R&D initiatives requiring promotion; the social pillar, “to modernize the European social model thanks to investment in human resources, education and training”; the environmental pillar, added in 2001 on the occasion of the European Council of Göteborg that aims at an economic growth which complies with environmental protection and natural resources. The seventh EU research framework programme (2007-2013) is intended to support the commitments of the Lisbon Strategy, for example by creating a European Research Area and by promoting various programs in the area of innovation, training and modern technologies.