Research and innovation: investments reviveInvestments in the field of research, innovation and development in European businesses are beginning to pick up again: even though the crisis is not over, medium and large enterprises are once again banking on the future. That’s what emerges from the 2011 evaluation report on “investments in industrial research and development in the EU”, published by the European Commission. After the drop registered in 2008-2009, investments on R&D increased by 6.1% over the previous year in 2010. However, reports the Executive, “the data relating to the 1,400 major global companies reveal that in general the businesses” of the 27 member states “remain backward in comparison with their main competitors in the USA and in some Asian countries”. The positive data registered in Europe correspond to a similar trend at the world level. It may be observed among other things that the 50 businesses in the world that invest most heavily in research and development comprise 18 US corporations, 15 EU and 13 Japanese companies. “At the very top of the league table – points out the report – we find two pharmaceutical firms: the Swiss Roche (7.2 billion euro invested on research), followed by the American Pfizer (7 billion euro)”. Volkswagen (6.3 billion euro), the main EU investor, is in sixth place, followed by Nokia (eleventh with 4.9 billion), Daimler (thirteenth with 4.8 billion) and Sanofi-Aventis (fourteenth with 4.4 billion). Communications and IT, pharmaceuticals and cars remain sectors in which investments generally remain high. European Commissioner for Research and Innovation Máire Geoghegan-Quinn comments: “The revival of investments in research and development on the part of EU enterprises is a positive signal for the promotion and growth of employment through innovation”. And yet “the fact that we are still behind in comparison with some of our competitors at the world level shows that the conditions for businesses must be further improved. We need the rapid adoption and implementation of recent and future proposals of the Commission regarding single patent, business legislation, public contracts and risk capital”. To give some comparative examples, North American businesses report overall a growth of investments in this field of 10% in 2010; in China the growth has rocketed to close to 30%, while in South Korea investments grew by 20%. Returning to the EU, the three countries in which most investments are made in R&D are Germany, especially in the automotive sector (Daimler, Volkswagen, BMW), the UK and France. The firms with the highest investments in applied science include the Danish Novo Nordisk and Vestas, the Spanish Banco Santander and Telefonica, and the Dutch Tom-Tom.Aid to development more efficient in future”Representing more than 50% of global aid, the European Union is already the biggest donor in the world. I want to make sure it remains the most efficient one, too”, declared Andris Piebalgs, EU Commissioner for Development, when he recently presented the “Agenda for Change” of EU development policy in the field of aid to the countries of Africa, Asia and South America. The new policy for aid spelt out by the Executive is aimed at making the system of financing more efficient by concentrating funds on some priority sectors (e.g. education, water, regional integration…), and also by trying to ensure maximum impact of aid on poverty reduction and on the correction of social and territorial imbalances. Piebalgs added: “We must keep pace with changing realities in the world and adapt the way we fight poverty as a result. That’s why I’m proposing today that we refocus our aid priorities to ensure that countries are on track to achieving sustainable and inclusive growth”. Among the sectors on which funds ought to be concentrated, the Commission specified: “good governance”, comprising respect for human rights and democracy, gender equality, the role of civil society, and the fight against corruption; social protection, health and education; “supporting a favourable business environment”; “sustainable agriculture and clean energy”. The ideas proposed by the Commission were generated by a wide-ranging consultation on aid to development launched a year ago. They are also linked to “a new contractual approach” for EU support to the budgets of the beneficiary countries. Piebalgs explained: “a significant share of EU aid is delivered in the form of budget support”, through “financial transfers to government budgets in developing countries, coupled with policy dialogue, performance assessment and capacity building”. The Commission is now proposing an approach “to make budget support more effective and efficient in delivering development results by strengthening the contractual partnership with developing countries.
