Brussels, 27/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - Major EU companies have reduced research and development investment less than comparable US companies, but Europe continues to lag behind. That is the main conclusion of the 2010 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard published by the European Commission on Tuesday 26 October.
“The fact that major EU firms have largely maintained their R&D investment shows that they recognise R&D as key to emerging stronger from the crisis. But the wide gap with the top US companies in areas like software and biotechnology and the continuing rapid rise of Asian-based companies highlight the innovation emergency Europe is facing. We urgently need heads of state and government at the December European Council to back the Innovation Union proposals that Antonio Tajani and I announced on 6 October,” said European Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn.
Differences across EU. The scoreboard, drawn up from information on the top 1,400 companies worldwide (400 in the EU and 1,000 outside it) ranked by their investment in research and development (R&D), reveals that, in 2009, situations varied across the EU: Spain's investors may have increased investment by 15.4%, thanks largely to the contributions from Telefónica, Acciona (29%) and Banco Santander, but there was a net reduction in countries where most of the R&D weight is borne by the automotive industry (Germany and France down by 3.2% and 4.5% respectively) and the electronic industry (Finland and Sweden down 6% and 6.6% respectively).
Alternative energy sector on a roll. The alternative energy sector continued its rapid growth. The scoreboard now includes 15 companies (9 more than last year) fully focused on clean energy technology. These companies, 13 of which are based in the EU and 2 elsewhere, invested more than €500 million in R&D in 2009, an increase of 28.7%. Alternative energy investments are also made by companies classified under other sectors, e.g. oil and gas.
2.6% fall in investment in Europe. Despite global economic difficulties, top EU companies reduced their R&D investment by much less than their US competitors - 2.6% and 5.1% respectively. The worldwide reduction was 1.9%. Only the Asian countries and Switzerland (+2.5%) maintained the growth in R&D investment: China (up 40.0%), India (27.3%), Hong Kong (14.8%), South Korea (9.1%) and Taiwan (3.1%).
Volkswagen Europe's top investor. Leading the way worldwide among R&D investors, for the second year running, is Toyota at €6.8 billion. Three companies headquartered in the EU are among the top ten R&D investors (Volkswagen, Nokia and Sanofi-Aventis), along with three from the US (Microsoft, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson), and one from Japan (Toyota). Volkswagen is Europe's biggest investor, with €5.8 billion. The scoreboard highlights, however, the weak R&D performance of European companies in key hi-tech sectors, where “the US companies featured in the scoreboard invested five times more than their EU counterparts in R&D on semiconductors, four times more in software R&D and eight times more in biotechnology”. (L.C./transl.rt)